Walther Wever (11 November 1887 in Meinerzhagen – 3 June 1936) was a pre-
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
Commander.
On 1 September 1933 he became the Commander of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, and later became Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe, a post he held up until his death.
Wever was a supporter of the
Strategic bomberA strategic bomber is a heavy type aircraft designed to drop large amounts of ordnance onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating an enemy's capacity to wage war. Unlike tactical bombers, which are used in the battle zone to attack troops and military equipment, strategic bombers are...
and recognised its importance as early as 1934. He supported the aviation companies like
JunkersJunkers & Co was a major German aircraft manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It was founded there in 1895 by Hugo Junkers, initially manufacturing boilers and radiators. After World...
and
DornierDornier may refer to:* Claudius Dornier , German aircraft designer and builder** Dornier Flugzeugwerke, German aircraft manufacturer founded in 1914 by Claudius Dornier* Dornier Consulting, international consulting and project management company...
, in their respective projects to produce the Ju 89 and
Dornier Do 19The Dornier Do 19 was a German four-engine heavy bomber that first flew on October 28, 1936. Only one prototype flew, and it was converted to a transport in 1938. The other two were scrapped....
Ural BomberThe Ural bomber was a program to develop a long-range bomber for the Luftwaffe, created and led by General Walther Wever in the early 1930s. Wever died in an air crash in 1936, and the program ended almost immediately...
.
Wever outlined five key points to air strategy:
1.
Walther Wever (11 November 1887 in Meinerzhagen – 3 June 1936) was a pre-
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
Commander.
Military career
On 1 September 1933 he became the Commander of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, and later became Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe, a post he held up until his death.
Wever was a supporter of the
Strategic bomberA strategic bomber is a heavy type aircraft designed to drop large amounts of ordnance onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating an enemy's capacity to wage war. Unlike tactical bombers, which are used in the battle zone to attack troops and military equipment, strategic bombers are...
and recognised its importance as early as 1934. He supported the aviation companies like
JunkersJunkers & Co was a major German aircraft manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It was founded there in 1895 by Hugo Junkers, initially manufacturing boilers and radiators. After World...
and
DornierDornier may refer to:* Claudius Dornier , German aircraft designer and builder** Dornier Flugzeugwerke, German aircraft manufacturer founded in 1914 by Claudius Dornier* Dornier Consulting, international consulting and project management company...
, in their respective projects to produce the Ju 89 and
Dornier Do 19The Dornier Do 19 was a German four-engine heavy bomber that first flew on October 28, 1936. Only one prototype flew, and it was converted to a transport in 1938. The other two were scrapped....
Ural BomberThe Ural bomber was a program to develop a long-range bomber for the Luftwaffe, created and led by General Walther Wever in the early 1930s. Wever died in an air crash in 1936, and the program ended almost immediately...
.
Wever outlined five key points to air strategy:
1. To destroy the enemy air force by bombing its bases and aircraft factories, and defeating enemy air forces attacking German targets.
2. To prevent the movement of large enemy ground forces to the decisive areas by destroying railways and roads, particularly bridges and tunnels, which are indispensable for the movement and supply of forces
3.To support the operations of the army formations, independent of railways, i.e, armoured forces and motorised forces, by impeding the enemy advance and participating directly in ground operations.
4. To support naval operations by attacking naval bases, protecting Germany's naval bases and participating directly in naval battles
5. To paralyze the enemy armed forces by stopping production in the armaments factories.
However after his death, other strategists, like
Ernst UdetColonel General Ernst Udet was the second-highest scoring German flying ace of World War I. He was one of the youngest aces and was the highest scoring German ace to survive the war...
and
Hans JeschonnekHans Jeschonnek was a German Generaloberst and a Chief of the General Staff of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe during World War II. He committed suicide in August 1943.-Biography:...
favoured smaller aircraft as they did not expend as much material and manpower. They were proponents of the dive-bomber (
Junkers Ju 87The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka was a two-seat German ground-attack aircraft....
) and the doctrine of close support and destruction of the opposing airforces on the 'battle-ground' rather than through attacking enemy industry.
As a result, high-speed medium-bombers like
Heinkel He 111The Heinkel He 111 was a German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter in the early 1930s in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Often described as a "Wolf in sheep's clothing", it masqueraded as a transport aircraft, but its purpose was to provide the Luftwaffe with a fast medium...
,
Dornier Do 17The Dornier Do 17, sometimes referred to as the Fliegender Bleistift , was a World War II German light bomber produced by Claudius Dornier's company, Dornier Flugzeugwerke...
,
Junkers Ju 88The Junkers Ju 88 was a World War II German Luftwaffe twin-engine, multi-role aircraft.Designed by Hugo Junkers' Junkers company in the mid-1930s, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early operational roles, but became one of the most...
were developed, with much initial success.
On 6 June 1936 Wever flew from
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
to
DresdenDresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, to give a lecture at the
Luftkriegsakademie to a gathering of Luftwaffe cadets; when he received the news of the passing of a World War I German hero. He immediately set off for Berlin. On his return journey the
Heinkel He 70 BlitzThe Heinkel He 70 was a German mail plane, passenger, liaison, training and bomber aircraft of the 1930s. Although useful, it had a relatively brief commercial career before it was replaced by types which could carry more passengers. As a combat aircraft, it was a not a great success because it...
that he was flying had not been properly examined during preflighted checks, and the aileron
gust lockA gust lock on an aircraft is a mechanism that locks control surfaces in place preventing random movement and possible damage of the surface from wind while parked. Gust locks may be internal or external.-References:...
s were not removed. The aircraft was airborne when the wing dipped, the Heinkel stalled and went into a horizontal cartwheel (apparently akin to a
ground loopIn aviation, a ground loop refers to the rapid rotation of a fixed-wing aircraft in the horizontal plane while on the ground. Aerodynamic and centrifugal forces may cause one wing to rise, which may then cause the other wingtip to touch the ground...
, but at low altitude instead), and exploded in flames killing Wever and his flight engineer.
After Wever's death, a Luftwaffe bomber wing,
Kampfgeschwader 4Kampfgeschwader 4 "General Wever" was a Luftwaffe bomber unit during World War II. The unit was formed in May 1939. The unit operated the Dornier Do 17, Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111 medium bombers...
General Wever was named after him.
His son, also named,
Walther WeverWalther Wever was a German Luftwaffe flying ace during the Second World War. The son of former Chief of the Luftwaffe General Walther Wever, Wever served during 1943 on the Eastern Front and from 19 June 1943 until 10 April 1945 he claimed 44 kills from 250 missions.Notable landmarks during this...
was a fighter pilot, who was killed in action in April 1945.
Citations