Helmut Eberspächer
Helmut Eberspächer (18 November 1915 – 19 June 2011) was a German businessman and chairman of Eberspächer. During World War II, he served in the Wehrmacht as a fighter pilot. A flying ace, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by Nazi Germany.

In 1950, he and his cousin Walter took over the family business, Eberspächer GmbH. He ran the business as chairman until 1988, and remained as an honorary chairman until 2005. He also served on the board of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) and the German Automotive Industry Association. Under his leadership, Eberspächer became one of the leading automobile industry suppliers in Germany, with approximately 5,600 employees worldwide and 1.9 billion Euros in sales in 2010. In 1989 he was fined for tax evasion.

Military career
Eberspächer was born on 18 November 1915 in Tübingen, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire. In 1934 he volunteered for military service in the Reichswehr, and served in an armoured reconnaissance battalion. In parallel to his military service he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Stuttgart. Following his graduation in 1939, he transferred to the Luftwaffe. From July 1940 to January 1943 he served with Lehrgeschwader 2 (Demonstration Wing) on both Western and Eastern Fronts. He then converted to a ground attack role, and from March 1943 served with Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 (10th Bomber Wing), flying fighter-bomber missions over southern England and anti-shipping operations in the English Channel and being appointed a squadron leader.

Early on D-Day 6 June 1944, Eberspächer led four Focke-Wulf Fw 190s of 3./SKG 10 (3rd Squadron of SKG 10) over Normandy. At 05:01 they had intercepted a formation of Royal Air Force Avro Lancasters. Three were claimed as downed by Eberspächer, one of them being Lancaster ND739 of No. 97 Squadron RAF, flown by the squadron's commanding officer, W/C Jimmie Carter. His seven-man crew had earned four Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Distinguished Flying Medals. The wreckage of ND739 was located and excavated in 2012. An assortment of items were recovered including the wedding ring belonging to crew member Albert Chambers.

Eberspächer was awarded the Knight's Cross on 24 January 1945, after 170 missions over the Western Front. He was credited with a total of seven aerial victories, including three at night.

Business career

After the war, Eberspächer joined the family business, which had been founded by his grandfather, Jakob Eberspächer, in 1865 as a plumber's workshop which was known as "Glasdachfabrik-Eberspächer" (Eberspächer Roof-Glazing). He succeeded Hanns-Martin Schleyer in 1978 as president of the Landesvereinigung Baden-Württembergischer Arbeitgeberverbände (State Federation of Baden-Württemberg Employers' Associations) after Schleyer was kidnapped and murdered by the Red Army Faction on 18 October 1977. Eberspächer also supported the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart.

In July 1989, in the aftermath of the Flick affair, Eberspächer was fined 140,000 DM for tax evasion. He had transferred and donated more than 300,000 DM into the accounts of the political parties Christian Democratic Union and Free Democratic Party via the "Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wirtschaft Baden-Württemberg" (the Society for the Advancement of Economics in Baden-Württemberg) between 1972 and 1981.

He died on 19 June 2011 in Esslingen am Neckar. The Eberspächer family are heirs of his business and are ranked 264th of the 500 richest Germans in 2013, with net assets of 450 Million Euros, an increase of 100 Million Euros over the year 2012.

Awards
 Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe on 17 April 1944 as Oberleutnant and pilot
 German Cross in Gold on 1 January 1945 as Hauptmann in the I./Schnellkampfgeschwader 10
 Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 26 January 1945 as Hauptmann and Staffelkapitän of the 3./Nachtschlacht-Gruppe 20
 Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg (1979) presented on 21 April 1979 at Ludwigsburg Palace