Artur Pipan

Artur Pipan (born December 5, 1919 in Velden , Carinthia ; † August 1, 2009 ) was an Austrian officer who served in the Armed Forces of the First Republic of Austria , in the Air Force of the Wehrmacht and in the Austrian Armed Forces . He retired as a brigadier .

Life

Pipan joined the Air Force of the German Armed Forces on September 30, 1937 and was accepted into the Air Force of the Wehrmacht after Austria was annexed. There he graduated from the Stuka school in Würzburg and Insterburg from 1939 to 1940. After he was promoted to lieutenant on April 1, 1940 , he moved to the 5th Squadron of Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in February 1941 . This was with its dive fighter of the type Junkers Ju 87 , on the Italian Mediterranean island of Sicily, in Comiso and flew missions over the Mediterranean Sea and on the British island of Malta. He was awarded the Luftwaffe's Cup of Honor on November 24, 1941, and the German Cross in Gold on September 24, 1942 . After he was promoted to first lieutenant on April 7, 1943 , he took over the 5th squadron as squadron captain. On April 20, 1944, two weeks after receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross , he took over the business of squadron adjutant on the staff of the squadron, which has since been renamed Battle Squadron 1. There he was promoted to captain on May 1st and took over the post of group commander of the 1st group of battle squadron 1 on March 2nd, 1945. It was at this post that he saw the end of the war. In total he had reached 758 enemy flights.

In 1956 he joined the air force of the Federal Army and was the first jet aircraft pilot there. He led various units, most recently the 2nd Air Regiment, and retired as a brigadier on January 1, 1982 .

Web links

• Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Section L – R. (PDF) 2016, p. 603 , accessed on May 22, 2018 (English).