Herbert Ihlefeld (1 June 1914 – 8 August 1995) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, a fighter ace listed with 130 enemy aircraft shot down in over 1,000 combat missions. Depending on source, he claimed seven to nine aerial victories in the Spanish Civil War, and during World War II, 67 on the Eastern Front and 56 on the Western Front, including 15 four-engined bombers and 26 Supermarine Spitfires. He survived being shot down eight times during his 1,000 combat missions.^[1]

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Ihlefeld was credited with 123 World War II aerial victories.^[2] Spick lists him with 130 aerial victories, including seven claims in Spain, claimed in over 1,000 combat missions.^[3] Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found documentation for 122 aerial victory claims, plus five further unconfirmed claims. This number includes nine claims during the Spanish Civil War, 48 on the Western Front, including three four-engined bombers, and 65 on the Eastern Front.^[4]

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 05 Ost S/ET-1". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about 360 square miles (930 km²). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 km × 4 km (1.9 mi × 2.5 mi) in size.^[5]