Gustav Leffers (2 January 1895 –27 December 1916) 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 ...

in World War I, credited with 9 victories.

Background

Leffers was born in

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

, the son of a naval engineer. He was educated in Wilhelmshaven and

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

and went on to join the

Holland America Line Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operated ...

as an engineer candidate. In July 1914, just prior to the start of the First World War, he returned from a cruise to the United States.van Wyngarden, ''Early German Aces'', p.26

Involvement in World War I

Leffers was assigned to a field telegraph battalion but, with his engineering background, was then reassigned to the Fliegertruppen. After pilot training, he was posted to FFA 32 in February 1915, flying over the northern part of the 2. ''Armee'' sector. Starting as a

Gefreiter Gefreiter (, abbr. Gefr.; plural ''Gefreite'') is a German, Swiss and Austrian military rank that has existed since the 16th century. It is usually the second rank or grade to which an enlisted soldier, airman or sailor could be promoted.Duden; D ...

, Leffers rose rapidly through the ranks to become a

leutnant () is the lowest Junior officer rank in the armed forces the German (language), German-speaking of Germany (Bundeswehr), Austrian Armed Forces, and military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") fro ...

der reserve on the basis of his excellent performance in

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

roles flying LVG B type aircraft. On 24 September 1915, Leffers was sent for training on single-seater aircraft at

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 ...

. He returned to his unit on 5 November of that year in a

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

EIII (No. 86/15), the first to be attached to FFA 32. The aircraft was destroyed on landing due to a mechanical systems fault; however Leffers ferried in No. 84/15 of the same type onto the unit's strength by 11 November. He scored his first aircraft destroyed on 5 December 1915, a BE-2c of No.13 Squadron. By March 1916 Leffers had four air victories. His fourth, on 13 March, was especially hair-raising. He barely escaped a midair collision, scraping his plane's landing wheels across a

Royal Aircraft Factory BE.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's upper wing before turning onto its tail and incinerating both the British plane and its crew. FFA 32's fighter element eventually became Jasta 1, and Leffers scored another 4 times with the Jasta. He received the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern after his sixth victory on 31 August 1916, and 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 ...

in November 1916 after his eighth win. Leffers' seventh victim insists he was shot down by a

Nieuport Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars. History Beginnings Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in ...

; it seems Leffers used his captured French plane for this victory. On 27 December Lt. Leffers was shot down and killed in combat with FE-2b's of No 11 Squadron RFC, the most likely victors being the crew of Capt. John Quested and Lt. H. J. H. Dicksee. He was flying the captured Nieuport when he was killed.

Awards and decorations

Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by Frederick the Great, King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Or ...

(5 November 1916) * 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 ...

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 ...

of 1914, 1st and 2nd class *

Friedrich August Cross The Friedrich-August Cross was a German decoration of the First World War. It was set up on 24 September 1914 by Frederick Augustus II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg, with two classes, for (to quote its citation) "all persons of military or civilian st ...

Notes

References

*Franks, Norman L. R., ''et al.'' (1993.) ''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914-1918'', Grub Street. , . *van Wyngarden, Greg (2006). ''Early German Aces of World War I'', Osprey Publishing Ltd. {{DEFAULTSORT:Leffers, Gustav 1895 births 1916 deaths People from Wilhelmshaven People from the Province of Hanover German military personnel killed in World War I German World War I flying aces Luftstreitkräfte personnel Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Aviators killed by being shot down Military personnel from Lower Saxony