Karl Ries & Hans Obermaier

[CJE]

Both trailblazers of the Luftwaffe history back in the late 60's who gave the teen-ager I was the desire to look further into this fascinating aspect of WW2 in the air.
What happened to them?

Chris

[G.R.Morrison]

"Karl Ries is the father of us all," a friend and fellow-researcher remarked. I had to concur, having been hooked at age 15 when I saw those 109Fs with Green Hearts on them. And the rudders with rows and rows of Abschußbalken!

Soon I knew names and recognized faces, while my friends were 'merely' learning sports statistics. I began saving my pennies for books, rather than beer. Ran out of shelf-space long ago, so now the stacks climb vertically. Obermaier's various editions revealed a wealth of material. Both men are now gone but Jochen Kaiser is a worthy successor to Obermaier's efforts. Anyone without his Kampfflieger books is missing out on treasure.

GRM

[Rabe Anton]

Salut, Chris!

I can only endorse George Morrison's comments regarding Karl Ries and Ernst [sic] Obermaier as seminal agents in the flowering of a "Luftwaffe community" during and after the 1960s. Other names must be added, of course: Heinz Nowarra and especially Werner Girbig come to mind.


I do not have the precise dates at hand—I expect that other readers will—but Karl Ries died in Mainz some 25 years ago; Ernst Obermaier succumbed too young about 15-18 years ago.


To these influential personalities, requiecat in pace with the respect of those who followed you.


RA

[peter.werry]

Hello,
Another name to add to the list of pioneers would be Heinz Birkholz who brought us Modell Magazin, Flugzeug and Jet&Prop and the associated three Archiv series as well as the 1974 Plastik Modell Foto Revue.
Regards
Peter

[CJE]

Oh dear! Why did I call him Hans?
Sorry for this mistake.
Thanks for the answers.