Theodor Rowehl

Theodor Rowehl
Lieutenant Colonel Theodor Rowehl in 1940, the year he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Born	9 February 1894 Barstede
Died	6 June 1978(1978-06-06) (aged 84) Münster, Germany
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Luftwaffe
Rank	Oberst
Battles/wars	World War I, World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Theodor Rowehl (9 February 1894 – 6 June 1978) was a German pilot who founded the Luftwaffe's strategic air reconnaissance programme, and headed what became known as the Rowehl Squadron and became Kampfgeschwader 200 after his resignation in December 1943.

Rowehl was from Göttingen. In World War I he served in the Imperial German Navy and made reconnaissance flights over England.

After the war, concerned over both the strategic influence of the alliance between the newly reconstituted Poland and France and rumours of Polish construction of border fortifications, Rowehl began flying a hired private plane in his free time and photographing from 13,000 feet (4,000 m) to evade detection. He showed the photographs to the Abwehr, Germany's military intelligence department, and in 1930 was placed on the payroll, sometimes flying along the border with Poland and sometimes penetrating Polish airspace. He flew in the Junkers W 34 that had set the world altitude record at 12,739 metres on 26 May 1929. From this one-man restart of German strategic aerial reconnaissance, by 1934, Rowehl's operation had expanded to five aircraft and a small group of hand-picked pilots based at Kiel, and he had re-enlisted in the military as an officer.

After the signing of the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact in 1934 the unit went underground as the Experimental Post for High-Altitude Flights, purportedly investigating weather, and moved to Berlin, flying out of the Staaken airfield. They expanded operations to aerial reconnaissance of the Soviet Union, France, and Czechoslovakia, where they made the first use in Germany of stereophotography.

In 1936, at Göring's invitation, Rowehl's unit was transferred to the Luftwaffe, where it became the Squadron for Special Purposes, under the General Staff of the 5th Branch (intelligence). The greater financial resources of the Luftwaffe enabled Rowehl to recruit more pilots—he sought out men with experience with aerial photography companies, international airlines and aircraft manufacturers, and two had been aviation adventurers in the 1920s and earlier in the 1930s, Count Hoensbroech and Count Soerma. He also advised on the development of specialised aircraft. The unit used converted bombers, beginning with the Heinkel He 111, later also the Dornier Do 215, Junkers Ju 86 and Junkers Ju 88, Dornier Do 217, Henschel Hs 130, and Messerschmitt Me 410. These were equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks and with an oxygen-nitrogen fuel mix that would supercharge the engine for 20–25 minutes to facilitate escape. Some had pressurised cabins. They were disguised as civilian planes or had minimal markings. Rowehl also advised Zeiss on the development of special automatic cameras which used infra-red film.