Hans-Ekkehard Bob


Hans Ekkehard Bob 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, and began his flight training in June 1937.

World War II

On 22 June 1940, I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 21 was withdrawn from France and moved to München Gladbach, present-day Mönchengladbach.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.
On 5 September, Bob was temporarily appointed Staffelkapitän of 7. Staffel of JG 54, replacing Oberleutnant Günther Scholz. Scholz was temporarily transferred to the Gruppenstab 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 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 Gruppe was withdrawn from combat operation, relocating to Belgrad-Semlin.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 and supported the 16th and 18th Army as well as the Panzer Group 4 in their strategic objective to reach Leningrad.
On 17 April 1943, Bob had a mid-air collision with a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber southwest of Bremen. He successfully bailed out of his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-4 and landed safely. On 1 August, Bob was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of IV. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders". 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 of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet", 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, 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.

Awards

Publications

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