Waldemar Wübke Waldemar Wübke was a " Luftwaffe " fighter pilot during World War II . He was one of the few " Luftwaffe " fighter pilots to survive combat duty over the entire course of the war . Wübke flew various types of German fighters in combat and was credited with a total of 15 victories over Allied aircraft . In 1940 as a " Leutnant " , Wübke flew sorties with pilots of the 9 . " Staffel " , III . / Jagdgeschwader 54 ( JG 54 ) during the Battle of Britain . His last combat flights were made in 1945 flying " " Platzschutz " " or airfield defense missions for General Adolf Galland ' s Me 262 jet squadron , Jagdverband 44 ( JV 44 ) . Along with a handful of experienced fighter pilots , the now " Hauptmann " Wübke flew the outstanding piston - engined Fw190D - 9 fighter in an effort to protect the jets of JV 44 from attack by Allied fighters during take - off . Their unit was based close to the jets at München - Riem , Germany . Since the airfield at München - Reim was heavily protected from Allied aircraft by flak batteries , the Fw 190Ds of the Würger - Staffel had to be made instantly recognizable as ‘ friendlies ’ to the flak battery crews . To facilitate this , the under surfaces of many of the airfield defense fighters were painted bright red with white stripes . JV 44 ' s unofficial unit crest was a white circle trimmed with red , with a black and white checker board in the middle , and most of the Fw190Ds used in this unit wore this emblem . Hauptmann Waldemar Wübke regularly flew the Fw190D - 9 coded “ Rot 3 ” ( Red 3 ) . Wübke painted his personal emblem on the port side of the fuselage under the cockpit of his aircraft ; the words “ " Im Auftrage der Reichsbahn " ” ( " In service of the Reich Railway " ) in white lettering . This was a sarcastic reference to Wübke ' s loathing of fighter - bomber missions , many of which he was forced to undertake in his early career as a combat pilot . In his opinion trains were better used to carry bombs , not fighter aircraft . The ability and success of Wübke and his fellow ‘ Würger - Staffel ’ pilots is evidenced by the fact that very few Me 262s of JV 44 were destroyed on takeoff , and most that were pounced on by Allied fighters were destroyed on landing at various other landing strips . Wübke died in a plane crash in South America in the early 1950s . MORE INFORMATION : According to a passenger manifest dated 6 - 3 - 1956 , Waldemar Wubke arrived at Idlewild Airport , New York on an airplane owned by Avianca Airlines flight 772 from Medellin , Columbia with 5 other passengers . This is from Ancestry . com Source Citation Year : 1956 Description Day or Roll Number : Roll 8729 Source Information Ancestry . com . New York , Passenger Lists , 1820 - 1957 [ database on - line ] . Provo , UT , USA : Ancestry . com Operations , Inc . , 2010 . Original data : Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York , New York , 1820 - 1897 ; ( National Archives Microfilm Publication M237 , 675 rolls ) ; Records of the U . S . Customs Service , Record Group 36 ; National Archives , Washington , D . C . Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York , New York , 1897 - 1957 ; ( National Archives Microfilm Publication T715 , 8892 rolls ) ; Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service ; National Archives , Washington , D . C . Supplemental Manifests of Alien Passengers and Crew Members Who Arrived on Vessels at New York , New York , Who Were Inspected for Admission , and Related Index , compiled 1887 - 1952 ; ( National Archives Microfilm Publication A3461 , 21 rolls ) ; RG 85 , Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service , 1787 - 2004 ; Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service ; National Archives , Washington , D . C . Source Description This database is an index to the passenger lists of ships arriving from foreign ports at the port of New York from 1820 - 1957 . In addition , the names found in the index are linked to actual images of the passenger lists . Information contained in the index includes given name , surname , age , gender , arrival date , port of arrival , port of departure and ship name . Viewer built on Microsoft Technology Also Waldemar Wubke is listed as " Herrn Flugkapitän Waldemar Wübke , Pilot der Avianca " from an article on stamp collecting . " Die Autoren sind vor allem zu Dank verpflichtet , Herrn Flugkapitän Waldemar Wübke , Pilot der Avianca , der Nachfolgerin der SCADTA . Er hat geholfen durch Auskünfte von den früheren Gesellschaftern der ersten Flugverkehrsgesellschaft , Angaben zu bekommen über die ersten Ausgaben und hat Fotokopien der erwähnten Veröffentlichungen , der philatelistischen Bibliothek der Stadt München verschafft . "