Kurt "Kuddel" Ubben (18 November 1911 – 27 April 1944) was a German Luftwaffe wing commander and military aviator during World War II, a fighter ace listed with 110 aerial victories—that is, 111 aerial combat encounters resulting in the destruction of the enemy aircraft—claimed in approximately 500 combat missions.

With this unit, Ubben then fought in the Battle of Greece and Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

His unit transferred to the North African Theatre of operations, taking part in the retreat from Tunisia to Sicily and Italy.

He was killed in action in aerial combat with United States Army Air Forces 356th Fighter Group near Fère-en-Tardenois, France on 27 April 1944.

On 1 October 1931, he joined the military service with the Reichsmarine, the German Navy during the Weimar Republic.

On 1 April 1935, Ubben transferred to the newly emerging Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany and was trained as a naval aviator in 1935/36.

Staffel (1st squadron) of Jagdgeschwader 136 (JG 136—136th Fighter Wing), and in November was posted to the newly created II.

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

[5] In the early morning hours of 1 September, 5./186 (T) flew its first combat missions, providing fighter protection for 4./186 (T) attacking the naval base of the Polish Navy at Hel and for the old German battleship Schleswig-Holstein bombarding the Polish military transit depot at Westerplatte in the Free City of Danzig on the Baltic Sea.

[6] The next, II./186 (T) flew further bomber escort missions and was withdrawn from this theater on 6 September, relocating to Hage, East Frisia.

[1] His first aerial victory was over a Dutch Fokker D.XXI fighter claimed over the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, the opening day of the Battle of France.

[10] Following the decision by Adolf Hitler to halt work on the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin,[11] II./186 (T) was redesignated and became the III.

Gruppe was withdrawn from this theater of operations and relocated to Döberitz where it was tasked with fighter protection of Berlin.

[15] In November, JG 77 was ordered to the English Channel to continue fighting the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the aftermath of the Battle of Britain.

33 Squadron Hawker Hurricane fighter near Larissa on 19 April, although his Bf 109 E-7 (Werknummer 5198—factory number) was badly damaged in the engagement and Ubben forced-landed behind Allied lines near Doblatan.

[23] During the battle, Ubben also carried out many ground-attack and fighter-bomber operations against Allied naval forces during mid-1941.

On 22 May, Ubben and Oberleutnant Wolf-Dietrich Huy claimed hits on the Royal Navy battleship HMS Warspite.

[24][25] A bomb damaged her starboard 4-inch and 6-inch batteries,[26] ripped open the ship's side and killed 38 men.

Gruppe was moved to Bucharest and was located in the sector of Heeresgruppe Süd (Army Group South).

[31] That evening, the pilots and ground crews were briefed of the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union, which opened the Eastern Front.

He replaced Oberleutnant Huy who had temporarily led the Gruppe after its former commander, Major Akexander von Winterfeld, had been transferred on 2 August.

[9] The presentation was made on 5 April 1942 by Hitler at the Führer Headquarter Wolfsschanze in Rastenburg (now Kętrzyn in Poland).

[45] A newer source written by Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike and Bock in 2004 lists Ubben with a claim over a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter shot down at 14:10 southwest of El Daba.

[50] On 1 October, Ubben claimed a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress shot down in the vicinity of Livorno, Italy.

[52] In October and November, in addition to his obligations as Gruppenkommandeur, Ubben also became the acting Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53—53rd Fighter Wing) until he handed over command to Oberstleutnant Helmut Bennemann.

[54] On 19 January 1944, General der Jagdflieger, Generalmajor Adolf Galland visited Ubben at Mizil.

Gruppe to sign an order stating, in case of a last resort, they would have to perform aerial ramming in defense of the oil fields.

He bailed out but his parachute failed to open either due to insufficient altitude or because of an improperly fastened harness.