The signatories
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Captain Otto A. Boehner
Joined the German Luftwaffe in 1935. After primary training in
gliders and a degree in mechanical engineering, Boehner was transferred
to fighter pilot training, followed by a posting to JG53, where
he flew Me 109´s as a line pilot until the April 1942,
and later as Technical Officer of that unit. In the summer of
1943, Boehner was posted to the experimental flying unit Erprobungskommando
16 in Bad Zwischenahn, Northern Germany, where the Messerschmitt
Me 163 Komet was test flown prior to entering the actual combat
theater. Boehner played an influential role in the test flying
and development of the Komet from the beginning, and was finally
promoted to Staffelkapitän (squadron commander) of 2./JG
400. He flew 16 actual combat missions in the Me 163. By the
end of the war, Boehner was taken POW by U.S. troops and interned
until July of 1945.
Decorations include: EK I and II, fighter pilot clasp in Gold. |
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Sergeant Rolf "Bubi" Glogner
Glogner was accepted for pilot training in May 1942 and posted
to various Luftwaffe training units in Germany, Poland,and France.
Graduated in March 1943. First posting with the fighter bomber
unit Schlachtgeschwader 101 in Reims, France. Then on to fighter
training on Me 109s and FW 190s in Casseaux, Southern France.
Promotion to Corporal Pilot, and transfer to JG 52 on the Eastern
Front in November 1943, where he fought in all of the important
battles in this theater and period of WW II, such as the battle
of the Donez, the bridgehead at Kuban, Crimea, and Dnjepropetrowsk.
Award of the combat fighter pilot badge in Gold. Subsequently,
Glogner was posted to the experimental flying unit Erprobungskommando
16 in Bad Zwischenahn, Northern Germany, where he started flight-testing
the Me 163. Transferred to the operational 2nd Staffel of JG
400 at Venlo, Holland, then to Brandis near Leipzig, Germany,
where he gained an aerial victory in the Me 163 when he shot
down a Mosquito over Leipzig on March 16th, 1945. This was followed
by his promotion to Sergeant and the award of the Eisernes Kreuz
(EK I). Before the war ended, Glogner was once more transferred
to another unit, JG 7 near Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Decorations include: EK I, fighter pilot clasp in Gold. |
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Sergeant Kurt Schiebeler
Kurt Schiebeler joined the Luftwaffe on the 1st of April 1940.
After graduating from pilot school, he flew with Jagdgeschwader
54 (JG 54) as Walter Nowotny´s wingman and won his first
three victories in this Eastern Front unit, one Lak3 and two
IL2s. In September of 1943, Schiebeler was posted to a subdivision
of the Me 163 test flying unit Erprobungskommando 16, which was
stationed at Peenemünde, Germany. The flight testing of
the new rocket fighter concept there also involved flights with
the Me 163 being towed by a twin-engined Me 110, and Schiebeler
acted as tow plane pilot on more than 60 flights during this
period. This posting was followed by a transfer to JG 400 in
Bad Zwischenahn, Germany, which was also equipped with the Me
163 Komet. Schiebeler flew 20 missions in the Me163 including
11 flights with enemy contact. He won two victories in the Komet,
both B 17 "Flying Fortress" heavies, and both in October
of 1944. He was finally transferred to a conversion unit near
Prague, Czechoslovakia to fly the Me 262 jet fighter, but hostilities
ended before the unit became operational. |
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First Lieutenant Adolf Niemeyer
Adolf Niemeyer volunteered for Luftwaffe service in 1937 and
served as a flying instructor until 1944, when he was transferred
to Jagdgeschwader 400 (JG 400) to fly the Me 163. He stayed with
this unit until the end of the war, flying a total of more than
30 combat missions in the nimble Komet. In the unit´s history
Niemeyer is credited with the idea to equip the Me 163A with
24 rocket missiles, which were mounted under the wings of the
rocket fighter. As time and resources were getting extremely
tight, there was no time for wind tunnel testing, and so nobody
knew how the Me 163 with its revolutionary wing design would
react aerodynamically to the rockets. Niemeyer didn´t lose
more time in tow testing, but took off under rocket power with
the rocket missiles mounted under the Me 163´s wings instead.
He thus became the first man in history to fly a rocket missile-equipped
rocket-propelled airplane. Niemeyer continued flying after the
war. |
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