Dr. Erich W. Etienne (24 February 191523 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 and 1938.Kurt Ruthe: Die Grönland-Expedition der Universität Oxford 1938 (PDF; 686 kB). In: Polarforschung 11(1), 1941, S. 1–6. 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 staffed weather station on Spitsbergen.
Erich Etienne was killed after his Junkers Ju 88 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
External links Hans Macht: Erich Etienne (zum zehnjährlgen Todestag am 23. Juli 1952). Polarforschung 22, 1/2, 1952, S. 197–198.