Günther Josten

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Günther Josten (born November 7, 1921 in Rhynern ; † July 7, 2004 in Aurich ) was a German fighter pilot and bearer of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves during the Second World War and later in the air force of the German armed forces .

Life

Wehrmacht

Günther Josten joined the Air Force in January 1940 and joined the Trondheim Fighter Group on November 1, 1941 , which was stationed across Scandinavia. At the end of August 1942 he was transferred to the 3rd squadron of I. Group of Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51), which was deployed on the Eastern Front. There he succeeded on February 23, 1943, the first of a total of 178 confirmed kills. In the summer of 1943, Josten often succeeded in shooting down several Soviet planes, but in September of that year he was transferred to Air War School 2 in Fürstenfeldbruck near Munich for six months . After he shot down two A-20 Havoc bombers on February 5, 1944 , he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross as a sergeant major .

On May 2, 1944, Günther Josten was promoted to lieutenant after his 90th victory in the air , and on September 18, he took over command of the 3rd squadron. Here he was able to record his 100th aerial victory on July 20, 1944. After 161 kills, on March 28, 1945, Josten was the 810th soldier to be awarded the Knight Cross. Shortly before the end of the war, he was first lieutenant (since November 1, 1944) in command of the IV. Group of JG 51. Josten achieved his last aerial victories on April 25, 1945. Josten flew a total of around 420 missions during the war. Of its 178 confirmed aerial victories, over 60 were Ilyushin Il-2 aircraft and a four-engine B-17 bomber . He also flew around 80 Jabo missions, with 25 unconfirmed aerial victories. To this day, Josten is one of the best young fighter pilots who was never shot down himself. His brother Reinhard Josten was also a fighter pilot in JG 51, but died on April 21, 1942 during an operation.

armed forces

After the war, Günther Josten joined the Bundeswehr. Among other things, he was from May 29, 1962 to March 31, 1967 commodore of Jagdgeschwader 71 of the Air Force as the direct successor of Erich Hartmann .

During his time as a commodore, the squadron was converted from the Canadair Saber to the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter and the subsequent Starfighter affair with many fatal accidents, about which he was also questioned by politicians.

On March 31, 1981 Günther Josten retired as a colonel in the general staff . He belonged to the aviation community of German armed forces .

Awards

See also

literature

  • Günther Josten: Combat report - war diaries 1939–1945. Commodore in the Starfighter Crisis . Ed .: Kurt Braatz and Wilhelm Göbel. Twenty-nine six, Moosburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-9811615-7-1 .
  • Ernst Obermaier: The Luftwaffe knight's cross bearers, fighter pilots 1939–1945 . Dieter Hoffmann, Mainz 1989, ISBN 3-87341-065-6 , p. 81 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günther Josten on the website of the publisher NeunundzwanzigSechs
  2. ↑ Information about the Drontheim hunting group at ww2.dk, accessed on September 14, 2011
  3. ↑ Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen". Air Force Press and Information Center, June 20, 2011, accessed October 15, 2011 .
  4. ↑ Starfighter crashes . In: Der Spiegel . No. 32 , 1966 ( online ). Quote: “The member of the Bundestag called the 'Richthofen' squadron chief Colonel Günter Josten in Wittmund. Damm : 'Josten confirmed to me that Arndt jumped into the North Sea in a gray flight combination.' "
  5. ↑ fliegergemeinschaft.de
  6. ↑ a b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 424.
personal data
SURNAME Josten, Günther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German air force officer and fighter pilot
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Rhynern
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 2004
Place of death Aurich