Given in loving memory by his daughter Heike Lindner Brooke with husband Colonel (ret.) Arthur L. Brooke III, his son Uwe Lindner with wife Dr. Astrid Lindner and son Fabian Lindner, and his son Axel Lindner.
Gerhard Adolf Hermann LINDNER Born: 04-02-1919, Hemer, Westphalia Died: 06-20-1951, Sonthofen, Allgaeu
While still in High School he learned to build gliders and fly single-engine planes. He went to the German Airforce Flight School in Fuerstenfeldbruck and earned his commission in December 1939. After completion of his fighter pilot training in February 1940, he was assigned to KG (Fighter Squadron) 26 and was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd Class for missions flown against England.
In January 1941 he left the Air Force, and worked for Henschel Flugzeugwerke, Berlin Schoenefeld, until the end of May. He tested such planes as the JU88 (Junker), HS123 (Henschel) and HS129.
From June 1941 until November 1942 he was a pilot for Brinker Eisenwerk II in Hannover, testing Do 17 (Dornier), Do215 and Do217.
From December 1942 until the end of World War II he was a test pilot for Messerschmitt AG in Augsburg. Although he performed test flights on ME 109, Mel10, Me210 and Me410, his main accomplishment was with the Me262, the first operational jet, later with the Me262.
In 1943 he achieved the world speed record with 1005 km/hr (equal to approximately 628MPH) and he held several altitude records. His tests established conclusively that 950 km/hr were the maximum safe speed for the Me262.
He tested the first pressure suit for high altitude flights. However, the suit proved to be too bulky for the Me262 cockpit and was scrubbed. Shortly afterwards the cockpit was successfully pressurized and a pressure suit was no longer a necessity.
Once the German Air Force High Command decided to turn the Me262 into a bomber, he also tested armaments of various types, some of them quite hazardous.
From February 1944 until the end of the war, he also trained a number of the lead pilots of the Me262 squadrons which saw action.
Toward the end of the war, because of his unique knowledge and qualifications, he was placed under Gestapo surveillance for fear he might defect to the Allies. American teams were known to be in the Augsburg area trying to find out more about the Me262.
From May until July 1945 he was a guest of the RAF in England giving briefings about jet propulsion and flight at or near the sound barrier.
From 1946 until his untimely death in 1951 he worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers, supervising reconstruction of infrastructure, such as utilities, roads, railroad tracks and bridges and the world class ski jump facility in Oberstdorf.
Four months after his death, he would have been able to fulfill his dream of flying again. He was scheduled to join a USAF test pilot team in Texas.