Heinrich Gontermann ( German: Heinrich Gontermann ; February 25, 1896 - October 30, 1917) is a German fighter pilot , one of the best German aces of the First World War with 39 enemy aircraft shot down during the First World War .
| Heinrich Gontermann | ||||||
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| him. Heinrich gontermann | ||||||
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| Date of Birth | February 25, 1896 | |||||
| Place of Birth | Siegen , Westphalia , Kingdom of Prussia German Empire | |||||
| Date of death | October 30, 1917 (21 years old) | |||||
| A place of death | Marl , Department of En , France | |||||
| Affiliation |  German Empire | |||||
| Type of army |  Air Force | |||||
| Years of service | 1914 - 1917 | |||||
| Rank | lieutenant | |||||
| Part | Jasta 5 Jasta 15 | |||||
| Commanded | Jasta 15 | |||||
| Battles / wars | ||||||
| Awards and prizes |
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Content
- 1 Biography
- 2 Awards
- 3 Literature
- 4 notes
- 5 Links
Biography
Gontermann was born into the family of a cavalry officer, manufacturer Heinrich Gontermann (died December 12, 1929). At the beginning of World War I, he voluntarily entered the Eastern Ulan Regiment. In August 1914 he was wounded. in 1915 he filed a report on the transfer of the Reichswehr to aviation , which was satisfied some time later. For almost a year, he flew as a cadet in a flying school on a Roland C II biplane. After training, having acquired the skills of a fighter pilot, by the end of 1916, Gontermann arrived Jagdstaffel 5 as a pilot. On November 14 of the same year, Gontermann shot down his first plane and won 7 victories in air battles until April 6, 1917. Two days later it knocks down its first balloon. Due to his apparent success in aerial combat, he is being appointed Jagdstaffel 15 squadron commander.
Gontermann was considered an unsurpassed ace in the destruction of airships and barrage balloons of the enemy along with Frederick von Röth , who developed the tactics of destroying balloons. The essence of the maneuver was that the attacking aircraft at high speed shot down several balloons in one go, which made it difficult to hit with return fire from enemy countermeasures. So, on August 19, 1917, he immediately shot down 4 barrage balloons.
For his outstanding achievements, Gontermann was awarded the Order of Pour le Mérite on May 14, 1917.
During a test flight on October 30, 1917 on the Fokker Dr I triplane at its airfield in Marle , it crashed - part of the upper wing collapsed, the plane crashed to the ground. He was still alive when he was removed from the wreckage, but died a day later in the hospital.
He was buried on November 6 at the Lindenbergfriedhof cemetery in Siegen .
Rewards
- Badge of a Military Pilot ( Kingdom of Prussia )
- 2nd Class Iron Cross ( Kingdom of Prussia )
- 1st Class Iron Cross (March 5, 1917)
- Royal Order of the Hohenzollern House Knight's Cross with Swords (May 6, 1917) ( Kingdom of Prussia )
- Military Order of Maximilian Joseph Knight's Cross (May 11, 1917) ( Kingdom of Bavaria )
- Order of Pour le Mérite (May 14, 1917) ( Kingdom of Prussia )
Literature
- Jürgen Brinkmann: Die Ritter des Orden Pour le merite 1914-1918. Th. Schäfer Druckerei GmbH, Hannover ua 1982.
- Arch Whitehouse: Flieger-Asse 1914-1918 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1970, S. 398-401.
- Walter Zuerl: Pour le mérite-Flieger. Luftfahrtverlag Axel Zuerl, Steinebach Wörthsee 1987, ISBN 3-934596-15-0 .
- Leonhard Müller: Fliegerleutnant Heinrich Gontermann . Barmen-u. 1919. (Digitalisat: [1] )