Blume, Walter

After graduating from high school in Hirschberg, he trained at a machine-building plant.

In September 1914, he volunteered for the 5th Silesian Jäger Battalion. He was wounded in a battle near Elkom in October 1914.

Having recovered, from June 1915 to June 1916 he underwent flight training at the Leipzig-Mokau flight school and started flying on the Western Front, first in the training unit near Saint-Quentin , then at the Strasbourg fleet then as part of the airfield unit No. 65 ( Schlettstadt ). Blume then flew on a two-seat Avatik airplane. In July 1916 he received the Iron Cross of the 2nd class, and in August he was promoted to vice sergeant major.

The request to transfer to single-seat fighters was granted, and since January 1917, Blume fought under the command of Bruno Lörzer in the 26th air squadron on an Albatros aircraft. On it, Blume shot down the first enemy on May 10, 1917 near the city of Guzokur , and in total as part of Jasta 26 he managed to win 6 victories. On August 14, he was awarded the 1st Class Iron Cross.

Blume was seriously wounded in the chest on November 29, 1917 (during the battle with the 48th British squadron) and spent three months in the hospital.

Then he was sent to the 9th air squadron , in which on March 5, 1918 he was replaced as commander of Oberleutnant Kurt Student , later Colonel General Luftwaffe. During further service, he shot down another 22 aircraft, flying on Albatros and Fokker D.VII fighters and bringing his combat score to 28 victories. On October 2, 1918 he received the Order of Pour le Merite , on January 15, 1919, in retirement.

After the war, Walter Blume completed his engineering education at the Hanover Technical University . During his studies, he, as a student of Professor George Hans Madelung , participated in the development of the Vampire glider.

Having joined the Albatros Flugzeugwerke company in November 1926 as a chief designer, Blume continues his career in aviation. Prior to this, he happened to participate in the secret rearmament of the army, conducted by the Armed Forces Army .

In 1933, he transferred to work at Arado Flugzeugwerke, where he served as technical director. Participates in the development of the Ar 66 aircraft and other models.

Among the developments of Blumem of that period are the Ar 232 transporter and the Ar 234 /

According to some reports, Walter Blume was captured by soldiers of the Red Army and spent the next few years in the USSR, where he helped Soviet designers develop jet aircraft.

Then, having settled in Dusseldorf , Blume worked for some time as one of the leaders of a non-ferrous metal production association. In October 1952 he managed to get a place (about 41,000 m²) in Duisburg for the arrangement of Leichtbau und Flugtechnik GmbH, also known as the Blume Bureau. However, despite the participation in the development and construction of the Blume Bl.500 aircraft of six engineers and two thousand workers, neither the four-seater station wagon nor the transport project were interested in the newly created Luftwaffe. Of the entire project, two Blume Bl.502 aircraft remained certified .

Under pressure from the Federal Ministry of Economics, Blume in September 1955 was forced to agree to merge his “Bureau” with Focke-Wulf (now, after a series of mergers, EADS ).

Walter Blume died in Duisburg at the age of 68.

• 2nd Class Iron Cross (July 24, 1916)
• 1st Class Iron Cross (August 14, 1917)
• Royal Order of the Hohenzollern House Knight's Cross with Swords (August 7, 1918)
• Pour le Mérite (September 30, 1918)
• Badge of a Military Pilot (Prussia)

• V. Blume biography on flieger-album.de
• Ace Walter Blume's personal account at theaerodrome.com {lang-en}
• Not only specialists. The post-war German aviation industry human resources {lang-de}