Oberleutnant Franz Schleiff (born 19 September 1896, date of death unknown) was a World War I

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 ...

credited with twelve aerial victories. Nine additional combat claims went uncredited.

Aerial service

Russia and Palestine

Schlieff joined German aviation in July 1915.The Aerodrome website http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schleiff.php Retrieved on 16 April 2010. After training at FEA 9 in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

, he was assigned to FA 54, an artillery cooperation unit operating on the Eastern Front. From there, he was transferred to FA 300 in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. On 11 May 1917, he shot down a Martinsyde Elephant over

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

. He scored again, on 25 June, but failed to get confirmation when he forced an enemy fighter to land on the 29th. For his efforts, Schlieff was decorated by the Turkish government.

France

His next move took him to the Western Front, to

Jagdstaffel 41 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 41, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 41, was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The unit would score 73 aerial victories duri ...

, in October 1917. He scored once for them, on 6 December 1917. On 9 January 1918, he was promoted to command of

Jagdstaffel 56 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 56, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 56, was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The squadron would score 63 aerial victories d ...

. Beginning 19 February, and running through 24 March, he tallied nine more confirmed victories, and an unconfirmed one. On 26 March, he received the

Royal House Order of Hohenzollern The House Order of Hohenzollern (german: Hausorden von Hohenzollern or ') was a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Hohenzollern awarded to military commissioned officers and civilians of comparable status. Associated with the various ...

. On 27 March, he was wounded in the hand by a tracer bullet, and the hand had to be amputated. This ended Schlieff's flying career. Schlieff claimed 12 victories and was nominated for the

Pour le Merite Pour may refer to these people: * Kour Pour (born 1987), British artist of part-Iranian descent * Mehdi Niyayesh Pour (born 1992), Iranian footballer * Mojtaba Mobini Pour (born 1991), Iranian footballer * Pouya Jalili Pour (born 1976), Irania ...

, but did not receive it.

Sources of information

References

''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. , . {{DEFAULTSORT:Schleiff, Franz 1896 births Year of death missing People from Sztum County Military personnel from West Prussia Recipients of the Imtiyaz Medal Recipients of the Liakat Medal German World War I flying aces Luftstreitkräfte personnel Prussian Army personnel German amputees