Date of birth:

September 29th, 1919

Date of death:

April 23rd, 1944 (Hall Farm, Ashby Saint Mary, Norfolk, England)

Nationality:

German (1933-1945, Third Reich)

22.04.1944-23.04.1944: Oberleutnant, Flugzeugführer, 6./ KG 51 "Edelweiss" - KIA when the Messerschmitt Me410 A-1 ‘Hornise’ Werk-Nr. 420.458 coded '9K+HP' was hit by a return fire from a US B-24 of 389th BG over England.
His R/O-Gunner, Feldwebel Michael Reinhardt (DKiG), also perished.
They crashed in a field at Ashby St Mary, 36 km South East of Norwich, Norfolk. Alternate spelling: Krueger.

"On the night of 22nd April 1944 the aircraft took off from Beuvais in France along with five others for a night intruder raid over Britain. They detected Liberator bombers of the 2nd Air Division returning late to their East Anglia base after a raid on Hamm and six Me410s followed them in over the coast under cover of darkness. The pilot of 9K+HP was Oberleutnant Klaus Kruger and the Observer/Gunner was Feldwebel Michael Reichardt. A Liberator crew of the 389th Bomb Group from Hethel had noticed an aircraft, slightly below, formate on their right wing, but were unable to make out anything other than its navigation lights and took it to be friendly. Moments later the aircraft pulled slightly ahead and let loose a withering hail of fire from its twin 13mm barbette guns, leaving the Liberator crew in no doubt as to its identity. The bomber, fatally hit, crashed at Cantley. Before it did so, however, two gunners were able to overcome their initial surprise and return fire, claiming hits on the Me410 as it broke away from the attack.
At around 2210 hours, Staff Sergeant Lewis Brumble A.M., a left waist gunner with the 458th Bomb Group from Horsham St. Faith, spotted the Me410 coming in from 2 o’clock low position and swung his hand-held .5 machine gun to cover it. As the range closed, Brumble fired over 100 rounds, his tracer shells striking the fuselage below the cockpit before the enemy fighter flashed past below; seconds later the Me410 was seen to be in flames. It veered off on its right wing and went into a steep dive from about 6,000 feet. The crew jettisoned their cockpit hood, but both men were killed when their machine exploded on impact with the ground at Hall Farm, Ashby St Mary, Norfolk.
This rare engine was recovered by members of the Museum’s own Excavation Group at the crash site in September 1979, along with pieces of wreckage and some equipment from the Me410."

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