Back to Start                      Horst Petzschler     Oskar Bösch  

          A Sudeten German, Ekkehard Tichy's first combat posting was to I./JG 53 on the Russian front in the summer of 1942 before transfering to the third Gruppe of JG 3 where he was to accumulate the majority of his victories. By the summer of 1943 as JG 3 was relocated back to the Heimat for Reichsverteidigung duties, Tichy had some 13 victories with 9./JG 3. After a working up programme III./JG 3 joined battle with the 8th AF bombers. Flying a Bf 109 G-6 Kanonenboot armed with underwing cannon and painted with 9. Staffel's elaborate 'eye' marking on the Beulen ( the Bf 109 G 'bulges' ahead of the cockpit ), Tichy flew bomber destroyer missions from Bad Wörishofen . Gruppenkommandeur was Hptm Walther Dahl. Tichy was Staffelkapitän 9./JG 3 from early November 1943 . During the air battles of 18 March 1944 he was severely wounded in the eye in a dogfight with the bomber escorts, bailing out after shooting down a P-51. He was awarded the Deutsche Kreuz in Gold during May 1944. Despite the loss of an eye he returned to combat with the Sturmgruppe IV./JG 3 in June 1944 (10. Staffel) and he became Staffelkapitän of 13./JG 3 during August . On the 16th August 1944 over 1,000 US bombers raided targets in central Germany principally airfields and oil installations. Seven Tagjagdgruppen put up some 130 machines including Me 163 Komet rocket fighters to combat the bombers . IV./JG 3 attacked a Combat Box of the 91st Bomb Group scoring some 12 Ab-und Herausschüsse. Probably incapacitated by his handicap Ekkehard Tichy rammed or collided with a B-17 . He plunged to his death only a few weeks after taking over as Staffelkapitän of 13. Staffel. Posthumously promoted to Oberleutnant and awarded the Ritterkreuz, Ekkehard Tichy had some 25 victories including eleven four-engined bombers. In Obermaier's words….. ." .....er gehörte zu den einsatzfreudigsten Jagdfliegern der Reichsverteidigung .." ...he was an indomitable fighter pilot in the defence of the Reich always in the thick of the battle.

Ekkehard Tichy 's gravesite is located on the field of honour in the city cemetery in Göttingen