Oberleitner, G: You up there - We down here

The author, MSc Eng. Gerhard Oberleitner, was born in Ybbs an der Donau, Austria, on April 7, 1928, the younger son of a Master Carpenter. He attended grade school in Ybbs, and the first to fourth years of high school in Vienna 19. He was supposed to attend the fifth to eighth high school years in Amstetten, but after the first trimester of the 6th grade, he was drafted as a Luftwaffe Anti-Aircraft Assistant. Almost up to the end of World War II, he served with a heavy AA battery in St. Valentin. After the war, he completed his studies at the Waidhofen High School, graduating with his Matriculation Certificate on June 6, 1946. Subsequently, he earned a Master's degree in civil engineering and architecture at the Technical University of Vienna, graduating in 1956. After his journeyman years gaining practical experience in various architectural offices, and then as Construction Manager with Metallwerk Plansee, he became a freelance architect and judicially chartered consultant for architecture and structural engineering. Married for the second time, Gerhard Oberleitner has four children and six grandchildren. He alternates between homes in Ybbs a.d.D. and Reutte in Tyrol. He holds a private pilot's license and counts modern history and philately among his pastimes. Gerhard Oberleitner has written numerous professional articles and is the author of the book "History of the German Field Postal Services 1937 - 1945¿ (published 1995 by Steiger Verlag, Innsbruck, Austria).