Luftwaffe Personnel Post War Employment

[kaki3152]

Some of the most interesting:

Siegfried Freytag who joined the French Foreign Legion and died at their retirement home after a long career.

Martin Drewes who emigrated to Brazil where he still lives.

A RK Schlachtflieger, whose name escapes me, who became a bush pilot and died in a floatplane accident.

Theo Weissenberger who died in an auto race in 1950.


Any other interesting examples?

[DavidIsby]

Who was it who ended up flying P-47s for the Colombian Air Force?

(His name, which I forget, is the answer to the trivia question: "Who was the highest-scoring ace ever to fly in an American air arm"?)

[Brian Bines]

Werner Baumbach emigrated to Argentina, killed 20-10-1953 testing a Lancaster bomber - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Baumbach

[Thierry K]

By writing here we use Word processing credited to Ulrich Steinhilper (JG52) when he worked for IBM in 1972

[kaki3152]

Gerhard Thyben, ex JG-54 RK/EL flew with the Colombian AF

Here is his biography:

Gerhard Thyben

After World War II, Gerhard Thyben, one of the Luftwaffe's most successful young Aces, immigrated to South America to find "new horizons" in aviation. Thyben was born in Kiel, Germany in 1922 and like many boys developed a great desire to fly. He joined the Luftwaffe and in the summer of 1941 gained his pilot's badge. His first operational assignment was to a fighter wing on the eastern front as an enlisted pilot. Just 2 days after his 21st birthday, he claimed his first aerial victory when he shot down a medium bomber. Frustrated that he scored no further victories in March and April 1943, he almost asked to transfer from the Messerschmitt Me 109 to bombers.
His luck changed in May 1943 when he downed a Red Air Force Supermarine Spitfire. His skills sharpened, and by January 1944, Thyben listed 37 victories. In June 1944, he transferred to the "Green Hearts" fighter wing to lead the 7th squadron. By September 1944 his list of victories topped 100. He was awarded the Knight's Cross in December after 116 aerial victories. His success continued with a four-victory mission on the 21st and a five-victory mission on the 22nd. He received the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross in April 1945 and on 8 May 1945, just before the war ended in Europe, he intercepted and downed a Petlyakov tactical bomber. He later learned it was flown by two Heroes of the Soviet Union sent to attack a convoy of German refugee ships.
Thyben had flown 385 missions and shot down 157 allied aircraft. In 1948, he left Germany for Argentina. Arriving in 1949, he developed a successful auto repair business, but yearned to fly something more than light aircraft. One frequent customer, former Luftwaffe general Adolf Galland, mentioned that there were opportunities to fly in Colombia. Thyben pulled up stakes again and followed his dream to Bogota. At Palanquero AB in the Magdalena valley, he test flew Republic F-47 Thunderbolts for a year and also instructed fighter pilots of the Fuerza Aerea Colombia. In 1955, he moved to Cali and instructed cadets of the Colombian Air Force Academy in the Beechcraft T-34 Mentor.
Next, he worked for an air taxi subsidiary of Avianca, Colombia's national airline. He then became interested in agricultural spraying and began his own business flying a variety of aircraft. Unfortunately, he had a terrible accident and sustained extensive injuries to his legs, chest and face. He recovered after 8 months, returned to the cockpit and enjoyed 15 more years of flying. Thyben retired in 1978, but aviation remains a part of his life. In 1990, he constructed a Kit Fox and flew it many times before passing it on to his son, Gerhard.

[mathieu]

Hi,

I know of several luftwaffe pilots that joined the new luftwaffe in 1955, but did any joined the luftwaffe of the DDR?

[kaki3152]

Copied from an old thread:http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showth...&highlight=DDR

only know about 3 former Luftwaffen-Pilots with held high position in the
LVK/LV.

1. OtLn. Walter Lehweß-Litzmann, DKiG, Kommodore KG 3 "Blitz"
Lost on his 160 Mission at 7. Sept. 1943 at the Eastern Front. His Ju 88 exploded in the air (Sabotage). He became PoW by the Russians.
In 1945 he came back to Berlin and abotu 1947 he joined the the VP-Luft. Later he was the Leiter Fliegerschule Kamenz. At 1959 he retired and became an high position at the DLH-Ost. (East German Air Line)

2. Uffz. Kurt Götze, he fly mission at the eastern Front with Hs 129 in SKG 10.
Later he was with 3./SG 10, he has 5 confirmed Kills. One of them was an B-17 at 24. August 1944. In January 1945 he was shoot down over Hungaria and became PoW with the Russians.
In the DDR he was one of the founders of the DDR-Luftsport and fly as Testpilot all Gliderplanes from VEB Apparatebau Lommatsch.

3. Fw. Wolfgang Reinhold, Schlachtflieger, he fly mission at the italian and eastern Front. (SG 4?) Has 13 confirmed Kills against Russian and Allied Airforce.
After the war he joined the KP-Luft (tranined with Jak 11 and 12, Mig 15).
In 1972 he was Chief of LSK/LV.

[kaki3152]

Just for grins and chuckles, both Karl Borris (ex JG-26) and Friedrich-Karl Muller (ex JG-300/NJG-11) drove taxis after the war.

[Andy Saunders]

Max Himmelheber Stab JG2 POW 6/9/40 invented chipboard.

Walter Glockner 9/JG 27 POW 18/9/40 married a Welsh girl, settled in UK and changed his name to Walter Lewis becoming a naturalised UK citizen.

A random offering!

[Brian Bines]

Bert Trautmann ex Fallschirmjager played football for Manchester City 1949 to 1964.