Bob Lyons

Finding out some information on him is a bit difficult as it is a late war group, but this is what I know about him so far, Born 3 December 1920 in Uelzen/Niedersachsen, was posted missing from 23 Feb 1944 around Rogatschew in Russia, and died on the 22nd December 1944. His rank at that time was an Oberfeldwebel. Posted in to 9./JG 51 mid 1942 as an Unteroffizier, mid 1943 he had around 9 victories, was involved in many dive bombing operations. Posted for a short period of time to Erg. Gr. Ost as an instructor (training pilot is what is written). so ??? he could have been under training perhaps. Within 5 months of returning to 9./JG 51 he had 70 victories to his credit, on the 21 Feb 1944 he shot down 6 enemy aircraft, and was transferred to 8./JG 51. On the 23rd Feb, 1944 he collided in mid air with his wingman Ofw Dittlmann, northwest of Rogatschew. Both aircraft came down, Dittlmann was killed in the crash, Wuerfel was captured and interned in camp 280/5 in the area of Stalino. He died in captivity of Typhus. Promoted to Leutnant posthumously, and his final victory tally was 79 victories. RK awarded 4 May 1944. DKiG awarded February 1944. Bob

I found this black and white photo of the RK along with the three documents somewhere else, so I thought I would add it here, to show the award docs, which do belong to another local collector at this stage, I have followed this group since it arrived here in Australia, and am very pleased to own a portion of the grouping.

And the reverse...

Out of the box....

A bit closer....

And open.....

And moving on to the next award, his DKiG, this is a Deschler made example, here is the box in the closed position.....

An angled photo looking down ....

I tried for a bit closer but the camera just can't get the close ups without blurring the shots, hope there is some detail here of interest in this poor photo...

The reverse...

Out of the box, it still retains most of the silver frosting on the inside of the rim too...

Some close ups, sadly my camera can't get too close, but these shots will give an idea of the condition of the cross, it is the type that has the small '800' on the rear of the rim.

And the case opened showing the cross itself....

This was the deal I was trying to do when I had my 'whammy', but we managed to get together again last weekend, and I am rather stoked to be able to show these 2 items that once were part of Oberfeldwebel Otto Wuerfel's award grouping, there are 3 of his documents as well, which I don't own, but there is a chance they will become available too, but to get the ball rolling, I will show the 2 awards that I have picked up, first up his Steinhauer & Lueck Knight's Cross, here is the case for it....

It is always a pleasure to view your goodies Eric! Bob

Thanks guys, ...it came as a shock to me too Paddy ! I am up and about again and am now feeling a heck of a lot better thanks. Bob

Fascinating, I have a gilt metal eagle affixed to a period photo album, I will dig it out and post some photos of it soon. Bob

Hi all, I have been overwhelmed with the support from everyone, and all I can say is a great big thanks, it has been greatly appreciated, it is an experience I don't want to go through again though, and Robin, it would have had me sitting in eternity very p***ed off, if the government had a bit of a win with my pension, so I had to stick around! I have just zinged an e-mail out to a few people on my CC list, so to save a bit of time I will copy that and post it here, which is just a bit of my saga over the past few days, hope you like the story... I guess I should start at the beginning, and this caused a bit of mirth at the hospital when they asked me how itall happened, I went down to our local clinic last Saturday morning to have a blood test to check my cholesterol,blood sugar and prostate, as I am in the over 50 bracket and it is one of those things they say should be donefairly regularly, well, it went as it should, they had my blood, and as I had fasted for the previous night Gail said wewould drop in to Hungry Jack's for a breakfast meal on the way home. As we entered the place I started to feel reallyqueasy, and a bit light headed, so I said that I would wait in the car, and when Gail came out I was really starting tofeel sick, so I said to just drive me home, and as she started to head out I had the first stab of pain in the chest, andthen they started coming on a very regular and very quick basis, and along with a tingling sensation in my left armright down to the fingers I recognized what it was straight away (First Aid courses came in very handy for this occasion),I didn't tell Gail what I thought it was until we were nearly home, and I told her to keep driving straight to the clinic, where they called an ambulance, and I was in the emergency ward at the Austin hospital at Heidelberg within 40 minutes, andhaving treatment. It was still worth a chuckle though that the fact was that I had gone for that blood test and wound upin hospital on account of it was the cause of some smiles. My first night in hospital was spent hooked up to an ECG machine, and blood pressure etc being monitored all night,along with the first of many blood tests, my enzyme count didn't stop rising until midday Sunday, which meant that theheart was starting to stabilize itself, then I was moved into another room and still continually monitored, along with theblood testing (which continued until I left the place yesterday), and nurses fussing about every minute virtually. I wentfor an ultrasound on my heart on Monday morning, which showed up the problem, and that was a closed artery at thebase of the heart, so I was hauled in for an Angiogram on Tuesday, which commenced about 11:30 in the morning, andI was back in the ward just before 14:00, and then the fun started as I had to lie straight for 4 hours, then the plug in the groinwhere they went in was removed. Another 4 hours of lying on my back without moving after that, plus about 24 hours ofno food or water was starting to tell, so it was one of those procedures I would be more than happy to not have to haveagain, but I guess the words of one of the wise sages at the hospital pointed out to me, the alternative is very ordinaryindeed. (sudden death is very hard to cure apparently). I was released from the Austin yesterday afternoon, and came home, I did feel very ordinary yesterday, but do feel a lotbetter this morning, I have had my first dose of the pills that I now have to take for the rest of my life, and am slowly workingmy way through all of the fantastic e-mails that have been sent through from some fabulous people, (see, I do have a heart!!). I really have been greatly overwhelmed with the amount of support that has been passed my way, and also to Gail, who I haveput through the wringer well and truly over the past few days, and without her I would have been completely lost, it has beenan experience that has been scary but with the love and friendship that has come my way over the past few days I amabsolutely lost for words. The staff at the hospital were some of the greatest people that I have had fussing over me too,and I am also thrilled to still be here and able to write this and able to say a big thank you to everyone. Bob

And one more photo.... Hope you guys like it, Best wishes Bob

I should have added that the underside of the visor does have the cross-hatching. Here is a side view....

A closer look at there the main area of sweat and wear has occurred.....

Interior has seen quite a bit of wear, maker is 'ALMI' of Rhein und Mosel. the diamond is about half unstitched and has a crack through a bit of it, exterior was very, very dusty, but I like it ....

Front on

Had to take the photos indoors as it is now night, will get better photos soon....

And this was in the mail today....