Erich Etienne

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

Early life[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

• 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[edit]

External links[edit]

• Hans Macht: Erich Etienne (zum zehnjährlgen Todestag am 23. Juli 1952). Polarforschung 22, 1/2, 1952, S. 197–198.