Josef Haiböck

Josef Haiböck (born February 20, 1917 in Linz ; † July 3, 2002 , ibid) 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 major general .

Life

Haiböck joined the Air Force of the Federal Army in 1937 and was accepted into the Air Force of the Wehrmacht after Austria was annexed. From September 1, 1939, he served there as a lieutenant in the 9th Squadron of Jagdgeschwader 26 . With this squadron , which had Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter machines , he took part in the western campaign with Luftflotte 2 from May 1940 . The Battle of Britain followed in August 1940 . After his promotion to first lieutenant on September 27, 1940, he took over the function of a squadron captain in the 1st squadron from December 6, 1941 . After the beginning of the German-Soviet War , his squadron was the only fighter squadron to remain stationed in France alongside Jagdgeschwader 2 . It was therefore first equipped with the new Jäger Focke-Wulf Fw 190 . After his promotion to captain on February 1, 1943, he moved to the 1st squadron of Jagdgeschwader 52 , which was subordinate to Luftflotte 4 on the Eastern Front at that time . With this season he took part in the Citadel Company . On October 17, 1943, he received the German Cross in Gold and on February 8, 1944, he moved as a group commander to Group I of Jagdgeschwader 3 . There he was shot down by a US P-47 on February 25, 1944 and seriously injured. He spent the rest of the war in the military hospital, where he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 9, 1944 . He flew a total of 604 sorties in 77 aerial victories.

In 1956 he joined the air force of the German army and in 1975 was major general in command of the aviation division. He retired in 1977.

Web links

• Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Section G – K. (PDF) 2016, p. 224 , accessed on April 23, 2018 (English).