Abstract
“Above the clouds, the freedom must be boundless.” This verse from a hit song resonates in my ears. I was fascinated by the American and German fighter jets roaring over the “Fortress Eifel.” A color vision deficiency shattered my own dream of becoming a fighter pilot, but I still served in the air force. I experienced the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia as a member of the German Bomber Wing 33, whose sole mission was to drop nuclear bombs on predefined targets. I saw “the bomb” many times. I learned to lead. And to this day I am glad that all the events in this chapter transpired without a bomb ever falling.
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Notes
- 1.
Erhard Gödert and Andris Freutel from Wittlich, Bruno Barzen from Flussbach, Peter Bayer from Greimerath, Mike Koske from Ulmen, Frank Bischof from Kerpen/Eifel, Kurt Leyendecker from Deudesfeld, Reiner Heck from Hillesheim, Guido Dedisch from Bitburg, Alexander Matzner from Kaisersesch, Axel Pütz from Thür, Albert Weber from Nachtsheim, and Olli Kootz from Kehrig were fighter pilots or flight systems officers. Andris Freutel became a brigadier general. Peter Becker from Binsfeld and Jürgen Bücker from Großlittgen flew transports.
- 2.
“Eigentlich kann sie so nicht weiter führen. Ein Gespräch mit Generalmajor a. D. Christian Trull über die Bundeswehr und über das Wesen des Soldaten,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 27, 2017, p. 9.
- 3.
The incident happened on March 6, 1968. The report in the news magazine Stern, “Giftgas vom Leutnant” appeared after Norbert Theisen’s death on March 17, 1968, pp. 240–241.
- 4.
The 33rd Fighter-Bomber Wing was renamed the 33rd tactical Air Force Wing on October 1, 2013.
- 5.
The security unit S in Büchel had the top personnel and was charged with a special task: guarding the “special weapons.” This required the constant presence of a large number of specially trained soldiers, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, no exceptions. They worked in cooperation with US soldiers. Source: http://www.sondereinheiten.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4199.
- 6.
Letter from Wehrbereichsverwaltung IV, Az 39-90 G 72/68 dated December 4, 1968.
- 7.
See Rainer Pommerin (2016). The author writes about the German pilots who were sitting in the cockpits of nuclear-armed planes during the alert.
- 8.
- 9.
See also Jörg Link (2015). Professor Link wrote me a letter about this topic on November 11, 2016.
- 10.
The Starfighter was progressively replaced by Tornados and were for good removed from active duty on May 22, 1991.
- 11.
http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/50-jahre-starfighter-kauf-a-948207.html, accessed on March 20, 2017.
- 12.
Another Starfighter from the 33rd Bomber Wing crashed in Neuhütten in the Hunsrück region, not far from my wife Cecilia’s parents’ home.
- 13.
Because of a sports injury that had not healed properly, I remained on the military payroll for an additional three months until I began my university studies in April 1969. On November 11, 1969, I was promoted in Bonn to lieutenant in the reserves.
- 14.
The German original verse is: “Meine Augen habe schon/jenen winz’gen Punkt verloren/Nur von fern‘ klingt monoton/das Summen der Motoren.”
References
Hannah Ahrendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: Ein Bericht von der Banalität des Bösen, Munich: Piper 2011.
Alfred Chandler, Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1969, p. 13.
Peter E. Davies, F-104 Starfighter Units in Combat, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2014, p. 16
Jörg Link, Schreckmomente der Menschheit: Wie der Zufall Geschichte schreibt, Marburg: Tectum Verlag 2015, p. 32.
Hannsdieter Loy, Jahre des Donners—Mein Leben mit dem Starfighter—Ein Zeitzeugenroman, Rosenheim: Rosenheimer Verlagshaus, 2012, beginning with p. 111
Hannsdieter Loy, Jahre des Donners—Mein Leben mit dem Starfighter, Rosenheim: Rosenheimer Verlagshaus 2014
Peter Ochs, Wir vom Jahrgang, 1947, Gudensberg: Wartberg-Verlag, 2016, p. 5
Rainer Pommerin, “Aus Kammhubers Wundertüte, Die Beschaffung der F-104 Starfighter für die Luftwaffe der Bundeswehr,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, November 15, 2016, p. 8.
Portrait “Erhard Gödert aus Wittlich—Starfighter-Pilot und Manager”, in: Hermann Simon (Hrsg.), Kinder der Eifel—erfolgreich in der Welt, Daun: Verlag der Eifelzeitung, 2008, p. 67.
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Claas Siano, Die Luftwaffe und der Starfighter. Rüstung im Spannungsfeld von Politik, Wirtschaft und Militär, Berlin: Carola Hartmann Miles Verlag, 2016
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Simon, H. (2021). Years of Thunder. In: Many Worlds, One Life. Copernicus, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60758-6_3
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