Hans-Ekkehard Bob

Hans Ekkehard Bob (24 January 1917 – 12 August 2013) was a Nazi 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On 22 June 1940, I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 21 (JG 21–21st Fighter Wing) was withdrawn from France and moved to München Gladbach, present-day Mönchengladbach.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 12000 ft. 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 (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) 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 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 (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 IV. Gruppe of JG 3, replacing Hauptmann Gustav Frielinghaus in this capacity.

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 (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 (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. ISBN 1-84145-031-6.
 * Bob, Hans-Ekkehard (2011). Jagdgeschwader 54 — Die Piloten mit den grünen Herzen (in German). Aachen, Germany: Helios Verlags- und Buchvertriebsgesellschaft. ISBN 978-3-86933-041-9.