Leutnant Emil Meinecke (20 July 1892 – 2 May 1975) was a German

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was credited with six confirmed aerial victories. After the war, he stayed in aviation, rising to the post of chief

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...

for

Fokker Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...

. His post there ended with Germany's defeat in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Meinecke then returned to his trade as an aircraft mechanic during the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...

. He eventually became a Canadian citizen in 1950.

Biography

Emil Meinecke was born in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

in the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...

on 20 July 1892.Aerodrome website page on Meineck

Retrieved 16 February 2012. He apprenticed as an aircraft mechanic as a teenager, qualifying in 1910. He then worked for German pioneer aviator

Karl Jatho Karl Jatho ( 3 February 1873 – 8 December 1933) was a German inventor and aviation pioneer, performer and public servant of the city of Hanover. Achievements and claims to precedence over the Wright brothers From August through November 1903 ...

who taught him to fly. Meinecke finally soloed in 1913.Early Aviators website page on Meineck

Retrieved 17 February 2012.''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918'', p. 163. Emil Meinecke joined the German military aviation effort when World War I began in 1914. When he enlisted on 20 August 1914, he had not yet completed requirements for his International Flying Certificate, but carried a letter of recommendation for pilot training from Jatho. On 25 July 1915, Meinecke qualified for his Military Pilot's Certificate. He was then assigned to Johannisthal Air Field in Berlin as a flying instructor.Vintage Aero Flying Museum webpage on Meineck

Retrieved 17 February 2012.''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918'', pp. 163-164. Meinecke was posted to duty training Turkish aviation cadets in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

on 1 October 1915. Then, in April 1916, he was posted to Flieger-Abteilung 6 at San Stefan as a fighter pilot under Theodor Croneiss. He scored six confirmed victories in a year and two days, starting with downing a

Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was a British single-engine tractor two-seat biplane designed and developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Most of the roughly 3,500 built were constructed under contract by private companies, including establish ...

c with his

Fokker Eindekker The Fokker ''Eindecker'' fighters were a series of German World War I monoplane single-seat fighter aircraft designed by Netherlands, Dutch engineer Anthony Fokker.Boyne 1988 Developed in April 1915, the first ''Eindecker'' ("Monoplane") was the f ...

monoplane on 27 January 1917. Aerial opposition to the mixed German-Turkish unit came from the Greek Air Services and the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

Honors and awards

By war's end, Emil Meinecke had won a number of military honors. He had received the ''Ehrenbecher für den Sieger im Luftkampfe'', or Honor Goblet for Victory in Air Combat as well as both the First and Second Class

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

. On 24 September 1917, Meinecke's native

had awarded him the silver medal of the Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order Medal, as well as a Medal for Bravery. His awards from the Ottoman Empire included the

Pilot's Badge An aviator badge is an insignia used in most of the world's militaries to designate those who have received training and qualification in military aviation. Also known as a Pilot's Badge, or Pilot Wings, the Aviator Badge was first conceived to rec ...

, the Gallipoli Star, and the Silver

Liakat Medal The Liakat Medal ( tr, Liyakat Madalyasi) translated as "Medal of Merit," was a decoration of the Ottoman Empire established in 1890. It could be awarded in two classes, gold or silver. The medal was a common military decoration of the late Ottoma ...

with Swords.

List of aerial victories

See also Aerial victory standards of World War I Confirmed victories are numbered and listed chronologically. Unconfirmed victories are denoted by "u/c" and may or may not be listed by date.

Post World War I

Meinecke was discharged from military service in December 1919. He was unable to find work in Germany, so he moved to the Netherlands to work as a mechanic for Fokker. As part of his job, he accompanied airplanes being sold to the Russians, and test flew them for acceptance trials. Meinecke also did considerable testing on the original

Fokker S.I The Fokker S.I was a Dutch primary trainer, first flown in 1919 and the first of a family of trainers from the Fokker company. Development The S.I was designed by Reinhold Platz as a primary trainer with a cantilever parasol wing with two si ...

trainer before writing it off in an emergency landing in October 1921. Circa 1925-1927, Meinecke was in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

as Fokker's technical representative for the Chaco War buildup. On 22 February 1929, he tested the Fokker F.XIV at Schiphol, the Netherlands. He followed this up by testing the first Fokker with retractable landing gear, the tri-motored Fokker F.XX, on 3 June 1933 . On 27 February 1936, Meinecke flew the maiden test flight of the Fokker DXXI from Welschap Airfield.Aircraft Walkaround Center webpag

Retrieved 20 February 2012. In 1936, he flew a replica Fokker Spider for Queen Wilhelmina at Schiphol. During World War II, Meinecke remained in the Netherlands, serving as a ferry pilot and test pilot for Fokker. In one incident, on 5 May 1941, he flew as the chase plane pilot in a sortie of two

Fokker G.1 The Fokker G.I was a Dutch twin-engined heavy fighter aircraft comparable in size and role to the German Messerschmitt Bf 110. Although in production prior to World War II, its combat introduction came at a time the Netherlands were overrun by t ...

s; the test plane, flown by Hidde Leegstra and Piet Vos, two Dutch pilots, eluded him as they defected to England. The end of the war saw him once again working as a mechanic. In 1949, he mechanised for the 53rd Troop Carrier Squadron USAF during the

. Meinecke emigrated to Canada in 1950, and became a Canadian citizen on 1 June 1956. He died in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

, Ontario, Canada.

Endnotes

References

* ''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918''.

Norman Franks Norman Leslie Robert Franks (born 1940) is an English militaria writer who specialises in aviation topics. He focuses on the pilots and squadrons of World Wars I and II. Biography He published his first book in 1976. He was an Organisation a ...

, Frank W. Bailey, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1993. , . * ''Countdown to Freedom''. Willem Ridder. AuthorHouse, 2007. , . {{DEFAULTSORT:Meinecke, Emil 1892 births 1975 deaths Military personnel from Mannheim German World War I flying aces German emigrants to Canada Recipients of the Silver Liakat Medal People from the Grand Duchy of Baden Members of the Early Birds of Aviation