Gentlemen,
When I first bought this Luft Honor Goblel, I knew almost nothing about the recipient. However, I was lucky enought to have find someone in Germany that does research on Luft Honor Goblet and here's the informations he was able to find on Unteroffizier Wilhelm Tebbe.
First, I will show the Goblet in its full glory.
DKiG winner and more than 600 combat flight missions.
Here's the informations given to me by Col (ret) Wilhelm Goebel of Germany.
Feldwebel (company sergeant-major) Wilhelm Tebbe was a wireless operator with the Kampfgeschwader 2 (Bomber Wing 2) and participated in many air campaigns especially in the West ( first combat mission on July 16th,1940 ) operating against France and England ( Battle of Britain ) and also fought in Russia.
This particular aircrew had been together since 1941 and belonged to the leading edge of Battle Wing 2, first attached to the 9th Squadron in Russia. Then flew with the 5th Squadron out of Gilze-Rijen (Nederlands) and lastly with the 6th Squadron from Handorf (Germany).
Wilhelm Tebbe has taken part in 643 combat missions over the course of the war ( July 16th, 1940 to Sept 7th, 1944 document attached ). His Kampfgeschwader training was done at the Luftwaffe Blindflugschule Wien-Aspern airfield (Austria).
June 1941 the unit took part in the campaign against Russia.
On Monday July 7th, 1941 the aircrew of 8th Squadron of Bomber Pilot Lt Wolfgang Hankamer (born July 8th, 1920 Cologne-Reihl) ID number 53577/54, along with Navigator Sgt Max Schedel (born March 1917) ID number 53577/1353, A/C-Engineer Corporal (Feldwebel) Friedrich Bergau and Wireless Operator Wilhelm Tebb, flew the Dormier Do 17 Z, Serial No. 2797, Markings U5+ZT and made a crash landing at the airfield Suwalki-South in Russia, most probably due to damage received from Russian AAA during the previous sortie flown. The wing under command of the VIII Flying Corps supported the 20th Panzer-Division, which established a bridgehead across the river Duena near Ulla, and therefore the KG 2 attacked Russian positions, artillery and hostile troups movements.
In 1942 the unit was transferred to the west and was based in France (Cambrai) and the Netherlands (Eindhoven, Glize-Rijen, Venlo), operating against England.
In the night Sept 19th/20th, 1942, the same aircrew now allocated to the 5th Squadron of KG 2, came back from a bombing mission and during the emergency landing at Gilze-Rijen (Netherlands) the a/c turned rapidly off the runway and received about 15% damage. During the night the aircrew was involved in an attack under command of the IX Flying Corps against targets in England, primarely the harbour of Sunderland. British nightfighters attacked and damaged their Dornier Do 217 E-4, Serial No. 5456, Marking U5+BL, leading to the emergency landing. Meantime, Tebbe and Bergau had been promoted to Master Sergeants.
On March 8th, 1944, the airfields of KG 2 came under attacks of Allied fighter bombers. The Tebb aircrew was now attached to the 6th Squadron of KG 2 stationed at Handorf (Germany) and Pilot Hankamer was promoted to Squadron Commander. In the afternoon, the aircrew took off in a Junker Ju 188 E-1, Marking U5+EP, for a training sortie of the 6th Squadron in the area of Cologne and were attacked unfortunately by German fighters. They had to make an emergency crash landing near Cologne and the a/c was a write off. The crew survived unhurt. Tebbe has flown numerous operational bomber atttack sorties and also must have shot down a fighter as an air gunner. All crews members had to mount defensive stations in the a/c while under fighter attacks.
Wilhelm Tebbe and Friedrich Bergau were both awarded the Honor Goblet on June 10, 1942. Tebbe goblet is presently located in Canada. Hankamer was awarded the Knights Cross on October 29, 1944, the Honor Goblet on March 2nd, 1942 and the DKiG (German Cross in Gold) on July 27, 1942. Crew member Max Schedel received the DKiG on December 3, 1942, Wilhelm Tebbe and Friedrich Bergau both receiving their DKiG on April 12th, 1943.
Wolgang Hankamer was killed in his A-9 near Kyritz (Brandenburg) on Jan 14th, 1945, during operations against American bombers. At the time he was Staffelkapitan with the 1./Jagdgeschwader 301 and the rank of Hauptmann.
An impressive Kampfgeschwader aircrew, all German Cross in Gold recipients and one Knights Cross holder.
Tebbe name is not on the unit casualty list and most likely survived the war.
Informations was researched by Wilhelm Goebel, Col(ret), Germany.
It really makes our hobby fascinating when you can find informations on an artifact such as this.
Thank you for watching.
Almost forgot, here's the badge.
Of course, there is no way to prove that it actually belonged to him but I'm a dreamer, haaaaaaaaaaaa.
good catch Pat! , the badge,,sure why not... You also need to get 'his' German cross too!
Now that is some great stuff and in beautiful shape.
I wouldn't expect anything else from you Pat.
John
Pat, what a fantastic grouping. Even without provenance- Who cares ?!
The Luft Honor Goblet by itself it a wondeful piece, but the Radio Operators badge and The Fried Egg are just killer.
Glad to see you 'back'.
-serge-
Pat, WOW!
Your silver goblet is extremely nice to view! I love the design and shape as well as the hammered silver with the two eagles battling it out in flight. Plus finding out who it was awarded to has to be a real thrill for you. Are there any silver content marks or other punch marks that you can show. I have a few silver goblets,but not with that hammered look. What a treat,thanks for showing it!
As always Pat, the best of the best
Paul
I'm really impressed by the research done by Herr Goebel. Very detailed information. Over 600 sorties and he survived the war, that's really impressive.
Pat,
Incredible display of items. I've always wanted an honor goblet, and still looking. Then history that you posted just puts it all together.
Very impressive.
Rich
Thank you gentlement for your appreciation.
The Honor Goblet is silver plated, not constructed from 835 fine silver.
Pat,,whats the marking on bottom,,alpacca?
Here are the markings underneath.
These were as you know alpacca and plated with silver,,this type is usually 42 and later...
- nice,,looks fine..
Yours looks to be in absolutely mint condition.
thank you for sharing.
Pat,
Thank you for stating that your Goblet is silver plate. Some individuals probably would've just said silver and left it at that, which is misleading. Not you, but a lot of folks are confused when they see this feinsilber mark and although we know what it means, some automatically assume that the object must be "made of" silver because it states feinsilber. This mark really doesn't tell us much of anything, other than the fact that the silver is fine, or of some quality of fineness. But a fineness of what though? It doesn't state. So you really have to view this type mark as a quality mark for silver plate only and not a content mark for items actually made of genuine silver, unless marked accordingly. From its meaning at least we know your silver plate is or should be chemically pure silver or 1000/1000. Unless I've been mislead as well! lol
Glad to see no hallmarks on this nice goblet, because if it did I would have to break the bad news, and tell you it's not German made. lol..Auflage means edition like as in a series. There was no obligation to mark, so it's nice to see the makers mark in written form on this interesting piece of history.
When you state "not constructed from 835 fine silver". Are there known examples of these made of silver with a content of .835/1000 parts per thousand and marked as such? Were these only made in silver plate and nickle silver?...Actually just for info, a fineness of .800 was the minimum standard in Germany a piece would be marked.
Always a pleasure for many years now viewing your collection and thanks for always making time to show it.
Thanks for showing Pat!! Your research very much enhances the goblet making it a complete treasured find. I like reading this stuff when someone has something to show. Best Larry
Mikee and Larry, thank you so much for the kind words, I'm glad to read that you appreciate the artifact.
it just means it was plated with silver...
The early examples were silver [Bill Stumps example]:
It does the heart good to know that there are still some AMAZING items still out there. To look at the condition of these three items, all in the same family, makes you wonder whats STILL waitinf to be found/bought. GREAT collection. I thank you for sharing-gave me goosebumps. Peace, Mark
