Ekkehard Tichy

Ekkehard Tichy (26 August 1922 – 16 August 1944) was a German fighter ace. A Luftwaffe pilot, he was credited with 25 aerial victories. Tichy was killed on 16 August 1944 after ramming a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber with his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 over Hannoversch Münden, Germany. He was posthumously awarded the Knights Cross on 14 January 1945 and promoted to Hauptmann.

Early life and career

Tichy was born on 26 August 1922 in Uničov (), present-day in the Czech Republic, at the time in the bilingual region of Moravia of the First Czechoslovak Republic. Following completion of his flight and fighter pilot training,, Tichy was posted to I. '' Gruppe'' (1st group) of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 53 (JG 53—53rd Fighter Wing) in July 1942. In July 1942, I. ''Gruppe'' of JG 53 was fighting on the Eastern Front, supporting German forces which had launched Case Blue on 28 June, the strategic summer offensive in southern Russia. On 7 July, Army Group A began their advance towards the oil fields in the Caucasus. In September, I. ''Gruppe'' was based at Pitomnik Airfield and fighting Battle of Stalingrad. The ''Gruppe'' flew its last combat missions on the Eastern Front on 26 September. Shortly after, Tichy was transferred to 9. '' Staffel'' (9th squadron) of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 3 "Udet" (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing), a squadron of III. ''Gruppe''.

World War II

World War II in Europe had begun on Friday, 1 September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland. In June 1941, German forces had launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. In October 1943, III. ''Gruppe'' of JG 3 was also based at Pitomnik Airfield and commanded by ''Major'' Wolfgang Ewald while Tichy's 9. ''Staffel'' was under command of ''Oberleutnant'' Wilhelm Lemke. Following the German defeat at Stalingrad and a series of relocations, III. ''Gruppe'' reached an airfield at Kerch. Here the ''Gruppe'' was placed under control of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 52 (JG 52—52nd Fighter Wing) and fought in the Battle of the Caucasus. Here on 20 April, Tichy claimed his first aerial victory, a Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 fighter. On 26 April, III. ''Gruppe'' was ordered to relocate to Kramatorsk. Here on 7 May, Tichy claimed his second aerial victory.

On 19 May, the ''Gruppe'' moved to an airfield named "" (owl) at Chasiv Yar, located approximately southeast of Kramatorsk. Here, the ''Gruppe'' fought in the Battle of Kursk. During this battle, Tichy claimed further aerial victories which included three on 21 July, two Lavochkin La-5 fighters and an Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft, and three LaGG-3 fighters on 31 July, taking his total to 13. III. ''Gruppe'' flew its last combat missions on the Eastern Front on 1 August. The next day, the ''Gruppe'' was ordered to Chasiv Yar and then back to Germany where it was based at Münster-Handorf Airfield. For his achievements on the Eastern Front, Tichy was awarded the both classes of the Iron Cross ().

Defense of the Reich

III. ''Gruppe'' arrived in Münster-Handorf on 3 August where ''Major'' Walther Dahl took over command of the unit. The ''Gruppe'' immediately began preparations for Defense of the Reich () missions and was subordinated to Fighter Leader for the Holland area (). On 25 August. III. ''Gruppe'' moved to an airfield at Bad Wörishofen where they stayed until 18 February 1944. Tichy claimed his first aerial victory in defense of the Reich on 6 September. That day, United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force sent 338 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the 1st and 3rd Bombardment Division to bomb the industrial areas at Stuttgart. III. ''Gruppe'' was scrambled at 10:30 and vectored to Stuttgart where they engaged a formation of approximately 30 B-17 bombers. In this encounter, Tichy was credited with an ''Herausschuss'' (separation shot)—a severely damaged heavy bomber forced to separate from its combat box which was counted as an aerial victory.

On 14 October, during the Second Raid on Schweinfurt, Tichy claimed an ''Herausschuss'' over a B-17 bomber in a location west of Schweinfurt. On 4 November, Tichy was appointed ''Staffelkapitän'' (squadron leader) of 9. ''Staffel'' of JG 3. He succeeded ''Oberleutnant'' Wilhelm Lemke who was transferred. On 19 December, the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force attacked railroad infrastructure at Innsbruck and the Messerschmitt factories at Augsburg. III. ''Gruppe'' of JG 3 was vectored to intercept the formation heading for Innsbruck. There, the ''Gruppe'' without loss of their own claimed eight B-17 bombers shot down, including one by Tichy. On 29 January 1944, III. ''Gruppe'' flew its first combat mission of the year. That day, the USAAF Eighth Air Force sent 863 heavy bombers against railroad infrastructure at Frankfurt. Scrambled at 10:08, III. ''Gruppe'' was vectored by means of Y-Control for fighters to a point of intercept near Mannheim. In this aerial battle, the ''Gruppe'' claimed ten bombers shot down and five further ''Herausschüsse'', including an ''Herausschuss'' by Tichy.

Due to adverse weather conditions, and snow covered runways at Bad Wörishofen, III. ''Gruppe'' moved to Leipheim on 18 February. Here on 23 February during "Big Week", the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force attacked the ball bearing factories at Steyr. At 11:20, III. ''Gruppe'' was scrambled at Leipheim and intercepted the bombers at 12:00 near Steyr. Defending against this attack, Tichy claimed a Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber shot down. The next day, the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force attacked German aircraft manufacturing at Tutow, Posen (Poznań), Kreising and Gotha. That day, Tichy claimed a B-17 bomber shot down from a returning formation in the area south of Steyr. On 25 February, the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force again attacked the Messerschmitt factories at Augsburg. At 12:15 III. ''Gruppe'' intercepted 30 bombers near Mühldorf am Inn without fighter escort. In aerial combat south of Regensburg, Tichy claimed a B-17 bomber shot down.

On 16 March, the USAAF Eighth Air Force sent 740 heavy bombers against German aircraft manufacturing at Augsburg, Ulm and Friedrichshafen. That day, III. ''Gruppe'' only had nine serviceable aircraft available. This small formation was led by Tichy and intercepted the bombers southeast of Stuttgart. In this attack, III. ''Gruppe'' lost one pilot killed in action and three pilots wounded while three aircraft were lost and three further damaged while claiming four bombers shot down, including an ''Herausschuss'' by Tichy. Two days later on 18 March, Tichy had been wounded in one of his eyes during aerial combat with escorting fighters. That day, the USAAF Eighth Air Force attacked aircraft manufacturing and Luftwaffe airfields near Munich and Friedrichshafen. Northwest of Stuttgart, Tichy claimed an escorting North American P-51 Mustang fighter shot down. He then attacked a B-17 bomber but his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 (''Werknummer'' 410554—factory number) was hit in the cockpit. Tichy, who sustained injuries to his eye, was forced to bail out near Ursberg. In consequence, command of 9. ''Staffel'' was passed on to ''Leutnant'' Hans-Martin Stein.

Following his convalescence, Tichy returned to 9. ''Staffel'' in April 1944, again taking command of the ''Staffel'' after Stein was killed in action on 12 April. During this period, he was awarded the Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe () on 15 April and the German Cross in Gold () the following day. In May 1944, Tichy was promoted to ''Oberleutnant'' (first lieutenant). He then volunteered for service with the ''Sturmgruppe'' (assault group) of JG 3. In consequence, command of 9. ''Staffel'' was passed on to ''Leutnant'' Dieter Zink.

With the assault group and death

On 15 April 1944, ''Generalmajor'' Adolf Galland, at the time the ''General der Jagdflieger'' (General of Fighters), had visited IV. ''Gruppe'' of JG 3 at the airfield in Salzwedel. Galland announced that the IV. ''Gruppe'' would be converted to a ''Sturmgruppe'' (assault group), the first of such units, as a means to combat the bomber formations of the USAAF. Similar to the experimental ''Sturmstaffel'' 1 (1st Assault Squadron) of JG 3, the ''Gruppe'' was equipped with the heavily armored variant of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A series. Every pilot of the ''Gruppe'' was asked to sign a contract, declaring that they would commit themselves to pressing attacks on the bombers to point-blank range, and that aerial ramming should be considered. Three days later, ''Hauptmann'' Wilhelm Moritz was officially appointed ''Gruppenkommandeur'' (group commander) of the IV. ''Sturmgruppe'' of JG 3. He replaced ''Hauptmann'' Heinz Lang, who had temporarily led the ''Gruppe'' after its former commander, ''Major'' Friedrich-Karl Müller had been appointed ''Geschwaderkommodore'' (wing commander) on 11 April.

On 3 August, Tichy was appointed ''Staffelkapitän'' of the 10. ''Sturmstaffel'' of JG 3, succeeding ''Leutnant'' Walther Hagenah who had briefly led the ''Sturmstaffel'' after its former commander, ''Leutnant'' Hans Weik had been wounded in combat. That day, Tichy also claimed his first aerial victory with the ''Sturmgruppe''. That day in the afternoon, the USAAF Eighth Air Force attacked the railroad infrastructure and fuel manufacturing southwest Germany. In the combat area north of Strasbourg, Tichy claimed a B-17 bomber shot down. On 9 August, III. ''Gruppe'' defended against an attack aimed at railroad infrastructure in southwest Germany. The ''Gruppe'' was intercepted by escorting fighters over the Black Forest before a consolidate attack on the bombers could be made. Nevertheless, Tichy claimed one of the two B-17 bombers shot down. On 16 August, Tichy was killed in action in a mid-air collision with a B-17 bomber of the 91st Bombardment Group northeast of Schweinfurt. His Fw 190 A-8/R2 (''Werknummer'' 732029) crashed near Althausen and Eichenberg. Posthumously, he was promoted to ''Hauptmann'' (captain) and awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () on 14 January 1945. In consequence, ''Leutnant'' Walther Hagenah was again given command of the 10. ''Sturmstaffel''.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to Heaton, Lewis, Olds and Schulze, Tichy was credited with 25 aerial victories. Obermaier also lists him with 25 aerial victories, 13 on the Eastern Front and 12 on the Western Front, including 11 heavy bombers. Mathews and Foreman, authors of ''Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims'', researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 19 aerial victories, plus three further unconfirmed claims. Of this figure, he claimed 13 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and six over the Western Allies, including five four-engined bombers.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = ''Planquadrat''), for example "PQ 34 Ost 8972". The Luftwaffe grid map () 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 . These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area in size.

Awards

* Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
* German Cross in Gold on 16 April 1944 as ''Leutnant'' in the 9./''Jagdgeschwader'' 3
* Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 15 May 1944 as ''Leutnant'' and pilot
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 14 January 1945 as ''Oberleutnant'' and ''Staffelkapitän'' of the 9.(Sturm-)/''Jagdgeschwader'' 3 "Udet"

Notes

References

Citations

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tichy, Ekkehard
1922 births
1944 deaths
Luftwaffe pilots
German World War II flying aces
Recipients of the Gold German Cross
Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
People from Uničov
German military personnel killed in World War II
Czechoslovak people of German descent
Naturalized citizens of Germany