World War II German Luftwaffe Fighter Ace. Born in Leuk to a poor but noble Swiss family, he was adopted out at a very young age with his sister to the Carl-von Weber family of Germany. After his adoptive parents lost their wealth and divorced in 1932, he attempted to stowaway on a passenger liner to the US but was discovered. He left his college preparatory program and joined the SA in 1934, where he discovered that he was adopted while researching his lineage as a membership requirement. Taking back his birthname, he joined the Luftwaffe in 1936. He joined Jagdgeschwader (JG) 1 flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109 during the Battle of Poland and transferred to JG 3 for the Battle of France. There he achieved his first victory, was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class, became the adjutant to Group II, keeping a pet lion, Simba, as the squadron mascot. He was shot down near Winchet Hill south of London on September 5, 1940 and became a POW. While a POW he tried three escapes, the last one being the most audacious where he walked into an RAF base claiming to be a shot-down Dutch pilot looking for a way back to his base. He actually was at the controls of a Hurricane when recaptured. He then was sent along with many other POWs to Canada. While traveling by train between Montreal and Ottawa he realized he was near the US border, and with the help of other POWs escaped by diving through the train window on January 21, 1941. He crossed the frozen St. Laurence River at Ogdensburg, New York, and turned himself in to police as the US was then still neutral. With the help of the German Counsel, he returned to Germany via Mexico, Rio, Barcelona, and Rome, arriving in Berlin on April 18, 1941, where he was greeted as a hero and awarded the Knight's Cross personally by Hitler. He then joined JG 53 (Ace of Spades) on the Eastern Front as a group leader. He earned the final 13 of his 21 kills on this front. Rotating back to the Netherlands for refit and training, he was killed in a training accident when his engine failed, crashing into the North Sea north of Vlissingen. His body was not recovered. His story was the subject of a 1956 book, "The One That Got Away" by Kendall Burt and James Leasor and the 1957 movie of the same name, where he was played by Hardy Krüger, as well as the 2002 Swiss documentary "Von Werra".