Hptm Erich Friedrich 5./Jg77, Stab./Jg77, 7./Jg77 & 9./Jg77

[Johannes]

Hallo again guys

Have another reasonably successful pilot that just dissapears from the scene. I have details of many crashes, and times shot down for him, but no death, last details I have are that he was awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 18th May 1942, and that he was the Staffelkapitän of 9./Jg77 from 13th May 1942 until August 1942, then nothing, he made nineteen claims, of which sixteen were confirmed:-

13th August 1940 5./Jg77 Blenheim Aalborg area 1224 hrs Nr.1
13th August 1940 5./Jg77 Blenheim Aalborg area 1230 hrs Nr.2
6th April 1941 Stab./Jg77 Bf109 Belgrade area u/c
29th May 1941 Stab./Jg77 Hurricane Rethymnon area 0900 hrs Nr.3
6th July 1941 5./Jg77 I-16 1222 hrs Nr.4
6th July 1941 5./Jg77 MiG-3 1605 hrs Nr.5
24th July 1941 5./Jg77 MiG-3 0540 hrs Nr.6
27th July 1941 5./Jg77 Dj-6 1515 hrs Nr.7
10th August 1941 5./Jg77 I-15 1342 hrs Nr.8
12th August 1941 5./Jg77 SB-2 1308 hrs Nr.9
12th August 1941 5./Jg77 SB-2 1320 hrs Nr.10
22nd August 1941 5./Jg77 I-153 u/c
21st September 1941 5./Jg77 I-153 u/c
26th September 1941 5./Jg77 Pe-2 1245 hrs Nr.11
13th May 1942 7./Jg77 LaGG-3 0950 hrs Nr.12
13th May 1942 7./Jg77 Il-2 1617 hrs 50 metres Nr.13
13th May 1942 7./Jg77 LaGG-3 1755 hrs 20 metes Nr.14
5th July 1942 9./Jg77 I-16 30km north-east of Taman 0405 hrs 20 metres Nr.15
5th July 1942 9./Jg77 Il-2 15th north of Kerch 1715 hrs Nr.16

My feeling is he perhaps re-joined the Staff of Jg77, as a Hauptmann he should be reasonably easy to trace, but I can find nothing. Does anybody have a Date of Birth/Date of Death or any other information, especially post august 1942.

Grateful for any assistance

Kind Regards

Johannes

[Doug Stankey]

Here is what we have in our officer database:

FRIEDRICH, Erich.
13.09.40 Oblt., 5./JG 77 take-off accident at Vaernes.
15.04.41 Oblt. in Stab/JG 77.
22.06.41 Oblt., in Stab/JG 77, appt Staka 5./JG 77 (to 28.07.41).
29.07.41 Oblt., appt Staka 1.(Eins.)/Erg.Gr. JG 77 (to 04.42).
01.02.42 promo to Hptm.
11.03.42 Hptm., acting Staka 7./JG 77.
18.05.42 Hptm., awarded DKG, II./JG 77.
16.05.42 appt Staka 9./JG 77.
10.04.43 Hptm. (Tr.O.) in Frontflieger-Sammelgruppe, trf to Stab/Dt.Lw.-Mission in Rumänien.

From Tom Kracker's datahoard:

Friedrich, Erich. Hptm31 victories - 5/JG-77 (8/40 Norway), Stab II/JG-77(7/41), 7/JG-77(5/42), 9/JG-77, 1(Erg)/JG-77, Bf 109E-4 Werk # 5262 (lost 9/13/40), Bf 109E-7 Werk # 5892 (lost 9/26/41), Bf 109FDK-G(5/18/42), EP, EK 1 & 2, Wound Badge, Fighter Operational Clasp - KIA 24 July, 1942 during Operation Barbarossa in aerial combat with a MiG-3 of the 55th Fighter Aviation Regt. in the Beltsy sector. WIA 26 September, 1941 after combat, crashing at Tschaplinka. His first known victory, two Blenheims in the Aalborg area on 13 August, 1940. He is known to have his E-4 destroyed on 13 September, 1940, on the runway at Vaernes Norway airfield, pilot OK (Source: SIG Norway). His first Soviet known Soviet victory, two LaGG-3's and an Il-2, reported on 13 May, 1942. His 29th, an I-16 Rata on 5 July, 1942. With 31 victories, it's strange that his first was on May 13, 1942,; no earlier victories found. Of course, there could be two Erich Friedrich's in JG-77!

Kracker's data somewhat contradicts ours. Perhaps instead of KIA on 24.07.42 he was WIA and limited to staff jobs after that?

We hope that this helps you out.

HLdZ
DGS

[Jim P.]

Two additional losses for Friedrich - no record of him being lost on 24-Jul-42.

Bf 109E-7, 1413, Friedrich, Oblt. Erich, 31+, St., Stab, JG 77, , , , , 15-Apr-41, Reported lost due to Flak. Notlandung. F returned 17.4., , Lfl.4/Griechenland, Gen.Qu.6.Abt. (mfm #3)-Vol.4; Prien, et al, Die Jagdfliegerverbände, V, p.263; Prien, JG 77, I, p.515, , bei Gonnos, 60%, F, , ,
Bf 109E-7, , Friedrich, Oblt. Erich, , St., Stab, JG 77, , , , , 24-Jun-41, Flak., , Lfl.4/Eins.Osten, Prien, et al, Die Jagdfliegerverbände, VI.2, p.304, , südöstlich Chlodemi, 30%, F, , ,

[Johannes]

Thanks Guys

Nice to know what he did after his combat carreer ended.

Kind Regards

Johannes