Waltrud Krupinski

Waltrud Krupinski
Kanji Name	ヴァルトルート･クルピンスキー
Age	18 (end of 1944)
Birth Date	11 November 1926
Height	175 cm
Affiliation(s)	Karlsland Air Force 52nd Fighter Wing 6th Flying Corps (6./JG52) Karlsland Air Force 26th Fighter Wing (Commander) (JG26) Karlsland Air Force 44th Fighter Group (JV44)
Team	502nd Joint Fighter Wing
Rank	Pilot Officer (JG52) Flying Officer (502nd JFW) Flight Lieutenant (Karlsland Air Force, end of 1944)
Striker Unit(s)	Messerscharf Bf109G-2 (Yellow No.5) Messerscharf Bf109G-6
Weapon(s)	MG42 StG 44
Familiar	Weimaraner
Seiyuu (Japanese)	Kayo Ishida
Seiyuu (English)	Felecia Angelle

Waltrud Krupinski is a veteran ace of the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing, originating from Karlsland and attached with the Karlsland Air Force. She is referred to as Countess, Countess Graf Punski, and Earl by her friends.

Background

Considered Karlsland's top veteran Ace, she joined JG52 at around the same time as Gertrud Barkhorn and Erica Hartmann, whom she considers good friends. She spent a good deal of time with Erica as her lead wingman. Among the 502nd JFW base, only Squadron Leader Rall has a higher confirmed kill count.

She was born in Domnau, in northeast Karlsland, and grew up in Braunsberg near the Baltic sea. Her parents are public officials, but because of her ability as a witch, she began to consider joining the military when she reached the appropriate age. She initially wanted to join the Navy as she grew up in a port city, because she could go to various countries. As a result of an inspection, she was found to be suitable to be an aviation witch, and she entered a training school for the Air Force. She was a bad example of a student who sneaked out of her dormitory with her friends to go to the city at night and get into mischief. Despite her reckless behavior, her grades were excellent and she graduated as a Second Lieutenant.

She was assigned to JG52, but by that time the Hispanian campaign had ended and there was little opportunity to gain experience in combat. Instead of combat, she was trained by a senior sergeant who had battle experience in Hispania, and she gained sufficient flight experience by the time of the Neuroi attack. In the Ostmark defensive battle, she gained many takedowns and a lot of experience, but she also destroyed many Striker Units. It wasn't a problem unless supplies were low, but it became a major problem on the eastern front where supplies were routinely low, so it wasn't unusual to send her back to pick up supplies.

In one of her more famous episodes, on the day that Erica and Marseille transferred to JG52, Krupinski made an emergency landing, her striker unit wreathed in flames, right in front of a crowd of dumbfounded onlookers, only to turn around and greet the girl with a nonchalant handshake. On the other hand, the number of foes she manages to down to earn a totaled striker is considerable compared to any other medium scoring ace.

At one point, herself, Barkhorn, Hartmann and Johanna Wiese had an audience with the Emperor of Karlsland.

During Operation Bifrost, she was awarded with the Knight's Cross, was promoted to Flying officer and became the company commander of JG52 7th Company. The company took on defense and support duties in the east of Karlsland until the people withdrew, and after the withdrawal was completed, moved to Suomus with its units.

After this, she participated in Operation Barbarossa and achieved remarkable results. She was the second top ace of the unit, second only to Rall based on the number of shot down. She later became a member of the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing.

Because of the rather famous trio of herself, Nikka Edvardine Katajainen, and Kanno Naoe, the 502nd is often referred to by the nickname "The Break Witches." She isn't particularly worried by this, but she has taken a role to protect the younger two, who have trouble interacting with authority figures.

She was later awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, but she was also injured by repeated crashes and later received the highest gold prize in the war wounds. However, she refused every time because she had only minor injuries, no matter how severe the crash.

Personality

Tall, slender, and elegant, she has earned the nickname "Countess"(伯爵 - Hakushaku). She is also a hard-drinking womanizer and a hedonist with an easygoing and optimistic personality.

Brave and energetic. Despite her dauntless dog-fighting skill and sure marksmanship, her tendency to discard personal safety in favor of lining up for the attack rather than waiting means that she damages an unusually large number of Striker Unit, often making emergency landings under enemy fire.

Abilities

Her inherent magic is called Magic Boost (マジックブースト, Majikkubūsuto). Releasing all her magical power at once, she can instantly get super acceleration, but it's rarely used as it places a heavy burden on the unit.

Quotes

''Nipa, Nao, it's time to get to work! You don't want the Big Scary Teddybear to get mad and dock our pay again, eh?''

Appearances

Anime

• Strike Witches Movie, unnamed cameo
• Brave Witches
• World Witches: Hasshin Shimasu!!

Manga

• Strike witches: Chii Sanya, cameo in chapter α-8
• Brave Witches: Dai 502 Butai Hasshin shimasu!
• World Witches: Contrail of Witches
• Brave Witches: 502nd Joint Fighter Wing
• Brave Witches Prequel: The Vast Land of Orussia

Light Novel

• Brave Witches Prequel

Audio Media

• Brave Witches Prequel Vol.2 limited edition audio drama CD

Video Games

• Strike Witches: Kiseki no Rondo, in a group card
• World Witches United Front

Other

• 502nd Twitter Story
• Seiza Story

Trivia

• Waltrud is based on Prussian-born German ace Walter Krupinski who, similar to Waltrud, was nicknamed Graf Pinski (Count Pinski) due to his Prussian origins. Krupinski was also one of the first to fly the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter in combat as a member of Jagdverband 44 led by Adolf Galland, and was credited with 197 victories in 1,100 sorties.
• In addition to being a canonical womanizer, Krupinski is also one of the few openly homosexual characters throughout the entire World Witches franchise, whose sexuality is portrayed much more blatantly rather than being implied or depicted ambiguously. Other notable examples of homosexual witches are Mika Ahonen and Dominica Gentile.
• It is heavily implied throughout the series, and in artwork and tweets by Humikane, that she is in a subtle relationship with Edytha Rossmann. During the events of the 502nd prequel light novel, Vesna Mikovič (who has romantic feelings for Waltrud) confronted her about who she loved the most, and Waltrud chose Edytha.
• One of the tallest witches along with Adriana Visconti and Leigh Andrea Archer, all three being 1.75 m tall.

Gallery

502nd JFW - 01

Cover of Brave Witches ED Theme Collection - LITTLE WING ～Spirit of LINDBERG～

Cover of Brave Witches Himeuta Collection Volume 2

Cover of Brave Witches Himeuta Collection Volume 6