Fighter Squadron 7

Jagdfliegergeschwader 7 ; "Wilhelm Pieck" ; (JG-7)
	; ; Association badge JG-7
active	July 1, 1956 to October 23, 1989
Country	GDR
Armed forces	NVA
Armed forces	NVA Air Force
Branch of service	Aviation forces
Type	Type of fighter pilot forces
Strength	915 soldiers and around 100 civilian employees
Insinuation	1. LVD
Squadron location	Drewitz
Web presence	JG-7
Last commander
Squadron commander	Lieutenant Colonel Lutz Kleine
insignia
squadron	III
Aircraft
Fighter aircraft / ; helicopter	40 × MiG-21M
education	2 × MiG-21U

The Jagdfliegergeschwader 7 (JG-7) bore the honorary title of Wilhelm Pieck and was a flying unit in regimental strength of the NVA air forces in direct subordination of the 1st Air Defense Division .

JG-7, JBG-37 Drewitz

JG-7, JBG-37 Cottbus-Drewitz airfield

history

The forerunner of the squadron was the 2nd Air Regiment set up in Kamenz from October 1952 , camouflage designation Volkspolizeidienststelle (VPD) 600/2, on December 1st 1954 renamed 1st Command of the 2nd " Aeroklub " in Drewitz (also KVP-Dienststelle 700), next to the VP-Luft one of the camouflaged predecessor organizations of the air forces of the GDR. The first pilots and ground crew received their training both in the GDR and in the Soviet Union.

In June 1953, the 2nd Air Regiment moved to its home base in Drewitz and began flight operations in the same year with Jak-18 training aircraft, which for reasons of disguise were provided with the emblem of the Red Army . In 1955 and 1956, school hunters Jak-11 were added. On September 26, 1956, the association was officially taken over as Fliegergeschwader 7 (FG-7) in the National People's Army, which was founded in the same year. At this time, the FG-7 already had nine MiG-15bis jet fighters and four MiG-15UTI trainers. From 1959, the training to the more powerful MiG-17 took place . On January 1, 1961, the unit was given the final designation Jagdfliegergeschwader 7 (JFG-7), the abbreviation was reduced to JG-7 over time. On November 1 of the same year, the unit was subordinated to the 1st LVD in Cottbus, until then it was part of the 3rd LVD (Air Defense Division ). In 1970 the squadron received the first MiG-21 interceptors of the SPS and MF versions. From 1964 to 1971, the target display squadron 21 (ZDS-21) with Jak-18 and Il-28 front bombers was integrated in JG-7 . It was transferred to the 3rd Air Defense Division on April 24, 1971. At the same time, the establishment of Jagdbombenfliegergeschwader 31 (JBG-31) began, which was completed on October 1. Both units were stationed at the same location in the future. On March 1, 1972, the squadron was given the traditional name " Wilhelm Pieck ." From 1983 to 1986, the JG-7 had 40 MiG-21Ms and six two-seat MiG-21U school fighters.

On Saturday, March 16, 1985, Cottbus narrowly escaped a catastrophe when, shortly before 9 a.m., a driverless MiG-21 M of Jagdfliegergeschwader 7 crashed into what was then student dormitory III of the Cottbus Engineering College. Fortunately, only 2 people were injured, as the 21st “Friedrich Engels” POS (now Max-Steenbeck-Gymnasium ) in the immediate vicinity was not affected by the crash .

In 1989, against the background of the CSCE negotiations, on the instructions of the National Defense Council of the GDR on June 16, 1989, it was decided to disband the squadron with 915 soldiers, which was carried out at the end of the same year. The existing aircraft technology was handed over to other units or scrapped. The last flight operation took place on August 31, 1989. On October 23, the JG-7 was officially decommissioned.

Commanders JG-7

Rank, name	period of service	comment
Major Wolfgang Reuter	1956-1959
Major Johannes Richter	1959-1965
Major Siegfried Mittelbach	1965-1968	later colonel in the LSK / LV command
Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard Schumann	1968-1970
Colonel Walter Große	1970-1976	previously JG-3 1975 Honored military pilot of the GDR
Lieutenant Colonel Wolfgang Wehner	1976-1988
Lieutenant Colonel Gunther Junghans	1978-1980	1980 Honored military pilot of the GDR
Colonel Frank Pampel	1980-1988	1987 Honored military pilot of the GDR
Lieutenant Colonel Lutz Kleine	1988-1989

literature

Frank Pampel, Dieter Lippold, Peter Peil, Peter Misch: Decommissioned in honor - The 7th “Wilhelm Pieck” fighter wing of the NVA. MediaScript, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-000319402 .
Wilfried Copenhagen: The Air Force of the NVA . Motorbuch, Stuttgart, 2002. ISBN 3-613-02235-4 .

Web links

Commons : Jagdfliegergeschwader 7 - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Frank Hilbert: Airplane crash - hundreds of Cottbus residents were very lucky. In: Lausitzer Rundschau. December 28, 2013, accessed March 15, 2018 .
↑ JG-7 .

51.889475 14.531986Coordinates: 51 ° 53 ′ 22.11 " N , 14 ° 31 ′ 55.15" E

[1] Frank Hilbert: Airplane crash - hundreds of Cottbus residents were very lucky. In: Lausitzer Rundschau. December 28, 2013, accessed March 15, 2018 .

[2] JG-7 .