Gerhard Thyben

Gerhard Thyben (24 February 1922 – 4 September 2006) was a German military aviator who served in the Luftwaffe from 1940 until the end of World War II and later as an instructor with the Colombian Air Force. As a fighter ace, he claimed 157 enemy aircraft shot down in 385 combat missions, five of which over the Western Allies the other 152 were claimed on the Eastern Front.

Born in Kiel, Thyben volunteered for service in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany in 1940. After a period of training at various pilot and fighter pilot schools, he was posted to Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing), operating on the Eastern Front. He claimed his first aerial victory on 26 February 1943. In August 1943, his unit was transferred to Western Front where he claimed five aerial victories. In 1944, Thyben was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54—54th Fighter Wing) which was based on the Eastern Front. In September 1944, Thyben was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 7. Staffel (7th squadron) of JG 54 and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for 116 aerial victories in December. Following his 156th aerial victory, he was injured in combat and received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves in April 1945.

Following World War II, Thyben left Germany and moved Spain, later to Argentina and then to Colombia where he worked for the Colombian Air Force as an instructor. He continued to pursue a career in civil aviation until his retirement. Thyben died on 4 September 2006 in Cali, Colombia.

Early life and career
Thyben was born on 24 February 1922 in Kiel, at the time the capital of the Province of Schleswig-Holstein, a free State of Prussia in the Weimar Republic. He was the son of Fritz Thyben, a manager (Prokurist) with Johannsen & Schmielau, and his wife Lisbeth, née Ebelmann. While in school, Thyben joined the Hitler Youth where he learned to fly the Schneider Grunau 9 glider aircraft. Following graduation from school, he volunteered for military service in the Luftwaffe on 15 July 1940. Until October, he completed his recruit training with Fliegerausbildungs-Regiment 71 (71st Aviators Training Regiment) in Wien-Stammersdorf. He was then transferred to Flugzeugführerschule A/B 113 in Brünn, present-day Brno in the Czech Republic, where he learned to fly the Heinkel He 72 Kadett. He was then transferred to 3./Fliegerausbildungs-Regiment 32 (3rd company of the 32nd Aviators Training Regiment) in Rochefort-en-Terre for further flight training on 14 October. On 15 November he was transferred to another flight school where he was promoted to Gefreiter (Privat First Class) on 1 July 1941.

On 16 September 1941, Thyben was posted to the Jagdfliegervorschule 2 (2nd fighter pilot pre-school), passing this course on 14 December. He was then transferred to the Jagdfliegerschule 5 (5th fighter pilot school) in Wien-Schwechat. There, for disciplinary reasons, he was arrested for six days in April and further five days in May 1942. After he completed his fighter pilot training on 1 November, Thyben was then posted to the 3. Staffel (3rd squadron) of Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost, a specialized training unit for new fighter pilots destined for the Eastern Front, and on 13 November to 1. Staffel of Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Süd. On 13 December 1942, Thyben was posted to the II. Gruppe (2nd group) of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing), named after the World War I fighter ace Ernst Udet. This Gruppe was then based on the southern sector of the Eastern Front and Thyben was assigned to 6. Staffel.

World War II
World War II in Europe began on Friday 1 September 1939, when German forces invaded Poland. Following his posting to JG 3, Thyben travelled to Krakau, present-day Kraków, where he waited for an aircraft to shuttle to his unit on the Eastern Front. On 28 December 1942, Thyben was assigned a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and together with two other Luftwaffe pilots flew to Lemberg, present-day Lviv. Adverse weather conditions delayed his flight east. Seven days later, he flew to Kirovohrad, present-day Kropyvnytskyi, and onwards to Zaporozhye. Due to further delays, Thyben eventually arrived with II. Gruppe of JG 3, then based at Rovenky and commanded by Hauptmann Kurt Brändle, on 22 January 1943.

Thyben had arrived at the front during the closing days of the Battle of Stalingrad which ended in the defeat of the German 6th Army. On 6 February, II. Gruppe retreated 110 km to an airfield near Makiivka where they stayed until 5 April. Flying combat missions along the Mius-Front, Thyben claimed his first aerial victory on 26 February when he shot down a Lend-Lease Douglas A-20 Havoc bomber, also known as "Boston". On 25 May 1943 following his sixth aerial victory, Thyben was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class (Eisernes Kreuz zweiter Klasse).

Defense of the Reich
In early August 1943, II. Gruppe was withdrawn from the Eastern Front for service in Defense of the Reich on the Western Front. The Gruppe spent one-month training in northern Germany before they arrived at the Schiphol airfield near Amsterdam in the Netherlands on 12 September. Thyben claimed his first aerial victory on the Western Front on 8 October. That day the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) attacked the harbor and shipyards at Bremen and the U-boat manufacturing site at Bremen-Vegesack. At 14:08 II. Gruppe was scrambled and took off from Schiphol airfield. The Gruppe intercepted a formation of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers and their escorting Republic P-47 Thunderbolt at 15:00 over the IJsselmeer. In this encounter, II. Gruppe pilots claimed two B-17 bombers shot down, one of which was not confirmed, and a P-47 fighter shot down by Thyben. On 24 October 1943, Thyben was personally awarded the German Cross in Gold (Deutsches Kreuz in Gold) from Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring during a visit at Deelen Airfield. The presentation was made ad hoc when Göring learned that Thyben was credited with 33 aerial victories at the time. Since no spare German Cross was available, Siegfried Knemeyer volunteered his own German Cross which was then pinned on Thyben's uniform. On 3 November, Thyben flew as wingman to the Gruppenkomandeur, Major Brändle, the two got separated during aerial combat and Brändle was killed in action.

Thyben suffered from abdominal pain caused by lactose intolerance, the root cause not understood at the time. The pain was particularly severe while flying at high altitudes. In consequence, a Luftwaffe doctor advised to transfer Thyben to the Eastern Front where aerial combat for the most part took place below an altitude of 4000 m. On 20 April 1944, Thyben was informed that he was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54—54th Fighter Wing). He arrived with JG 54 on 24 April. Two days later he was assigned to 5. Staffel which was based at Idritsa. At the time, 5. Staffel was commanded by Oberleutnant Emil Lang while II. Gruppe of JG 54 to which the Staffel was subordinated was headed by Major Erich Rudorffer.

Eastern Front
In September 1944, Thyben was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 7. Staffel of JG 54, succeeding Leutnant Hermann Schleinhege who had temporarily led the Staffel after Hauptmann Franz Eisenach had been transferred on 8 August. On 30 September, Thyben was credited with his 100th aerial victory. He was the 93rd Luftwaffe pilot to achieve the century mark. On 6 December 1944, Thyben was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) after 116 aerial victories. The presentation was made by General der Flieger Kurt Pflugbeil at an airfield in Libau, present-day Liepāja, on 9 December. On 9 February 1945, Thyben was promoted to Oberleutnant (first lieutenant).

Following his 156th aerial victory, Thyben was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub) on 8 April 1945. He was the 822nd member of the German armed forces to be so honored. On 8 May, with his mechanic Albert Mayers as a passenger in the radio compartment, Thyben and his wingman Feldwebel Fritz Hangebrauk flew west. Over the Baltic Sea, he shot down a Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber that was almost certainly looking for German refugee ships escaping from the besieged Courland Pocket. Thyben caught the reconnaissance Pe-2 at 07:54 and achieved what very well might have been the last Focke-Wulf Fw 190 victory of World War II.

Later life
Thyben was released from British captivity on 10 July 1945. On 17 March 1948, Thyben left Kiel heading to Spain by taking a train to Toulouse in southern France. From Toulouse, he headed to the Pyrenees on foot, crossing the border on 22 March. His ambition to continue flying in Spain remained unfulfilled. On 15 February 1949, with the aid of the Falange, a fascist party created by General Francisco Franco in 1937, Thyben borded the Rio Santa Cruz heading to Argentina. Thyben settled in Buenos Aires where he found work in automotive painting. As a member of the German community living in Buenos Aires, Thyben met and married Magda Sonnenberger, the widow of a German officer killed on the Eastern Front. In 1954, the former General der Jagdflieger, Adolf Galland, visited Thyben and rekindled Thyben's desire to fly. With the aid of another former member of the Luftwaffe, Thyben was led to believe that he could fly for Avianca airline in Colombia.

Arriving in Bogotá, Colombia, Thyben, who did not own a civil pilots license, failed to find employment as a pilot. The Colombian Civil Aviation Authority however offered him civil employment with Colombian Air Force as an instructor and consultant. His contract started on 19 July 1954 and was issued for one year with the option of extension. Based at the Captain Germán Olano Moreno Air Base near Puerto Salgar, Thyben flew the F-47, a post World war II designation of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. He was also asked to fly combat missions during La Violencia, a ten-year civil war in Colombia from 1948 to 1958, between the Colombian Conservative Party and the Colombian Liberal Party, which he rejected. His contract was extended by a second year during which he taught at the Marco Fidel Suárez Air Base near Cali, also known as Santiago de Cali. There he flew the Boeing-Stearman Model 75, the North American T-6 Texan and the Beechcraft T-34 Mentor as a flight instructor. During this period, Magda gave birth to their son Gerhard Friedrich Wilhelm.

Thyben's contract with the Colombian Air Force ended after two years of service. Having received a civilian pilots license, he then found work flying air taxis for Aviance (Aerotaxi de Avianca). Based in Bucaramanga, Aerotaxi de Avianca was equipped with the Cessna 195 and de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver. Avianca also operated the Bell 47 helicopter which Thyben learned to fly. A flight accident on 30 December 1960 resulted in his dismissal. Thyben then found work flying agricultural aircraft in Tolima. In 1979, Thyben attended an international fighter pilot meeting held in Fürstenfeldbruck. Among others, the meeting was attended by Douglas Bader, Robert Stanford Tuck, Günther Rall, Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn, Adolf Galland and Walter Scheel. On the return flight to Colombia, Thyben's luggage was lost, including his original Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knight's Cross later showed up again in the United States with a private collector. However, US authorities were unable to confiscate his stolen Knight's Cross and return it. Thyben died on 4 September 2006 in Cali, Colombia.

Aerial victory claims
According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Thyben was credited with 157 aerial victories. Spick also lists him with 157 aerial victories, 152 on the Eastern Front and five on the Western Front, claimed in 385 combat missions. In addition, Obermaier states that he flew 22 close air support missions on which he claimed two aircraft and seven trucks destroyed on the ground. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and state that Thyben was credited with 157 aerial victories. This figure includes 152 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and 5 over the Western Allies.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 34 Ost 79142". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) 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 360 sqmi. These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 x in size.

Awards

 * Iron Cross (1939)
 * 2nd Class (25 May 1943)
 * 1st Class (10 July 1943)
 * Honour Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 6 September 1943 as Unteroffizier and pilot
 * German Cross in Gold on 24 October 1943 as Feldwebel in the 6./Jagdgeschwader 3
 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
 * Knight's Cross on 6 December 1944 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 7./Jagdgeschwader 54
 * 822nd Oak Leaves on 8 April 1945 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 7./Jagdgeschwader 54