'' Leutnant'' Franz Hemer was a World War I flying ace credited with 18 aerial victories.

Biography

Hemer was originally a talented concert cellist. His long curly blonde hair sparked his nickname of "Locken". Hemer served with FA(A) 283 before he was posted to Jasta 6 on 10 September 1917. He scored his first victory on 27 October 1917, when he shot down an RE.8. He scored once more in 1917, on 12 November. He was then assigned a

Fokker Dr. 1 The Fokker Dr.I (''Dreidecker'', "triplane" in German), often known simply as the Fokker Triplane, was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became famous as the a ...

. He had a wavery yellow line painted the length of the fuselage, symbolizing the wavy locks of hair that gave him the nickname "Locken".''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps 1914 - 1918'', pp. 126-127 By the end of March 1918, he became an ace. He scored at least five more victories with the triplane before upgrading to a Fokker D.VII. He scored his last win on 8 August 1918. The following day, he was wounded in action when his Fokker D.VII was shot down during a dogfight with RAF

DH.9 The Airco DH.9 (from de Havilland 9) – also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 – was a British single-engined biplane bomber developed and deployed during the First World War. The DH.9 was a development of Airco's earlier successful ...

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No. 49 Squadron RAF No. 49 Squadron was a bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force from 1938 to 1965. They were the first squadron to receive the Hampden in September 1938. The unit achieved fame through the Victoria Cross awarded to Rod Learoyd in 1940 and for its r ...

supported by Sopwith Camels. While convalescing, he was commissioned a '' Leutnant''. However, he apparently did not return to flight duty before the war's end. Later he became managing Director of ''König & Bruder'' in Leipzig, head office in Vienna, an old fur trading company. Franz Hemer died on 18 October 1982 in Frankfurt.

References

Sources

* ''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps 1914 - 1918''. Norman L. R. Franks, et al. Grub Street, 1993. .

Biography

References

Sources

Further reading