Austin Straubel

Who was Austin Straubel?

Major Austin A. Straubel was commander of the 11th Bombardment Squadron and acting commander of the 7th Bombardment Group when he died from burns received, when he was attacked by Japanese Zero Planes, and shot down, from the resulting crash of a B-18 Bolo near Surabaya, Java. Austin Straubel International Airport, near Green Bay, Wisconsin, is named after him.

On February 3, 1942, Major Straubel was joined by 2nd Lieutenant Russell M. Smith, copilot, and Staff Sergeant George W. Pickett, flight engineer. The three were flying a Douglas B-18 “Bolo” to Bandung, Indonesia. Straubel, unhappy with the relationship between 5th Bomber Command and his 7th Bomb Group, had decided to meet with Major General, Lewis H. Brereton Deputy Chief of Staff. After meeting with Brereton, he departed for Malang Indonesia with three passengers the next day. While flying through a pass near Surabaya, Straubel’s aircraft was attacked by Japanese Zeros and shot down. All aboard were killed in the crash or died shortly afterwards at a nearby hospital.

Straubel was the first Brown County aviator to lose his life in World War II. The Brown County Airport Committee, in a March 20, 1946 letter, asked the Brown County Board of Supervisors to “consider naming the new Brown County Airport in memory of Austin Straubel.” The facility is widely known today as Austin Straubel International Airport. Straubel, buried in Java, was reinterred at Green Bay’s Woodlawn Cemetery on January 8, 1949.