Gordon Gollob was a German fighter pilot during World War II. A fighter ace, he was credited with 150 enemy aircraft shot down in over 340 combat missions. Gollob claimed the majority of his victories over the Eastern Front, and six over the Western Front.
Background
Gollob was born on 16 June 1912 in Vienna, the capital of Austria-Hungary. His father, Heinrich Gollob, worked as an academic painter. His mother, Johanna (née Reininghaus), was the daughter of Zoe von Karajan, a distant relative of Herbert von Karajan and wife of Carl Reininghaus. Gollob was the first of five children. Both his parents had studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where they mutually befriended Gordon Mallet McCouch, an American artist of Scottish descent. McCouch was his godfather and the namesake for his first and middle names, Gordon Mac.
In his youth, Gollob already wanted to become an engineer and pilot. In 1930, as a student at an Oberrealschule, a secondary school, he built his first primary glider in Tirol, experimenting with it at the old airfield at Innsbruck. He also completed his A- and B-license to fly glider aircraft and became an instructor as well as a construction and airframe inspector.
Education
Following four semesters of mechanical engineering at the University of Graz, Gollob joined the Austrian Armed Forces in 1933 as an officer cadet in the artillery. For three years he was trained at the Theresian Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt and was promoted to Leutnant (second lieutenant) on 1 September 1936. He then served as an instructor in the Austrian Air Force and commander of Schulstaffel A (Training Squadron A). Following the Anschluss in March 1938, the forced incorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany, Gollob was transferred to the Luftwaffe (the Nazi German Air Force). There, he was promoted to Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) on 1 June 1938. On 15 March 1939, Gollob was posted to the 3. Staffel (3rd squadron) of Zerstörergeschwader 76 flying the Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engined heavy fighter.
Career
With the outbreak of World War II and after several skills on the Eastern front, with his Messerschmitt Bf 10, he received the Iron Cross second class. After the start of the Poland invasion, September 1939, Gollob with his Messerschmidt bf 110 Bomber destroyed the train station of Warschau and prevented that the Polish soldiers came to the front. In the battle for Holland he on 13-05-1940 attacked the airfield of Soesterberg, dropped his bombs, was hit by the antiaircraft fire. His plane catched fire and he had to land and was taking prisoner by the Dutch ground forces. As Holland had to capitulate on 14-05-1940 he was free again already. He articipated in the battle for Norway, Newcastle, Trondheim, Narvik and the Shetland Islands and was awarded with the Iron Cross first class. Gollob was transferred to the night flyers in the Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet”, called after Generaloberst der Flieger, Director General of Equipment for the Luftwaffe, Ernst Udet, near the Ärmelkanal. In 1941 Gollob was assigned as Hauptmann and Group leader on the Eastern front and after 24 skills he received the Knight Cross of the Iron Cross, on 18-09-1941, age 29. With 81 skills on 26-10-1941 he received the Ritterkreuz with Oakleaves, became the commander of the 77th Jagd Squadron, nicknamed “Herz As” and after four weeks he scored 107 victories and now awarded with the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Schwertern und Eichenlaub and promoted to Major. In 1945 JG 77 was relocated to Germany itself to help with the Reichsverteidigung, Defend of the Reich. In the last months of the war part of JG 77 was employed against the Soviet Air Force in Silesia. In this area on 07-03-1945 Kommodore Major Erich Leie a 118-kill ace, was killed, age 28, on 07-03-1945, in combat with Yak-9 fighters in Drogomysl. He collided with a crashing Russian Yak 9 fighter and failed to survive a low level bail-out from his Bf 109 G-14/AS. During Operation Barbarossa he was very successful and shot down 80 Russian planes and was also a flight instructor for young Luftwaffe pilots, and Kommandeur. Nowotny and Jagdfliegerass, 352 victories, Erich Hartmann were Gollob pupils. As the third soldier he received the Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten on 30-08-1942, with 150 skills.
He was ordered by Adolf Hitler (did you know) (see Alois Hitler) (see William Hitler) and Hermann Goering (see Leutnant Goering Peter) not to fly anymore and transferred to the Jagdgeschwader 3, on the French Coast. He was involved in the building of the ME 262 and was convinced of the worth of this plane for the war fare. Gollob here with Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim, also was involved with the building of the first Radar Station, Neptun J, which cost the Allied high losses. In the autumn of 1942 he came to the test ground for modern planes and General der Flieger, Kommodore Jagd Geschwader 26 “Schlageter”, Adolf Galland and brother Wilhelm dismissed Oberst Gollob from the Jagdflieger Staff. Goering didn’t agree with that and Galland was discharged himself and succeeded by Gollob on 31-01-1945. Gollob made 340 flights, 150 victories, included 144 in Russia, as well was the only flyer, who flew in more as 100 different planes, included the P-47 Thunderbolt.
In September 1944 he was asked by his friend and former pupil Walter Nowotny, now a fighter squadron leader, to join there elite squander group Nowotny and with the Messerschmidt ME 262 yet, he shot down another seven planes. Galland promoted him to General of the Fighters in November 1944. When Galland had a disagreement with Hermann Goering, he was replaced by Gollob, on 31-01-1945. He flew 340 missions with 150 victories.
Gollob landed in US captivity on 08-05-1945 and released in 1946, he retired in Sulingen, where he the father of two sons and one daughter, at the age of 75 died, on 07-06-1987. Gollob is buried on the local village cemetery of Sulingen.
Achievements
Connections
Gollob and his wife Elisabeth Lüning, had married on 14 February 1943, and had two sons and a daughter. Their first son, Ulrik, was born on 30 November 1943 in Kitzbühel, their second son, Gerald was born on 9 January 1946, also in Kitzbühel, and their daughter Cornelia was born on 16 March 1954 in Sulingen. Following his dismissal from the VDU, the family had moved to his wife's hometown of Sulingen. There, from November 1951, he started working in a sales role for the Klöckner Humboldt Deutz AG, a company making motors and vehicles. Until a myocardial infarction impeded his health in 1975, he regularly flew powered and glider aircraft. Gollob died in Sulingen, Diepholz, Lower Saxony on 7 September 1987.