'' Leutnant'' Wilhelm Anton Seitz 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 16 aerial victories. He scored those victories over a two-year span, beginning on 17 November 1916 and ending on 4 November 1918.The Aerodrome website page on Seit

Retrieved on 16 September 2020.

Aerial service

Seitz was already a ''

Vizefeldwebel ''Feldwebel '' (Fw or F, ) is a non-commissioned officer (NCO) rank in several countries. The rank originated in Germany, and is also used in Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia. The rank has also been used in Russia, Austria-Hungary, occupi ...

'' when he joined ''

Jagdstaffel 8 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 8 was a fighter squadron of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. Although the ''Jasta'' went out of existence along with its parent units shortly after the Armistice end ...

'' on 10 November 1916. He scored his first aerial victory on 17 November. He would account for three more opponents during 1917, and had run his total to ten by the time he transferred out of the squadron. In September 1918, he was appointed to command '' Jagdstaffel 68''. As ''Vizefeldwebel'' is not a command rank, it can be inferred that Seitz had previously been commissioned as '' Leutnant''. Leading his new unit by example, Seitz shot down six more enemy airplanes by the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

. He ended the war credited with 16 aerial victories. He had been awarded both classes of the

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 ...

, as well as the Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Medal.The Aerodrome website page on meda

Retrieved 16 September 2020.

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. , .

Aerial service

Sources of information

References

Further reading