Hans-Ekkehard Bob

Hans Ekkehard Bob (24 January 1917 – 12 August 2013) was a German fighter pilot, serving with the Luftwaffe. During World War II, Bob flew approximately 700 combat missions, and claimed 60 victories; 37 of which were on the Eastern Front.

Early Luftwaffe Bob joined the Luftwaffe in 1936, at the rank of a Fahnenjunker (officer candidate), and began his flight training in June 1937.

World War II On 22 June 1940, I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 21 (JG 21–21st Fighter Wing) was withdrawn from France and moved to München Gladbach, present-day Mönchengladbach. The following day the Gruppe was ordered to Soesterberg in the Netherlands. On 2 July, the unit moved to Bergen op Zoom. Three days later I. Gruppe of JG 21 was renamed and became the III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54–54th Fighter Wing).

On 5 September, Bob was temporarily appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 7. Staffel of JG 54, replacing Oberleutnant Günther Scholz. Scholz was temporarily transferred to the Gruppenstab (headquarters unit) of III. Gruppe of JG 54. There, Scholz succeeded Hauptmann Fritz Ultsch who had been killed in action. On 15 September, also known as the Battle of Britain Day, Bob's Messerschmitt Bf 109 was hit by cannon shell in the radiator while flying over Canterbury at an altitude of . Fearing that his engine would overheat, he nursed his Bf 109 back to France by periodically turning his engine off, trading altitude for distance, thus cooling the engine before restarting it to gain altitude again. By November 1940, Bob had claimed his 19th aerial victory, and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 7 March 1941. On 21 March, Bob made a forced landing in the sea off of Cherbourg due to engine failure of the Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann D-2 (Werknummer 4506—factory number) trainer. On 29 March, the Gruppe was ordered to Graz-Thalerhof in preparation for the Balkans campaign.

On 20 April, III. Gruppe was withdrawn from combat operation, relocating to Belgrad-Semlin. On 4 May, the Gruppe began its transfer to Airfield Stolp-Reitz in Pomerania, present-day Słupsk, by train, arriving at Stolp-Reitz on 10 May.

Operation Barbarossa At Stolp-Reitz, JG 54 upgraded their aircraft to the Bf 109 F-2. For the next four weeks, the pilots familiarized themselves with the new aircraft before on 15 June, III. Gruppe was ordered to Blumenfeld in East Prussia, present-day Karczarningken in the Kaliningrad Oblast, in preparation for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. During the upcoming invasion, JG 54 would be deployed in the area of Army Group North, was subordinated to I. Fliegerkorps (1st Air Corps) and supported the 16th and 18th Army as well as the Panzer Group 4 in their strategic objective to reach Leningrad.

Defense of the Reich In mid-February 1943, III. Gruppe of JG 54 was withdrawn from the Eastern Front and ordered to Vendeville, France where it was subordinated to the Geschwaderstab (headquarters unit) of Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter" (JG 26—26th Fighter Wing). The Gruppe was equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-4 armed with 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons installed in conformal gun pods under the wings. The original plan was to exchange JG 26 which had been fighting on the Western Front with JG 54. The plan was cancelled in March. Instead of III. Gruppe of JG 54 returning to the Eastern Front, the Gruppe was ordered to Bad Zwischenahn on 25 March and then to Oldenburg Airfield two days later. Here, the Gruppe was subordinated to the 2. Jagd-Division (2nd Fighter Division) which was fighting in defense of the Reich.

On 17 April, Bob had a mid-air collision with a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber southwest of Bremen. He successfully bailed out of his Bf 109 G-4 (Werknummer 14935) and landed safely. On 1 August, Bob was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of IV. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders" (JG 51–51st Fighter Wing). He replaced Major Rudolf Resch who had been killed in action on 11 July. At the time. IV. Gruppe was fighting in the Battle of Kursk on the Eastern Front.

On 8 May 1944, Bob was transferred to the Stab (headquarters unit) of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" (JG 3–3rd Fighter Wing), named after the World War I fighter ace Ernst Udet Command of his IV. Gruppe of JG 51 was passed to Major Heinz Lange. When on 29 May 1944, the wing commander JG 3, Major Friedrich-Karl Müller was killed in action, Bob was temporarily placed in command of JG 3 until the official successor, Major Heinz Bär, took command on 9 June. Bob was then given command of II. Gruppe of JG 3, replacing Hauptmann Gustav Frielinghaus in this capacity.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Bob was credited with 60 aerial victories. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 57 aerial victory claims, plus four further unconfirmed claims. This figure includes 37 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and another 20 on the Western Front, including one heavy bomber.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 10191". The Luftwaffe grid map covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about . These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area in size.

Chronicle of aerial victories Claim Date Time Type Location Claim Date Time Type Location – 3. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 21 –Battle of France — 10 May – 25 June 1940 1 10 May 1940 10:33 Gladiator Tongeren 3 25 May 1940 19:45 M.S.406 north of CambraiPéronne-en-Mélantois 2 24 May 1940 15:20 D.520 Hénin-Liétard 4 26 May 1940 09:10 Hawk 75 Cambrai – 3. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 21 –Action at the Channel and over England — 26 June – 4 July 1940 5 26 June 1940 18:10 Blenheim west of Rotterdam – 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 54 –Action at the Channel and over England — 5 July – 4 September 1940 6 12 August 1940 18:33 Spitfire Canterbury 10 31 August 1940 11:40 Hurricane Eastchurch 7 15 August 1940 19:27 Spitfire southeast of Dover 11 31 August 1940 11:42 Hurricane Eastchurch 8 16 August 1940 13:13 Spitfire Calais 12? 4 September 1940 10:10 Hurricane Folkestone 9 18 August 1940 14:40 Hurricane off Ramsgate 13? 9 September 1940 18:40 Spitfire Tunbridge – 7. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 54 –Action at the Channel and over England — 5 September – October 1940 14 30 September 1940 14:35 Spitfire Tunbridge 16 9 October 1940 16:38? Spitfire Chatham 30 September 1940 Spitfire 17 20 October 1940 15:40 Spitfire London 15 9 October 1940 14:00 Spitfire Ashford – Stab III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 54 –Action at the Channel and over England — October – November 1940 18 27 October 1940 10:30 Hurricane east of Tonbridge 19 11 November 1940 13:17 Spitfire Margate – 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 54 –Balkan Campaign — 29 March – 3 May 1941 20 6 April 1941 17:30 Bf 109 Petrovgrad 21 7 April 1941 14:20 IK-2 Martinac – 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 54 –Operation Barbarossa — 22 June – 5 December 1941 22 23 June 1941 11:50 SB-2 Kėdainiai 31 24 July 1941 19:55 SB-2 Duo 23 30 June 1941 07:05 SB-3 DünaburgKėdainiai 32 10 September 1941 14:50 I-18 (MiG-1) Demyansk 24 30 June 1941 07:09 SB-3 Dünaburg 33 11 September 1941 09:45 I-18 (MiG-1) Demyansk 25 30 June 1941 12:35 SB-3 Dünaburg 34 15 September 1941 15:15 DB-3 Krasnoye Selo 26 30 June 1941 15:10 DB-3? Dünaburg 35 15 September 1941 15:25 DB-3 Krasnoye Selo 27 6 July 1941 18:40 SB-3 southeast of Ostrov 36 21 September 1941 07:05 I-153 Krasnogvardeysk 28 6 July 1941 18:41 SB-3 southeast of Ostrov 37 7 October 1941 09:40 ground-attack aircraft Krasny Bor 29 6 July 1941 18:45 SB-3 southeast of Ostrov 38 6 November 1941 10:37 ground-attack aircraft Kolpino 30 15 July 1941 19:15 SB-3 Orly 39 1 December 1941 09:42 I-18 (MiG-1) Mostowaja – 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 54 –Eastern Front — 6 December 1941 – 30 April 1942 40 25 April 1942 11:30 MiG-3 Leningrad – 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 54 –Eastern Front — 1 May 1942 – 3 February 1943 41 28 August 1942 11:30 Il-2 PQ 10191, Kilosi 49 22 September 1942 05:35 MiG-3 PQ 10354, Beresowka 42 1 September 1942 09:26 LaGG-3 PQ 10191, Kilosi 50 29 September 1942 16:08 LaGG-3 PQ 00231, Neva-Bend 43 1 September 1942 12:10 LaGG-3 PQ 10153, Rabetschj 51 17 December 1942 10:51 Il-2 PQ 46131, Sychyovka 44 2 September 1942 13:50 Il-2 PQ 10183, Estonskij 52 17 December 1942 11:23 Il-2 PQ 47791, Sychyovka 45 2 September 1942 14:00 Il-2 PQ 10184, Gaitolowoeast of Mga 53 29 December 1942 09:52 Il-2 PQ 07583, Koskino 46 10 September 1942 17:04 Il-2 PQ 10183, Tortolowo 54 30 December 1942 09:55 Il-2 PQ 07672, Velikiye Luki southeast of Velikiye Luki 47 15 September 1942 06:02 LaGG-3 PQ 10113Shlisselburg 55 30 December 1942 10:12 LaGG-3 PQ 07534, Velikiye Luki north of Velikiye Luki 48 15 September 1942 15:20 LaGG-3 PQ 10113, Shlisselburg 56 14 January 1943 11:37 LaGG-3 PQ 07671, Velikiye Luki southeast of Velikiye Luki – 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 54 –Western Front — 27 March – 1 August 1943 ? 17 April 1943 12:45 B-17 near Groß Köhren 57 27 July 1943 20:20 Spitfire west of Zandvoort – Stab IV. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders" –Eastern Front — 1 August – 31 December 1943 58 26 September 1943 16:37 Yak-1 south of Jantschetznok 59 27 September 1943 13:32 La-5 east-northeast of Ssusslowka

Awards Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (17 September 1939) 1st Class Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe (28 September 1940) German Cross in Gold on 24 December 1942 as Oberleutnant in the 9./Jagdgeschwader 54 Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 7 March 1941 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 9./Jagdgeschwader 54

Publications Bob, Hans-Ekkehard (2003). Betrayed Ideals, Memoirs of a Luftwaffe Fighter Ace. Cerberus Publishing Ltd. . Bob, Hans-Ekkehard (2011). Jagdgeschwader 54 — Die Piloten mit den grünen Herzen (in German). Aachen, Germany: Helios Verlags- und Buchvertriebsgesellschaft. .