Erich Etienne
Born(1915-02-24)24 February 1915
Leipzig, German Empire
Died23 July 1942(1942-07-23) (aged 27)
Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway
Occupation(s)geophysicist, polar explorer, pilot
Years active1936–1942

Dr. Erich W. Etienne (24 February 1915 – 23 July 1942) was a German geophysicist, polar explorer and pilot.

Early life

Erich Etienne was born in Leipzig and studied geophysics in Leipzig and Exeter before going to the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship in 1934. He then took part in the Oxford University Greenland Expeditions of the Oxford University Exploration Club in 1936[1] and 1938.[2] In 1939 he received his doctorate under Ludwig Weickmann at the University of Leipzig.

Second World War

During the Second World War, Etienne became a pilot and flight meteorologist in the Luftwaffe. From the autumn of 1940 he was assigned as a weather observer and meteorological advisor to Wettererkundungsstaffel 5 based at Trondheim-Værnes. His doctoral supervisor Weickmann had previously been appointed chief meteorologist at Luftflotte 5. In September 1940 Etienne was assigned to the crew of a Heinkel He 115, which flew reconnaissance missions in preparations for the Axis landing at Jan Mayen island.

In 1941–1942 Etienne led Operation Bansö, a German effort to set up a manned weather station on Spitsbergen.

Erich Etienne was killed after his plane was shot down on July 23, 1942 during a reconnaissance flight over Svalbard's capital Longyearbyen.

Publications

  • 1940 Expeditionsbericht der Grönland-Expedition der Universität Oxford 1938. Veröffentlichungen des Geophysikalischen Instituts der Universität Leipzig, Serie 2, Bd. 13. (GND 363590579)
  • 1940 Geophysikalische Arbeiten auf einer Grönland-Expedition. Borna-Leipzig. (GND 570149665)

References

  1. ↑ Parker, Linda (2017). War and Geography. Brill-Schöningh. ISBN 978-3-657-78377-9.
  2. ↑ Kurt Ruthe: Die Grönland-Expedition der Universität Oxford 1938 (PDF; 686 kB). In: Polarforschung 11(1), 1941, S. 1–6.
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