Leutnant Josef Raesch (born June 4, 1897, date of death unknown) was a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

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 seven aerial victories. Two of his victories were over other aces,

Guy Wareing Captain Guy Wilbraham Wareing (23 July 1899 – 27 October 1918) was a British World War I flying ace credited with nine aerial victories. Biography Wareing was born in Latchford, Warrington, Lancashire, the son of Frederick William Wareing, a ...

and

Ernest Charles Hoy Captain Ernest Charles Hoy DFC (6 May 1895 –22 April 1982) was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 13 victories. He later pioneered airmail flight over the Canadian Rockies. Early life and service Hoy was servi ...

Biography

Josef Raesch was born in Zewen near Trier on 4 June 1897. The start of World War I sparked his enlistment into the German infantry on 4 August 1914. On 1 December 1917, he transferred from this duty to pilot's training at 'Fliegerersatz-Abteilung'' (Replacement Detachment) 5.Franks et al 1993, p. 184. After training he was assigned to a

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 ...

unit, ''Flieger-Abteilung'' (Flier Detachment) 7, as a two-seater pilot. After seasoning there, he attended ''Jastaschule'' (Fighter pilot training), with subsequent posting to a

fighter squadron A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, dependi ...

. He joined ''

Jagdstaffel 43 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 43, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 43, 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 over 35 aerial victories ...

'' on 6 June 1918. In his June diary entries, he mentioned that rookie pilots posted to the squadron were given older Albatros D.IIIs or

Albatros D.V The Albatros D.V is a fighter aircraft built by the Albatros Flugzeugwerke and used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family and the last Albatro ...

s to fly, but that newer

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 were filtering into the unit. The eighth D.VII arrival is noted. Raesch inherited

Otto Creutzmann Leutnant Otto Creutzmann (8 January 1892 – 12 January 1943) was a World War I flying ace credited with eight aerial victories.The Aerodrome website page on Creutzmann http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/creutzmann.php Retrieved 16 March 2010 ...

's Fokker D.VII when the latter left the ''Jasta''Franks, VanWyngarden 2003, pp. 27-30. on 13 June.Franks et al 1993, p. 94. Creutzmann's insignia of a forward-thrusting pitchfork remained on the plane. For his first aerial victory, Raesch shot down a

Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5 The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 is a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory by a team consisting of Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and Major Frank Goodden. It was one of the fast ...

a north of Hantay at 1100 hours on 27 June 1918. His diary contained a vivid description:

The Englishmen started to circle, and as soon as I had one in my sights I opened up with a volley from both guns, whereupon the SE 5 went into a vertical climb and then slipped off into a spin, with me closely on his tail. I let him have a second burst, and I could see my tracers entering his cockpit and engine and finally had to pull away to avoid a collision. I spotted my victim some 300 meters below me....I dived and again opened up with both guns. The SE 5 went into a climb, and now I could see the machine was on fire. The machine spun towards the earth in a tower of fire and finally crashed.

On 1 July, he scored again, downing a

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

. One week later, he shot down another SE.5a over

Nieppe Nieppe (; nl, Niepkerke) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is in the Lys Plain and a portion of it is in the Lys Valley (Leiedal in Dutch). Population Geography It is situated by the Belgian border. It is located clo ...

Wood for his third confirmed victory. The Summer weather became so hot that the German phosphorus ammunition for machine guns would sometimes "

cook off ''Cook Off'' is a 2017 Zimbabwean romantic comedy film written and directed by Tomas Brickhill. Set in contemporary middle class society of Harare, the film stars Tendaiishe Chitima, Fungai Majaya and Tehn Diamond. Production of the film was ...

"; according to Raesch's diary, ''Jasta 43'' lost a pilot to that catastrophe on 16 July. He also noted such ersatz war materials as iron bullets for brass, and wooden landing gear wheels being supplied. On 25 July, he lost a combat at 1800 hours; Lieutenant Ivan Frank Hind flying SE.5a C5358 shot Raesch down in flames, using Buckingham incendiary ammunition. The bullets narrowly missed Raesch's head, but a burst of flame struck him in the face. Although having had a parachute for only the past fortnight, in one of the pioneering wartime jumps, Raesch baled out and reached ground alive but facially singed. He had to yank his chute from its container in midair to do so. Then a two-meter hole had burned the 'chute. The chute was repaired and reissued to save another pilot's life. Raesch was temporarily relegated to piloting a

Pfalz D.XII The Pfalz D.XII was a German fighter aircraft built by Pfalz Flugzeugwerke. Designed by Rudolph Gehringer as a successor to the Pfalz D.III, the D.XII entered service in significant numbers near the end of the First World War. It was the last P ...

before regaining a Fokker D.VII. He had become the

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

squadron leader, as he usually led the aerial combat patrols. In August 1918, ''Jasta 43'' was hampered by shortages of fuel and aircraft. Raesch's diary remarks that the squadron could not fly because it had no serviceable aircraft. Raesch would not score again until 1750 hours on 28 September 1918, when he shot down a flight commander from

No. 29 Squadron RAF No. 29 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was first raised as a unit of the Royal Flying Corps in 1915, and is one of the world's oldest fighter squadrons. The second UK, British squadron to receive the Eurofighter Typhoon, it is currently the Oper ...

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 ...

Hoy survived the crash of his

a east of

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...

, but was captured by German ground troops. Raesch would not score again until 26 October, when he sent down a SE.5a over Velennes, France. The following day at 1030 hours, he shot down another flight commander from 29 Squadron, Captain

. Wareing's body and aircraft wreckage landed east of

Tournai Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Euromet ...

. On 30 October 1918, Raesch was credited with his final victory, an unidentified enemy aircraft. Raesch's victory tally had reached six enemy fighter planes, plus the unknown craft. On 2 November 1918, Josef Raesch was awarded the First Class

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 ...

, to join the Second Class one awarded earlier. Nine days later, the fighting ended. Nothing more is known of Josef Raesch, except that as late as 1967, he was known to be working as a machine tool manufacturer.

Sources of information

References

Norman Franks Norman Leslie Robert Franks (born 1940) is an English militaria writer who specialises in aviation topics. He focuses on the pilots and squadrons of World Wars I and II. Biography He published his first book in 1976. He was an Organisation a ...

, Frank W. Bailey, Russell Guest. ''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918''. Grub Street, 1993. , . * Norman Franks, Greg VanWyngarden. ''Fokker D VII Aces of World War I., Part 1: Volume 65 of Osprey Aircraft of the Aces.'' Osprey Publishing, 2003. , 9781841767291. {{DEFAULTSORT:Raesch, Josef 1897 births Year of death missing German World War I flying aces Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class Military personnel from Trier