World War II Erich Alfred Hohagen (9 January 1915 – 8 March 1990) was a German general in the Bundeswehr.

[1] He joined the military service of the Luftwaffe in 1938 and following completion of flight and fighter pilot training,[Note 1] Hohagen was posted to 4.

[3] World War II in Europe began on Friday, 1 September 1939, when German forces invaded Poland.

Hohagen claimed his first aerial victory, a Royal Air Force (RAF) Supermarine Spitfire over Southern England, on 5 July 1940.

Gruppe of JG 51 was withdrawn from the English Channel in early June 1941 and ordered to Dortmund where the unit was reequipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 F series.

[7] On 4 September, Hohagen was shot down in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2 (Werknummer 9211—factory number) by Soviet fighters near Bryansk.

On 1 September, he was placed in command of the Jagdlehrer-Überprüfungsstaffel, a squadron responsible for the evaluation of fighter pilot instructors.

[1][10] On 1 November 1942, Hohagen was posted to Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2—2nd Fighter Wing), taking command of its 7.

[12] On 7 April, Hohagen was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG 27—27th Fighter Wing) where he was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe.

[14] The pilot that shot him down was Hauptmann Wilhelm Steinmann, also from JG 27, who misidentified Hohagen's Bf 109 for a Spitfire fighter.

[17] On 16 September 1943, Hohagen, was piloting an Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-6 fighter (Werknummer 550532) when his aircraft was hit by the defensive fire of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber.

[18] On 28 September 1944, Hohagen was severely injured, sustaining a skull fracture,[1] when the engine of his Fw 190 A-8 (Werknummer 171559) failed, resulting in a forced landing near the airfield at Merzhausen.

[28] On 24 February 1945, Generalleutnant Adolf Galland and Steinhoff recruited Hohagen and Major Karl-Heinz Schnell from hospital to join the new Jagdverband 44 (JV 44—44th Fighter Detachment) forming at Brandenburg-Briest.

[29] Galland had received permission to create and staff the unorthodox fighter group from Luftwaffe Chief, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring.

[34] Five days later, a U.S. officer was looking for JV 44 pilots and Hohagen, Schnell, Gerhard Barkhorn, Walter Krupinski, and Waldemar Wübke stepped up.

[35] Following World War II, Hohagen joined the newly created German Air Force, at the time referred to as the Bundesluftwaffe.

[37] On 16 February 1963, Hohagen replaced Oberst Herbert Wehnelt as commander of the Waffenschule der Luftwaffe 10 (WaSLw 10—Air Force Weapons School 10).

[39] Until 30 September 1971, he served as department chief of Rüstung und Waffensysteme (Armaments and Weapon Systems) in the Führungsstab der Luftwaffe (German Air Staff).