Ulrich Steinhilper (September 14, 1918 - October 20, 2009) was a Luftwaffe fighter pilot in World War II who made numerous escape attempts after being shot down and captured. An IBM - typewriter salesman in the postwar era, he was an early proponent of word processing, believed by some to have either coined the term or even invented the concept.
Early life:
Steinhilper was born in Stuttgart during an air raid in World War I.His father was a teacher. In 1936, he was allowed to graduate early from high school after passing his Air Force flight training exam.
World War II:
Luftwaffe ace:
He received his pilot's badge and in 1939 was assigned to Fighter Squadron 433, where he was adjutant to Adolf Galland. As the youngest officer, he was also made the squadron's intelligence officer, a job no one else wanted (or knew much about). Steinhilper learned that he was to provide ground-to-ground and ground-to-air communications for the pilots with the aid of two 1.5-kilowatt radio stations and two field telephone systems. He made every effort to promote the use of radios, but most pilots were opposed to the idea, including Galland, considering the equipment unnecessary extra weight and the concept a waste of time. Steinhilper managed to demonstrate the advantages during a major exercise under the command of General Hugo Sperrle involving a simulated bombing raid on Stuttgart, only to have Galland's findings dismissed and ignored by the others. His unit, now renamed I/ JG 52, was deployed to protect the Ruhr in the west during the invasion of Poland in the east in 1939. Steinhilper saw sporadic combat in the Battle of France and flew a Messerschmitt Bf 109- fighter. From August 1940, he took part in the Battle of Britain. In two months he flew over 150 missions against England, seven in a single day. He became an ace. He destroyed two or three Spitfires on the ground at RAF Manstonam 19 August, but it was not until 19 September that he achieved his first aerial victory, another Spitfire. According to one source, his other four air casualties were two Spitfires on September 24, another on September 30, and a Bristol Blenheim on October 4. Steinhilper was shot down over Canterbury on 27 October, possibly by Archie McKellar , another ace squadron leader , or by Sergeant Bill Skinner of the 74th Squadron , and became a prisoner of war after parachuting to safety. (The "substantial remains" of Lieutenant Steinhilper's Bf 109E were recovered in 1980 and are on display in the Dowding Memorial Hangar of the Kent Battle of Britain Museum).
Escape attempts:
In January 1941, he was sent across the Atlantic to Canada to be interned at Camp W in Neys, Ontario, or Camp 30 in Bowmanville, Ontario. He made his first escape on November 23, remaining at large for two days before being recaptured at Niagara Falls, Ontario. A few weeks later, he tried again and managed to reach Windsor Station in Montreal. On his third attempt, on February 18, 1942, he and his friend Albert Waller made it to Watertown, New York, USA, before they were captured. He was subsequently transferred to Camp 20 in Gravenhurst, Ontario, where he made two more unsuccessful escape attempts.
After the war ended in 1945, he was returned to Germany and released in late 1946.
IBM and later life:
After the war, he worked in various jobs before being hired by IBM Germany. As an IBM typewriter salesman, he coined the word "word processor " in 1955. Several sources even credit him as the originator of the concept. However, Thomas Haig, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee 's School of Information Studies, wrote in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing that the English term preceded the German one, however, he acknowledged that the latter was "the first to achieve any currency at all." Steinhilper tried to get IBM Germany interested in the concept, but without much success. When the idea was finally accepted in 1971, IBM gave him an Outstanding Achievement Award and a trip around the world in recognition of "having authored and promoted it." He wrote four autobiographical books. They were published in English. "A Spitfire on My Tail," "Ten Minutes to Buffalo" and "Full Circle" detail his wartime experiences, while "Don't Talk - Do It!" covers his postwar life. The first three were also published in German.
Ulrich Steinhilper died in his native Stuttgart on October 20, 2009, at the age of 91.
