Waldemar Wübke

Waldemar Wübke was a Luftwaffe fighter pilot during World War II.

He was one of the few Luftwaffe fighter pilots to survive combat duty over the entire course of the war. Wübke flew various types of German fighters in combat and was credited with a total of 15 victories over Allied aircraft. In 1940 as a Leutnant, Wübke flew sorties with pilots of the 9. Staffel, III./Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54) during the Battle of Britain. His last combat flights were made in 1945 flying "Platzschutz" or airfield defense missions for General Adolf Galland's Me 262 jet squadron, Jagdverband 44 (JV 44).

Along with a handful of experienced fighter pilots, the now Hauptmann Wübke flew the outstanding piston-engined Fw190D-9 fighter in an effort to protect the jets of JV 44 from attack by Allied fighters during take-off. Their unit was based close to the jets at München-Riem, Germany. Since the airfield at München-Reim was heavily protected from Allied aircraft by flak batteries, the Fw 190Ds of the Würger-Staffel had to be made instantly recognizable as ‘friendlies’ to the flak battery crews. To facilitate this, the under surfaces of many of the airfield defense fighters were painted bright red with white stripes.

JV 44's unofficial unit crest was a white circle trimmed with red, with a black and white checker board in the middle, and most of the Fw190Ds used in this unit wore this emblem. Hauptmann Waldemar Wübke regularly flew the Fw190D-9 coded “Rot 3” (Red 3). Wübke painted his personal emblem on the port side of the fuselage under the cockpit of his aircraft; the words “Im Auftrage der Reichsbahn” ("In service of the Reich Railway") in white lettering. This was a sarcastic reference to Wübke's loathing of fighter-bomber missions, many of which he was forced to undertake in his early career as a combat pilot. In his opinion trains were better used to carry bombs, not fighter aircraft.

The ability and success of Wübke and his fellow ‘Würger-Staffel’ pilots is evidenced by the fact that very few Me 262s of JV 44 were destroyed on takeoff, and most that were pounced on by Allied fighters were destroyed on landing at various other landing strips.

Wübke died in a plane crash in South America in the early 1950s.

MORE INFORMATION:

According to a passenger manifest dated 6-3-1956, Waldemar Wubke arrived at Idlewild Airport, New York on an airplane owned by Avianca Airlines flight 772 from Medellin, Columbia with 5 other passengers. This is from Ancestry.com

Source Citation Year: 1956 Description Day or Roll Number: Roll 8729 Source Information

Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls); Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36; National Archives, Washington, D.C.Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; (National Archives Microfilm Publication T715, 8892 rolls); Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives, Washington, D.C.Supplemental Manifests of Alien Passengers and Crew Members Who Arrived on Vessels at New York, New York, Who Were Inspected for Admission, and Related Index, compiled 1887 - 1952; (National Archives Microfilm Publication A3461, 21 rolls); RG 85, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787 - 2004; Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Source Description This database is an index to the passenger lists of ships arriving from foreign ports at the port of New York from 1820-1957. In addition, the names found in the index are linked to actual images of the passenger lists. Information contained in the index includes given name, surname, age, gender, arrival date, port of arrival, port of departure and ship name. Viewer built on Microsoft Technology

Also Waldemar Wubke is listed as "Herrn Flugkapitän Waldemar Wübke, Pilot der Avianca" from an article on stamp collecting. http://search.testberichte.ebay.de/gds/scadta-los-primeros-cincuenta-anos-de-correo-areo/10000000012185497/g.html

"Die Autoren sind vor allem zu Dank verpflichtet, Herrn Flugkapitän Waldemar Wübke, Pilot der Avianca, der Nachfolgerin der SCADTA. Er hat geholfen durch Auskünfte von den früheren Gesellschaftern der ersten Flugverkehrsgesellschaft, Angaben zu bekommen über die ersten Ausgaben und hat Fotokopien der erwähnten Veröffentlichungen, der philatelistischen Bibliothek der Stadt München verschafft."

Awards

 * German Cross in Gold on 20 October 1942 as Oberleutnant in the III./Jagdgeschwader 54