Royal Saxon Jagdstaffel 21 was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the '' Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...

during World War I. As one of the original German fighter squadrons, the unit would score 148 verified aerial victories, including at least 30 destructions of enemy observation balloons. In turn, their casualties for the war would amount to eight pilots killed in action, six wounded in action, and one fallen prisoner of war.

History

Jagdstaffel 21 was founded on 25 October 1916, drawing from FA 40 and Kagohl 7 for its initial assignment of men. It was mobilized on 6 December 1916. It suffered its first casualty on 10 February 1917, and scored its first victory on 24 March 1917. It would serve through war's end. Two of its members would soldier on after war's end, and eventually wear general's stars in the '' Luftwaffe''.

Commanding officers (''
Staffelführer ''Staffelführer'' was one of the first paramilitary ranks used by the German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) in the early years of that group's existence. The later SS rank of ''Staffelführer'' traces its origins to the First World War, where the tit ...
'')

# Richard Schlieben: 15 November 1916 – 26 May 1917 #

Eduard Ritter von Schleich Eduard-Maria Joseph Ritter von Schleich (9 August 1888 – 15 November 1947), born Schleich, was a high scoring Bavarian flying ace of the First World War. He was credited with 35 aerial victories at the end of the war. During the Second World ...

: 26 May 1917 – 23 October 1917 # Oskar Freiherr von Boenigk: 23 October 1917 – 27 August 1918 # Josef Schulte: 27 August 1918 – 11 November 1918

Aerodromes

# AFP 3: 25 October 1916 – 15 November 1916 #

Neuflize Neuflize () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list of the 449 communes of the Ardennes department of France. The communes coopera ...

, France: 15 November 1916 – 1 July 1917 # Chassogne Ferme, Verdun, France: 1 July 1917 – 26 December 1917 # Saint-Loup, France: 26 December 1917 – 10 January 1918 #

Saint-Mards Saint-Mards is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A small farming village situated by the banks of the Vienne river in the Pays de Caux, at the junction of the D23 and the D76 roads, ...

, France: 10 January 1918 – 18 May 1918 # Sissonne, France: 18 May 1918 – 6 June 1918 # Boncourt, France: 6 June 1918 – 23 September 1918 # Sissonne: 23 September 1918 – 11 October 1918 #

Plomion Plomion () is a Communes of France, commune in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Plomion was the site of a massacre by retreating German forces on the evening of August 31, 1944 as the Ame ...

, France: 11 October 1918 – 11 November 1918

Notable members

Jasta 21 was fortunate to spend most of its existence under a pair of leaders worthy of the '' Pour le Mérite'' and Iron Cross: Eduard Ritter von Schleich and Oskar Freiherr von Boenigk; the former also rated the

Military Order of Max Joseph The Military Order of Max Joseph (german: Militär-Max-Joseph-Orden) was the highest military order of the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded on 1 January 1806 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, the first king of Bavaria. The order came in t ...

. Both would continue their military careers postwar, and ascend into the ranks of the generals. The unit also had a third '' Pour le Mérite'' in its ranks in

Karl Thom Leutnant Karl Thom (19 May 1893 – 3 March 1945), was a German World War I flying ace credited with 27 victories. He was decorated with both his nation's highest decorations for valor, the Military Merit Cross as an enlisted soldier, and the Pou ...

, who also had won the MMC,

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 v ...

, and Iron Cross. Emil Thuy made the fourth ''Pour le Mérite'' winner in the squadron; he also had the Hohenzollern and Iron Cross. There was a little coterie of balloon aces in Jasta 21. Foremost was Fritz Höhn, Hohenzollern and Iron Cross, although Max Kuhn and Heinrich Haase were also

balloon buster Balloon busters were military pilots known for destroying enemy observation balloons. These pilots were noted for their fearlessness, as balloons were stationary targets able to receive heavy defenses, from the ground and the air. Seventy-seven fl ...

aces. Also notable in the squadron were Rudolf Matthaei, the Iron Cross winner who would move on to successfully command Jasta 46, and Werner Wagener, who won not only the Iron Cross, but also the Silver Wound Badge and the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

MMC.

Aircraft

The squadron used both Albatros and Pfalz fighters. Their squadron's basic paint scheme featured a black and white band circling the fuselage just aft of the cockpit, along with striped elevators. It would begin to switch to

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qu ...

s in the early summer of 1918.

Operations

When the squadron went operational on 6 December 1916, it was working on the '' 3rd Armee'' front. By July 1918, it had joined '' Jagdgruppe 5'', and finished the war there.

Weblinks

References

;Bibliography * 21 Military units and formations established in 1916 1916 establishments in Germany Military units and formations disestablished in 1918 {{wwi-air