German Luftwaffe bomber pilot and recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Petersen was instrumental in converting the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 into what Winston Churchill called the “Scourge of the Atlantic” during the Battle of the Atlantic. He also served in the position of Kommandeur der Erprobungstellen (commander of all Luftwaffe test stations) as an Oberst later in the war, in which capacity from September 1942 onwards became centrally involved with the further development work required for the Luftwaffe’s only operational heavy bomber, the Heinkel He 177A, to make it combat ready, mostly focusing on the fire-prone DB 606 and DB 610 powerplants used for powering the He 177A’s airframe. In September 1942 Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring had rescinded the 1937-imposed mandate for the He 177A to perform moderate-angle dive bombing missions. From the time of his appointment as the “KdE”, at Rechlin, Oberst Petersen would head the development program to govern and manage the task of applying the substantial number of upgrades required for the troubled He 177A to be successful in service.
He died on 18 June 1986 in Herrsching am Ammersee.
Link to Wikipedia biography