| Erich Etienne | |
| Birth Date: | 1915 2, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Leipzig, German Empire |
| Death Place: | Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway |
| Occupation: | geophysicist, polar explorer, pilot |
| Years Active: | 1936–1942 |
Dr. Erich W. Etienne (24 February 191523 July 1942) was a German geophysicist, polar explorer and pilot.
Erich Etienne was born in Leipzig and studied geophysics in Leipzig and Exeter before going to the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship in 1934. He then took part in the Oxford University Greenland Expeditions of the Oxford University Exploration Club in 1936[1] and 1938.[2] In 1939 he received his doctorate under Ludwig Weickmann at the University of Leipzig.
During the Second World War, Etienne became a pilot and flight meteorologist in the Luftwaffe. From the autumn of 1940 he was assigned as a weather observer and meteorological advisor to Wettererkundungsstaffel 5 based at Trondheim-Værnes. His doctoral supervisor Weickmann had previously been appointed chief meteorologist at Luftflotte 5. In September 1940 Etienne was assigned to the crew of a Heinkel He 115, which flew reconnaissance missions in preparations for the Axis landing at Jan Mayen island.
In 1941–1942 Etienne led Operation Bansö, a German effort to set up a manned weather station on Spitsbergen.
Erich Etienne was killed after his plane was shot down on July 23, 1942 during a reconnaissance flight over Svalbard's capital Longyearbyen.