Kurt Wissemann was a German

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 five aerial victories.The Aerodrome websit

Retrieved 14 September 2020

Biography

Born in

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was in a docu ...

, Wissemann trained as 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 ...

with ''Jastaschule 1'' (Fighter school 1) before being posted to ''

Jasta 3 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 3 was a fighter squadron of the '' Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. It was founded on 10 August 1916 at ''Flieger Ersatz Abteilung'' 5 in Braunschweig, Germany, as one of th ...

'' on 28 May 1917. He claimed 5 victories during 1917, one of which was reputed to be top French ace Capitaine

Georges Guynemer Georges Guynemer (, 24 December 1894 – 11 September 1917 Missing in action, MIA) was the second highest-scoring French Third Republic, French Flying ace, fighter ace with 54 victories during World War I, and a French people, French Folk h ...

on 11 September. He was killed in action over

Westrozebeke Westrozebeke is a village in the Belgian province of West Flanders. It is part of the municipality of Staden. It is located 6 miles (10 km) west of Roeselare and 9.5 miles (15 km) north-east of Ypres. It's a typical agricultural village ...

, allegedly versus Rene Fonck but documentary evidence suggests it was more probably either Captain

Reginald Hoidge Reginald Theodore Carlos Hoidge MC & Bar (28 July 1894 – 1 March 1963) was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 28 victories. He served initially in the Canadian Royal Garrison Artillery before transferring ...

or Captain

Geoffrey Hilton Bowman Group Captain Geoffrey Hilton "Beery" Bowman, (2 May 1891 – 25 March 1970) was a British First World War fighter ace credited with 32 victories. After attaining the rank of major in the Royal Flying Corps, he later became a group captain in t ...

of No. 56 Squadron,

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

.''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918'', p. 232

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 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. Grub Street, 1993. , . 1893 births 1917 deaths German World War I flying aces People from Elberfeld Military personnel from the Rhine Province Prussian Army personnel Luftstreitkräfte personnel German military personnel killed in World War I Aviators killed by being shot down Military personnel from Wuppertal {{germany-mil-bio-stub