Luftwaffe Personnel Post War Employment

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello,

Walter Scheel > Bundespräsident !

It is not a wild guess that most survivors of the Luftwaffe had to find another job after the war and probably did find a job. So what?

Greetz, Marcel

[Jochen Prien]

And what about Julius Meimberg, the last Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 53 ?

Having no other professional education than being a fighter pilot with the then no longer existing Luftwaffe he started off as a farm worker, driving clumsy tractors instead of flying his '109s. He then invented a highly efficient - and if I got it right still widely used - method of spinning yarn but unfortunately was legally ill advised as far as the appropriate patent cover was concernend and was thus deprived of the otherwise substantial earings his invention brought forward. Still not at the end of his means he founded a very successful net of travel agencies in and around his home town Münster / Westf.

He was not only a remarkable fighter pilot but still is an outstanding character.

Regards

Jochen Prien

[kaki3152]

Speaking of that,when is his book going to be published in English?

[Schlageter]

Wolfgang Schenck returned to South Africa and was a 'bush' pilot for several years (I suspect this was a euphemism for smuggling all kinds of stuff everywhere, as he was quite a character!)

Which other ex-Luftwaffe pilots could resume flying in civil or military aviation in the immediate post-war period?

I know only a few examples:

- Walter Schuck and Hartmann Grasser served as advisors to the Syrian Air Force, latter trained also Indian pilots in 1949.
- Heinz "Negus" Marquardt became in 1947 a flying instructor in Switzerland before he joined the Bundesluftwaffe again in 1956.
- Hans Guido Mutke flew DC-3 for airlines in Argentina and Bolivia.
- The German news magazine Der Spiegel reported in 1950 that the Dominican Air Force hired some former Luftwaffe pilots/ officers; an Oberst Friede, a Hauptmann Pagels and a Oberleutnant Kretschmar are mentionend (this story sounds a bit incredulous to me!)

Are there further details or stories known of the post-war careers of the listed examples or can the strange story of Germans serving in the Dominican Air Force be confirmed?

Thanks in advance

Best regards

Michael

[Edward L. Hsiao]

Gentlemen,

I knew there were plenty of pilots from the wartime Luftwaffe that went to Spain after WWII to work for the Spanish leader Franco as advisors for the Spanish Air Force and civil aviation.

Sincerely,

Edward L. Hsiao

[Schlageter]

Great information!

Do you have names and more details about these advisors in Spain!

Thanks a lot

[noggin]

Major Ulrich Knauth KG 4 and later JG units ended up in Spain with the state civil airforce. He died in 1974 , his son and grandson are still in senior position in the Spanish air frieght business.

[James A Pratt III]

A number of ex Luftwaffe as well as army and navy personel worked for the US, British and French during the Berlin airlift.

[Nick Hector]

Karl-Heinz Nebel ex 9./JG 51 became a builder post-war and built the house (complete with Ochs-und-Schaf Bar) that he was living in when Ashley Lamb and myself interviewed him in 2004

[RT]

Don't forget those who ended in the french foreign legion, like Siegfried Freytag,

Rémi