Alfred Ambs has passed away
Alfred Ambs has passed away
 | Another of the regular visitors during our annual September reunions and a big friend of the Museum, Luftwaffe fighter pilot Alfred Ambs, has passed away on March 30th, 2010. |
Alfred Ambs was born on Jan 22nd, 1923 in Gladbeck, Germany. He joined the Luftwaffe on June 10th, 1942 and served with Flg.Rgt. 53, Luftkriegsschule 3, Flugzeugführerschule C 14 in Prague, Flugzeugführerschule B33 (Prague Ruzyne) and Zerstörergeschwader 101. Alfred flew on Bf 109, Bf 110, Fw 190 and Ju 88. Later on, he was trained and flew the jet powered Me 262s as part of the III./JG 7, which was based in Brandenburg Briest. Different sources accredit Alfred Ambs with 6 or 7 air victories. He often flew Me 262 with markings “Yellow 7“. His last flight with JG 7 was on March 23, 1945.
After the war, he completed his studies and became a renowned architect in Miesbach, near Munich, where many of his buildings are standing.
Alfred Ambs became a friend of our Museum thanks to Hellmut Detjens who was his long time friend. Their big friendship started a long time ago, during their service with JG 7. Thanks to Hellmut, Alfred had his territorial land in Hellmut’s garden by his house in Hamburg, with a garden shack. This piece of land was declared as a part of Bavaria region and even had a gate dividing both regions… When Alfred was getting ready to celebrate his 70th birthday, for two months (actually 70 days) leading up to the celebration, greetings cards and postcards, best wishes and love letters by his girlfriends started to arrive at his company office in Miesbach. His secretary blushed when she was picking up the daily mail. The sender was obviously his friend from Hamburg… With similar jokes, the beautiful friendship of the pilots also continued when we got to know them. Hellmut passed away in the spring of 2009.
Photo above: Alfred Ambs during a visit with his friend Hellmut Detjens in Hamburg in 2007.
Kovarska, Sept 2003. Alfred Ambs explains the operation
of turbine engine JUMO 004 used in Me 262.
This engine was brought to the Museum by Petr Juricka
from Cheb. In the middle of the picture is another
Me 262 pilot – Hellmut Detjens, on the right is Petr Frank
from the Museum.
Alfred Ambs (right) in Kovarska, 2005,
with Hellmut Detjens (middle) and Manfred Skeries (MiG-29 pilot)
Our thoughts are with Alfred’s family and friends. Alfred was a splendid and educated person, with a great antagonism against wars and violence. We are proud that we could get to know Alfred and that he considered us as his close friends. His smile will be greatly missed during the annual reunions in Kovarska…
Running The Gauntlet, Robert Taylor
Jan Zdiarský