Oblt Werner Pichon-Kalau von Höfe - What JG?

[Peter Cook]

In The Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, 1980, Pgs. 47-50 Armand van Ishoven provides a lengthy quote by 'Oberleutnant P. von Hofe of JG 53' that describes the attack on Portsmouth by Ju 88s of KG 51 on 12 August 1940, for which JG53 formed part of the escort. I assume that this pilot is Oblt Werner Pichon-Kalau von Höfe, but his biography in Luftwaffe Aces of the BOB, by Chris Goss and entries in Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries and the Kracker Luftwaffe Archive all have von Hofe with III./JG 51 on this date, moving to Stab/JG 54 'around 25 August'. Is there another von Hofe that served with JG 53 or has van Ishoven mixed up the unit and – assuming that the quote comes from von Höfe – the date?

[Chris Goss]

Don't forget such accounts in this book were propaganda accounts. I have no such name with JG 53

[Rasmussen]

Regarding his flight log was Werner Pichon - Kalau von Hofe member of Stab III./JG 51 (all a/c's had staff markings) and didn't fly that day. The first flight by Stab/ JG 54 was on 29 August.

[Larry deZeng]

PICHON-KALAU vom HÖFE, Werner. (DOB: 14.01.17 in Hamburg). 15.07.39 Lt., I./ZG 1 trf to I./JG 20. 01.09.39 Lt., I./ZG 1 trf to I./JG 3. 19.07.40 Lt., with Stab III./JG 51. 25.08.40 appt Geschw.Adj./JG 54 (to 29.03.41). 12.10.40 Oblt., Stab/JG 54. 16.03.41 WIA - Bf 109 E-4 (Black <o+) near Le Mans. 26.06.41 Oblt., Stab/JG 54 unhurt - Bf 109 F-2 (White <0+) crashed after take-off from Blumenfeld a/f. 27.06.41 Oblt., Stab/JG 54 unhurt - Bf 109 F-2 (White <0+) crashed-landed at Kedainiai a/f. 24.07.41 Oblt., Stab/JG 54. 13.11.41 Oblt., Stab/JG 54 unhurt - Bf 109 F-2 (White <o+) force-landed vic Ljuban a/f due to engine failure. 16.11.41 Oblt., Stab/JG 54 unhurt - Bf 109 force-landed at Krasnowardeisk due to a technical problem. 31.01.42 Techn.Offz. and appt Staka of 7./JG 54 (to 25.11.42). 16.02.42 Lt., 7./JG 54. 23.04.42 Oblt., 7./JG 54 MIA - Bf 109 F-4 (White 1) lost to AA near Tolsstowa but soon returned. 26.04.42 Oblt., 7./JG 54 MIA - force-landed at Finew Lug due to AA damage, but returned after 2 days. 15.06.42 Oblt., 7./JG 54. 04.07.42 Oblt., 7./JG 54. 25.11.42 trf to Stab/Jagdfliegerführer Süd. 01.02.43 promo to Hptm. 22.04.43 in III./JG 54, trf to Stab/Jagdfliegerführer Süd. 02.01.44 Hptm.?, appt Ia op 2/5. Jagddivision. Credited with 21 victories. †24.09.99.

[Peter Cook]

Thank you all, this confirms for me that van Ishoven's account by von Höfe is referring to a different action and that his assignment of von Höfe to JG53 is clearly incorrect.

[Teresa Maria]

He was definitely in JG 54. Hannes Trautloft mentions him in his memories.

[VtwinVince]

There is some confusion regarding the correct spelling of this officer's name.

[Larry deZeng]

I noticed that, too. The Luftwaffen-Personalamt officer assignment and promotion records (c. NARA RG 242 Microcopy T-77 rolls 938 - 973) have "vom" instead of "von". That is very, very unusual and I have always wondered if it was a clerical error on LPA's part that was never corrected by them.

L.

[NoNo01]

Gentleman.


The correct spelling is vom/von Hofe (not Höfe).
"Vom" and "von" could be right.
Older publications, Jägerblatt for example, use "vom".
Newer ones (Prien) use "von".
So no idea on that.
But in this case vom Hofe makes sense when it comes to german orthography.
Von Hofe sounds wrong.

[Rasmussen]

under no circumstance: von/vom Höfe ...