Ulrich Steinhilper (14 September 1918 – 20 October 2009) was a
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
fighter ace
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...
who made numerous attempts to escape after he was shot down and captured. As a post-war
IBM typewriter salesman, he was an early proponent of
word processing
A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consen ...
, considered by some to have either coined the phrase or even originated the concept.
Early life
Steinhilper was born in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
, Germany, during a
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
air raid.
His father was a teacher.
In 1936, he was allowed to graduate early from high school after passing the test for Luftwaffe flight training.
[
]
World War II
Luftwaffe ace
He earned his ''Pilotenabzeichen'' (Pilot's Badge) and in 1939 was assigned to ''Jagdgeschwader'' (fighter wing
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...
) 433, where he was Adolf Galland
Adolf Josef Ferdinand Galland (19 March 1912 – 9 February 1996) was a German Luftwaffe general and flying ace who served throughout the Second World War in Europe. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western Front and in the Defen ...
's adjutant. As the youngest officer, he was also made the ''Staffel'' ''Nachrichtenoffizier'' (communications officer), a job no one else wanted (or even knew much about).[ Steinhilper learned that he was supposed to provide pilots with ground-to-ground and ground-to-air communications using two 1.5 kilowatt radio stations and two ]field telephone
Field telephones are telephones used for military communications. They can draw power from their own battery, from a telephone exchange (via a central battery known as CB), or from an external power source. Some need no battery, being sound-powere ...
units.[ He tried hard to promote the use of radios, but most pilots were against the idea, among them Galland, considering the equipment an unnecessary additional weight and the concept a waste of their time.][ Steinhilper managed to demonstrate the advantages during a large training exercise commanded by General ]Hugo Sperrle
Wilhelm Hugo Sperrle (7 February 1885 – 2 April 1953), also known as Hugo Sperrle, was a German military aviator in World War I and a Generalfeldmarschall in the Luftwaffe during World War II.
Sperrle joined the Imperial German Army in 1903. ...
involving a simulated bombing attack on Stuttgart, only to have the results dismissed by Galland and ignored by the rest.[
His unit, now redesignated I/]JG 52
''Jagdgeschwader'' 52 (JG 52) was a German World War II fighter ''Geschwader'' (wing) that exclusively used the Messerschmitt Bf 109 throughout the war. The unit originally formed near Munich in November 1938, then moved to a base near Stuttga ...
, was assigned to protect the Ruhr region in the west during the 1939 invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
in the east. Steinhilper saw sporadic combat in the Battle of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
, flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
fighter.[ Beginning in August 1940, he participated in the ]Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
. In two months, he flew over 150 sorties against England,[ seven in a single day.] He became an ace. He destroyed two or three[ ]Spitfires
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
on the ground at RAF Manston
Royal Air Force Manston or more simply RAF Manston is a former Royal Air Force station located in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site was split between a commercial airport Kent International Airpor ...
on 19 August, but it was not until 19 September that he got his first aerial victory, another Spitfire. According to one source, his other four aerial victims were two Spitfires on 24 September, another on 30 September, and a Bristol Blenheim
The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until ...
on 4 October.
Steinhilper was shot down on 27 October over Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
, possibly by fellow ace Squadron Leader Archie McKellar
Squadron Leader Archibald Ashmore McKellar, & Bar (10 April 1912 – 1 November 1940) was a flying ace of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.
McKellar grew up and joined the family business in his native Scotland, but i ...
or by Sergeant Bill Skinner of 74 Squadron, and made a prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
after parachuting to safety. (The "substantial remains" of Oberleutnant Steinhilper's Bf 109E were recovered in 1980 and are displayed in the Dowding Memorial Hangar of the Kent Battle of Britain Museum
The Kent Battle of Britain Museum is an aviation museum located in Hawkinge, Kent, focused on the Battle of Britain. The Spirit of the Few Monument is in the grounds of the museum.
Collection
Exhibits:
* De Havilland Moth replica G-AAAH
* Fie ...
.)
Escape attempts
In January 1941, he was sent across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada to be interned in Camp W in Neys, Ontario, or Camp 30
The Bowmanville POW camp also known as ''Camp 30'' was a Canadian-run POW camp for German soldiers during World War II located in the community of Bowmanville, Ontario in Clarington, Ontario, Canada (2020 Lambs Road). In September 2013, the camp ...
in Bowmanville, Ontario
Bowmanville is a town of approximately 40,000 people located in the Municipality of Clarington, Ontario, Clarington, Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately east of Toronto, and east of Oshawa along ...
.[ ] He made his first escape on 23 November, remaining at large for two days before being recaptured at Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...
.[ He tried again several weeks later, managing to reach ]Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
's Windsor Station Windsor station or Windsor railway station may refer to:
Australia
* Windsor railway station, Brisbane
* Windsor railway station, Sydney
* Windsor railway station, Melbourne
Canada
* Windsor Station (Montreal)
* Windsor station (Nova Scotia)
* W ...
.[ On his third attempt, on 18 February 1942, he and his friend Albert Waller made it to ]Watertown, New York
Watertown is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, New York, United States. It is approximately south of the Thousand Islands, along the Black River about east of where it flows into Lake Ontario. The city is bordered by the ...
, United States, before being caught.[ He was then transferred to Camp 20 in Gravenhurst, Ontario, where he made two further unsuccessful breakouts.][
After the end of the war in 1945, he was returned to Germany and released in late 1946.
]
IBM and later life
Post-war, he worked at several jobs before being hired by IBM Germany. As an IBM typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...
salesman, he coined the word "''Textverarbeitung''" ("word processing") in 1955. A number of sources even credit him with originating the concept.[ However, Thomas Haig, an assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee's School of Information Studies, wrote in the '']IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
The ''IEEE Annals of the History of Computing'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the IEEE Computer Society. It covers the history of computing, computer science, and computer hardware. It was founded in 1979 by the AFIPS ...
'' that the English term preceded the German, though he conceded that the latter "was the first to achieve any currency". Steinhilper tried to get IBM Germany interested in the concept, but without much success.[ In 1971, when the idea finally began to be accepted, IBM gave him an Outstanding Achievement Award and a trip around the world in recognition of "having authored and promoted it."][
He wrote four autobiographical books.][ They were published in English. ''A Spitfire on My Tail'', ''Ten Minutes to Buffalo'' and ''Full Circle'' detail his wartime experiences, while ''Don't Talk – Do It!'' covers his post-war life. The first three were also published in German.
Ulrich Steinhilper died on 20 October 2009 at the age of 91 in his native Stuttgart.]
References
External links
Official website
From the 1985 documentary ''Churchill's Few''
** World War II footage of Steinhilper taking off from his base in Calais and later revisiting where he parachuted after being shot down (1:05-3:45)
** Recovery of the wreckage of his airplane and his visit to the museum where it was housed (11:55-15:20)
Brief comments by Steinhilper about the Battle of Britain
(17:47-18:07) on YouTube
Imperial War Museum entry for 1990 BBC Radio Steinhilper interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinhilper, Ulrich
1918 births
2009 deaths
German autobiographers
German World War II flying aces
IBM employees
Luftwaffe pilots
Military personnel from Stuttgart
Shot-down aviators
German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom
People from the Kingdom of Württemberg
German male non-fiction writers