Wolfgang Rudolf Fabian

Wolfgang Rudolf Fabian was born in Germany, since his birth town of Aabenraa was German at the time. In 1921, the larger part of Schleswig became Danish again and Aabenraa was united with the rest of Denmark.

Wolfgang Rudolf Fabian is born on 10 June 1915 in the town of Aabenraa, in the very south of Jutland. This part of Denmark had been part of Germany since 1864 and remained so until 1921.

In Naval Air Service

Wolfgang Rudolf Fabian joins the navy. He is trained as pilot and receives his wings in 1936 (pilot’s certificate 78/36). He is trained in the same pilot's class of 1936 as is Flyverløjtnant af 1ste Grad (Flight Officer), later Hauptmann in Luftwaffe, Poul Sommer. On 22 December 1936, he is appointed Flyverløjtnant af 2nd Grad (Pilot Officer) (Ancker, 1997; Clauson Kaas, 1943; HfS, 1939-40).

In the summer of 1938, he is one of the pilots in an expedition to Greenland that is carried out in cooperation between Geodetic Institute and the Royal Danish Nautical charts archive (Clauson Kaas, 1943).

On 1 January 1939, he is appointed Flyverløjtnant af 1ste Grad and he holds this rank at the outbreak of war. He is then stationed at Luftmarinestation Slipshavn, near the town of Nyborg, Funen. Stationed here is also Kaj Birksted who will later become wing commander in Royal Air Force (Ancker, 1997).

Joining the Luftwaffe

On 8 July 1941, an announcement from the Ministry of War permits commissioned officers of the Danish armed forces to volunteer for Freikorps Denmark. A number of Danish officers enlist; on of these being Wolfgang Rudolf Fabian who volunteers for Luftwaffe service (Ancker, 2001).

He is trained at Jagdfliegerschule 4 in Fürth. At the end of training, he is posted to 9./JG51.

On 21 August 1942, his aircraft – Bf 109 F-2 'Gelbe 6' (Wk. Nr. 12601) – is hit by flak northeast of the town of Rzhew in Russia. Wolfgang Rudolf Fabian is killed (Neulen, 2000; www.volksbund.de).