Doppelsitzer

Born on 20 July 1936 and raised in Jever, he was enthusiastic about flying from an early age. No wonder, as he spent his early years near the airbase.

After leaving school, Walter Eichhorn completed an apprenticeship as a car mechanic, which gave him his first technical background knowledge.

When Walter Eichhorn was 19 years old, his family emigrated to Canada. His desire to fly grew visibly and he obtained his pilot's licence. His first aircraft was a Fairchild PT-26 Cornell. A year later, a North American T-6 joined, a type of aircraft that would accompany him throughout his life. Eichhorn also trained as a parachutist. He then acquired his professional pilot's licence in 1963.

Back in Germany, he completed Lufthansa's commercial flying school and was awarded his commercial pilot's licence. This was the cornerstone of his decades-long professional flying career.

He began his career as a commercial pilot on the twin-engine piston aircraft Convair CV-440, made the transition to jet flying and later sat in the cockpit of a Boeing 727, the Airbus A310, the DC-10-30 and the Boeing 747, among others.

In 1996, Walter Eichhorn ended his career as a commercial pilot at the age of 60.

However, he had already acquired his aerobatic licence in the 1970s, which opened up further flying opportunities for him as an aerobatic pilot, display pilot and film pilot in Hollywood films such as Memphis Belle and Operation Valkyrie, in which he piloted the Messerschmitt Me-109. Eichhorn also flew Lufthansa's Ju 52, another historic aircraft, from 1986.

Even during his lifetime, Walter Eichhorn was officially granted the status of a legend when he was inducted into the "Living Legends of Aviation" organisation in 2018. In the same year, he also received the Bob Hoover Freedom of Flight Award.

During his decades in the skies, Walter Eichhorn sat in the cockpits of more than 60 different types of aircraft, on which he has now recorded more than 20,000 flying hours in his logbook forever.