Leutnant Hans Müller, alias Hans Garelt, was a German 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.

World War I

On 1 April 1914, Müller joined Infantry Regiment No. 13. He began World War I with this unit, but transferred to aviation in November 1916. He flew two-seaters a bit, then joined '' Jagdstaffel 12'' in late 1917. In early January 1918, he transferred to '' Jagdstaffel 15'' to fly a

Fokker Triplane 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 ...

. He scored for the first time on 9 January 1918. On the 29th, he got a confirmed win but had a second one not confirmed. He switched squadrons to ''

Jagdstaffel 18 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 18 was a "hunting squadron" (fighter squadron) of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. History The Jasta was formed on 30 October 1916, at Halluin under 4th Army (German ...

''. Between 27 March and 13 September, he shot down and destroyed five more opponents. Between 9:00 and 9:15 AM on 14 September, Müller shot down three

Spad XIII The SPAD S.XIII is a French biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War, developed by '' Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) from the earlier and highly successful SPAD S.VII. During early 1917, the French designer Louis ...

s from the American

13th Aero Squadron The 13th Aero Squadron was a United States Army Air Service unit that fought on the Western Front during World War I. The squadron was assigned as a Day Pursuit (Fighter) Squadron as part of the 2d Pursuit Group, First United States Army. Its ...

. At 2:40 PM that same afternoon, he shot down a fourth Spad from that same squadron. A week later, he finished his tally with one last Spad.

Post World War I

Hans Müller, at some point, had a neighbor with that identical name. The aviator changed his last name to Garrelt to obviate confusion in their mail delivery.The Aerodrome website http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/muller1.php Retrieved on 15 April 2010 During World War II, Müller served on the staff of

Luftflotte 3 ''Luftflotte'' 3For an explanation of the meaning of Luftwaffe unit designation see Luftwaffe Organisation (Air Fleet 3) was one of the primary divisions of the German Luftwaffe in World War II. It was formed on 1 February 1939 from ''Luftwaffengr ...

of the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

. Post World War II, he designed steam locomotives for

Hanomag Hanomag (Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG, ) was a German producer of steam locomotives, tractors, trucks and military vehicles in Hanover. Hanomag first achieved international fame by delivering numerous steam locomotives to Finland, Romania and ...

and

Henschel Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting v ...

. He died of a brain tumor in 1964.

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. , . 1896 births 1964 deaths German World War I flying aces Military personnel from Lower Saxony Luftwaffe personnel of World War II Deaths from brain tumor People from Wittmund (district) {{germany-mil-bio-stub