Gerhard Hubrich

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Gerhard Hubrich
1971-Gerhard-Hubrich-genannt-Küken.jpg
Major d. R. a. D. Gerhard „Küken“ Hubrich as the 5th awardee of the „Kavalier der Lüfte“ (1971); he was close friends with Oberst Theodor Rudolf Rowehl and Generalleutnant Theodor Osterkamp, among others
Birth name Gerhard Erich Siegfried Hubrich
Nickname Küken (chick)
Birth date 30 July 1896 (1896-07-30)
Place of birth Fürstenwalde, Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date 20 October 1972 (1972-10-21) (aged 76)
Place of death Bremen, West Germany
Resting place Bremen-Lesum Cemetery, Germany
Allegiance  German Empire
 Weimar Republic
 National Socialist Germany
Service/branch  Kaiserliche Marine
Freikorps Flag.jpg Freikorps
Luftwaffe eagle.jpg Luftwaffe
Rank Flugmeister
Major
Awards Iron Cross

Gerhard Erich Siegfried Hubrich (30 July 1896 – 20 October 1972) was a German airman; a NCO of the Imperial German Navy in WWI and a reserves officer of the Wehrmacht in WWII. In 1918, the World War I flying ace of the German Naval Air Force (See- or Marineflieger) shot down 12 enemy planes[1] (Luftsiege) and another two with the Luftwaffe in the Second World War, his first on 24 August 1940 (Supermarine Spitfire of the Royal Air Force) during the Battle of Britain (Unternehmen Adlerangriff),[2] making him part of a select club with victories in both conflicts

Life

Torpedobomber der Kaiserlichen Marine.jpg
Gerhard Hubrich, Grabstätte in Bremen-Lesum.jpg

At the beginning of the war, Hubrich was drafted into the Volunteer Naval Air Corps (F.M.F.) in Johannisthal for training purposes. The F.M.F. (Freiwilliges Marine-Flieger-Korps) was set up at the beginning of the war at the suggestion of the Reichstag by the Reich Navy Office (Reichsmarineamt) as a "detachment" of the Navy Aviation Department (MFA). By cabinet order of 29 August 1914, it became an independent department under the commander of the naval aviation departments B.d.L. (Befehlshaber der Marine-Luftfahr-Abteilungen). From the beginning, the F.M.F. had the task of training and providing pilots, observers and mechanics for land and seaplanes. The training on landplanes took place at the Johannisthal airfield and on seaplanes on the Müggelsee in Berlin. From October 1914, sea pilot training was relocated to Putzig.[3] Because he was so young and looked even younger, his comrades gave him the nickname Küken, a freshly hatched chick.

He became a reconnaissance pilot from Sylt (Seeflugstation List as of August 1915) and Helgoland (Seeflugstation Helgoland as of 25 June 1916), at this time also being commanded to bomb courses in Wilhelmshaven and Norderney. On 20 September 1916, he was promoted to Flugobermaat.[4] He then served from 12 October 1916 to 7 March 1917 in a special torpedo launch test squad (Torpedo-Flugzeug Sonderkommando Flensburg / III. T-Gruppe) that tested aerial torpedo attack techniques. Since 7 March 1917, he served in the 1st Torpedo Aircraft Squadron in Courland (1. F-Staffel or Frontstaffel in Kurland) and on 9 September 1917 he took part in the last torpedo attack on the western naval theater.

On 26 March 1918, promoted to Flugmeister in that year, he was commanded to the "Seefrosta", the Seefrontstaffel "Flandern". The squadron, with Rumpler C.VII, later Fokker D.VII, flew land-based fighter and reconnaissance aircraft in support of naval aviation at Zeebrugge (Seeflugstation I) and Ostend (Seeflugstation II) with air base in Vlissegen and was the flying component for the seaward extension of the land-based trench front. Between 1 and 15 September 1918, his squadron formed the Marine Field Fighter Squadron IV or Marine-Feld-Jagdstaffel IV (MFJ IV, although other sources state MFJ V), which was subordinate to the Marine Fighter Wing or Marine-Jagdgeschwader under Gotthard Sachsenberg. Hubrich mainly flew the Hansa-Brandenburg C.I and the Albatros D.V. He gained his last two victories on 4 November 1918 (two RAF Sopwith Camel). He was then transferred to the Marine-Landflieger-Abteilung (L.F.A.).

In January 1919, he joined a flying wing of the Freikorps, the Kampfgeschwader „Sachsenberg“. One of the great deeds of the Sachsenbergers was the preparation of the coup to liberate Riga from the Red Army on 22 May 1919, with Hans Baron von Manteuffel at the helm. When the support of the German military failed at the end of 1919, the wing was relocated to its homeland and partly taken over by the Provisional Reichswehr. He then worked for Sablatnig Aviation[5] (later named Lloyd Luftverkehr Sablatnig) and then worked as a pilot in Denmark and Norway.

In the interwar period he also took part in competitions, such as round flights in Germany and Europe. It can be assumed whether he was also active in the passenger flight service at Caspar-Werke, but he did compete for them in 1925 (Deutscher Rundflug with CT 2 D-683). At the Europarundflug 1934,[6] the fourth and last FAI challenge prize of the international sightseeing flight between 28 August and 16 September in Warsaw, he did well.[7] Already since 1926, he was connected to the camouflaged military aviation of the future Luftwaffe as well as naval aviators of the Kriegsmarine as test pilot of the Severa GmbH (stationed in Norderney, later in Kiel-Holtenau) and the E-Stelle See in Travemünde. He also continued to function as a test pilot, including for the Bayrische Flugzeugwerke (Messerschmitt Weserflug Bf 163)[8] and as chief pilot (Chefpilot) of the Weser-Flugzeugbau GmbH (founded 1934), [9] flying a Ju 52 D-AHIO in january 1939 and the Weserflug We 271 on 26 June 1939.

WWII

Hubrich served as a reserve officer in World War II. In the Polish Campaign and in the Western Campaign in 1940, he belonged to the staff of the 1st (fighter) group of the 2nd Training Wing as commander of the I. (Jagd-)Gruppe/Lehrgeschwader 2. At 8.05 p.m. in the London area, he shot down a Supermarine Spitfire of the Royal Air Force with its Messerschmitt Bf 109 E. A second victory is claimed but not documented (unconfirmed). His last rank was a Major der Reserve.

Family

Gerhard Hubrich married (it was his second marriage[10]) on 8 May 1943 in Bremen-Burglesum the much younger Renate Heberle (b. 17 October 1916 in Altenburg), daughter of Otto Emil Heberle (1876–1952)[11] from Friedrichssegen and Meta Franziska Zimmermann (1882–1969). They had two daughters: Marion (b. 12 June 1939 in Hamburg; ∞ Joseph Wieseler, their son Stephan Joseph Wieseler was born on 31 July 1968) and Karin (b. 14 August 1941 in Konigstein near Pirna). Born years before the marriage, he either adopted them or fathered them out of wedlock. Both girls carried his name after the marriage. Renate, possibly ill, died tragically on 24 August 1945 at the age of only 28 in Bremen-Vegesack.[12] She was buried in Bremen-Lesum where Gerhard was also laid to rest in 1972.

Awards and decorations

Gallery

  • Freiwilliges Marine-Flieger-Korps

  • Seefrontstaffel "Flandern"

  • Flugmeister Gerhard Hubrich (left) with his mechanics of the Marine-Feld-Jagdstaffel (MFJ)

  • Coloured artwork depicting Gerhard Hubrich's Albatros aircraft (Albatros D.V) with hatching chicken egg

  • Letter from Josef Jacobs to Gerhard Hubrich after WWII

Works

  • Aus dem Leben eines „Alten Adlers“ – Küken Hubrich erzählt, in: Jägerblatt. Mitteilungsblatt für Angehörige von Jagd-, Nachtjagd-, Zerstörer- und Schlachtfliegerverbänden, Nr. 12, Gemeinschaft der Jagdflieger e. V., 14 December 1965
  • Zwischen den Meilensteinen der Luftfahrt – Küken Hubrich erzählt aus seinem Fliegerleben, Luftfahrt-Verlag Walter Zuerl, Steinebach am Wörthsee 1969

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ WWI victories of Gerhard Hubrich
  2. ↑ Hubrich, Gerhard "Küken", aircrewremembered.com
  3. ↑ Marineflieger an der Front (Teil IX)
  4. ↑ Gerhard Hubrich, kaisers-blaue-flieger.de
  5. ↑ In March 1919, Josef Sablatnig's "Luftverkehr Sablatnig" was one of the first German airlines to be licensed and started scheduled services in the same year. In October 1920, there was a merger with the "Lloyd-Luftdienst" Bremen to form "Lloyd-Luftverkehr Sablatnig GmbH", which in 1923 became the "Deutsche Aero Lloyd AG”. On 16 June 1945, Josef Sablatnig was arrested in Berlin by the Soviet occupying power and transferred to the former Buchenwald concentration camp, where he was murdered on 28 February 1946.
  6. ↑ Europarundflug 1934
  7. ↑ Vor bald 90 Jahren: INTERNATIONALER RUNDFLUG 1934
  8. ↑ Bayrische Flugzeugwerke Bf 163
  9. ↑ Weser-Flugzeugbau We 271
  10. ↑ The certificate for his first marriage can be found on ancestry.de. In this document he spells his first name as Gerhardt. Also his Bundesrchiv file in Berlin has this spelling.
  11. ↑ Otto Emil Heberle
  12. ↑ Renate Hubrich, née Heberle
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