Kurt Ubben

The unit transferred to the Balkans in April 1941. Ubben claimed a No. 33 Squadron Hawker Hurricane fighter over Greece on 19 April, although his Bf 109 E-7 (Werknummer 5198—factory number) was badly damaged in the engagement and Ubben forced-landed behind Allied lines near Doblatan.[10] He was rescued by a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch and flown back to his unit. No. 33 Squadron claimed four Bf 109s during the battle, though only three were brought down. Among the claimants was RAF ace Marmaduke Pattle, who claimed two Bf 109s shot down. Ubben may have been one of his victims.[11]

Ubben also carried out many ground-attack and fighter-bomber operations against Allied naval forces during mid-1941. On 22 May 1941, Ubben and Oberleutnant Wolf-Dietrich Huy claimed hits on the Royal Navy battleship HMS Warspite.[12] A bomb damaged her starboard 4-inch and 6-inch batteries,[13] ripped open the ship's side and killed 38 men.[14]

Ubben and JG 77 then participated in the invasion of Russia in June 1941. He claimed a 21st victory on 25 July. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) in September for 32 air kills, 26 aircraft destroyed on the ground and some 15 armoured vehicles claimed destroyed.

In September 1941, Hauptmann Ubben was promoted to Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of III./JG 77. He achieved 50 kills on 19 October, and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub) on 12 March 1942 for 69 victories. The presentation was made on 5 April 1942 by Adolf Hitler at the Führer Headquarter Wolfsschanze in Rastenburg (now Kętrzyn in Poland). Also present at the award ceremony were the fighter pilots Hauptmann (Captain) Hans Philipp who received the Swords and Oberleutnant Max-Hellmuth Ostermann who also received the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross.[15]

III./JG 77 was then transferred to North Africa, by which time Ubben had 92 victories. He claimed his 100th victory on 14 January 1943. He was the 33rd Luftwaffe pilot to achieve the century mark.[16] On 1 October 1943, Ubben claimed a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress shot down in the vicinity of Livorno, Italy. According to Graham, the B-17 was an aircraft from the 301st Bombardment Group, 352d Bombardment Squadron, lost in the vicinity of Lucca.[17] That day, he was promoted to Major (major).[9] When the Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of JG 77, Oberstleutnant Johannes Steinhoff, went on vacation on 3 October, Ubben temporarily was put in command of JG 77, leading the Geschwader from the command post in Albano.[18]

On 24 October, Ubben received orders to move III. Gruppe to Romania. Leaving all aircraft in Italy, the Gruppe went to Mizil the next day by train.[18] There, it provided aerial protection over the Ploiești oilfields. In Mizil, the Gruppe was equipped with the then outdated Bf 109 G-2, newer variants were unavailable. Training flight operations began on 12 November.[19] On 19 January 1944, General der Jagdflieger, Generalmajor Adolf Galland visited Ubben at Mizil. Galland stressed the importance of the Ploiești fields to the German war effort. He requested the pilots of III. Gruppe to sign an order stating, in case of a last resort, they would have to perform aerial ramming in defense of the oil fields.[20]

JG 2 "Richthofen" ensignia

On 2 March 1944, Oberstleutnant Egon Mayer, Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2— "2nd fighter wing") was killed in action in aerial combat with United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighter aircraft. In consequence, Ubben succeeded Mayer in this command position. JG 2 "Richthofen", named after World War I fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, was based in France and was engaged in Defense of the Reich. Ubben left his former III. Gruppe on 10 March, assuming his new command in March 1944.[21]

On 27 April 1944, Ubben engaged American Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters near Fère-en-Tardenois. In the ensuing combat, Ubben was shot down in Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8/R2. He bailed out but his parachute failed to open either due to insufficient altitude or because of an improperly fastened harness.[21] Ubben is interred at the Saint-Désir-de-Lisieux German war cemetery.[9]

Matthews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found documentation for 93 aerial victory claims, plus 13 further unconfirmed claims. This number includes 16 on the Western Front, including one four-engined bomber, and 77 on the Eastern Front.[22]

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 17692". 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 square miles (930 km²). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 × 4 km in size.[23]

• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (10 May 1940)[54]
  • 1st Class (August 1940)[54]
• German Cross in Gold on 9 December 1941 as Oberleutnant in the 8./Jagdgeschwader 77[55]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 4 September 1941 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 8./Jagdgeschwader 77[56][57]
  • 80th Oak Leaves on 12 March 1942 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the III./Jagdgeschwader 77[56][58]