Douglas Pitcairn, Luftwaffe Pilot

ian maclure wrote:

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 05:30:54 -0400, Cub Driver wrote:


On 13 Jul 2004 20:56:22 GMT, "ian maclure" wrote:


Two of the leading lights of the Quebec separatist movement
bore the mellifluous fine old French names Robert Burns and
Louis O'Neil.

Then there is the famous South American liberator, Bernando O'Higgins.


And there is of coures the Chilean Navy vessel named after
that fine old hidalgo grandee of Spain Almirante Don
Alejandro Cochrane.

Tomaso Cochrane, yes?

--
Marc Reeve
Some guy at a desk somewhere ^reverse^ for email

Admiral Lord Thomas Alexander Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald.

Tom Denton wrote:
Admiral Lord Thomas Alexander Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald.

Yes, I was aware of that.

AKA "the real 'Jack Aubrey'", though with somewhat less stellar a career
in the Napoleonic Wars. Not that this has anything to do with military
aviation.

-Marc
--
Marc Reeve
Some guy at a desk somewhere ^reverse^ for email

Marc Reeve wrote in :

Tom Denton wrote:
Admiral Lord Thomas Alexander Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald.

Yes, I was aware of that.

AKA "the real 'Jack Aubrey'", though with somewhat less stellar a career
in the Napoleonic Wars. Not that this has anything to do with military
aviation.

Aka the real name your Napoleonic Naval Fiction Hero.
All of them are a pastiche of Cochrane and others.
With HMS Speedy thrown in for good measure.

IBM

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Originally Posted by JDupre5762

I have recently learned about Douglas Pitcairn a Luftwaffe pilot who flew with
the Condor Legion in Spain. The article didn't describe how someone with such
an English sounding name ended up in Spain. At first I thought he might be an
English volunteer for Franco but since the Condor Legion was really an all
German show and now I learn that Pitcairn flew for the Luftwaffe in France I
realize he must have been a German citizen. I am more intriqued than ever.

Who was he and how did he get his name? Did he survive WW2?

John Dupre'

I came across him while researching a paper in college on the air battle of the Ploesti oil refineries. Apparently he was of noble birth, his mother a Prussian aristocrat, his paternal line Scottish landed gentry. His full and proper designation was Douglas Pitcairn of (Scottish Placename forgotten). It's also possible that Pitcairn was the teritorial designation and not his surname. What the actual surname may be, I am not sure, tried Burkes, who track the Scottish Gentry pretty well but cannot seem to find any Pitcairns but the territory seemed to be among the holdings of the Keith family, the head of which bears the title EARL MARISCHAL. If he is indeed Douglas Keith of Pitcairn, he may be of a cadet branch of that family. He may have used Pitcairn the way Prince William registered for St. Andrews as William Wales rather than William Mountbatten-Windsor, who wouldnt. Obvioulsy raised in his mothers land and traditions he became a patriotic German officer, though I dont know to what extent he was idealogically a Nazi.
This info was in an obscure book on Ploesti I have not been able to locate since. His heritage was detailed in the context of the irony that the defending German's were just about everything but. Pitcairn commanded the Luftwaffe and the AA troops were mostly Romanian conscripts, while there was a startling preponderance of Germanic surnames among the USAAF personel involved in the raid.

I hope this is helpful

PS. I think someone above had his full name and designation as: Douglas
Pitcairn of Perthshire. Sounds right and likely landed gentry by the sounds of it, but doesnt appear in Burkes. Perhaps removed because of his ties during WWII

Also, Kaiser Bill was Queen Victoria's grandson, her husband Albert was her German first cousin, William (of orange) and Mary were first cousins who together deposed their common grandfather from the british throne. Many European wars were large scale family fueds.