Oberleutnant Walter Ewers (11 May 1892 – 15 May 1918) was a 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 eight aerial victories.

Early life

Walter Ewers was born in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

, Germany on 11 May 1892.

World War I

Ewers began military service as an artilleryman in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Field Artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

Regiment Number 7. At some point, he transferred to the ''Luftstreitkräfte''. After aviation training, he was assigned to Flieger-Abteilung 26 to serve in two-seaters. He was upgraded to piloting a fighter plane, transferring to

Jasta 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 ...

. After a further transfer to

Jasta 12 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 12 was a World War I "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. As one of the original German fighter squadrons, the unit would scor ...

in 1917, he scored his first three aerial successes against the

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

, downing a couple of

Airco DH.5 The Airco DH.5 was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft. It was designed and manufactured at British aviation company Airco. Development was led by aircraft designer Geoffrey de Havilland as a replacement for the obs ...

s from No. 41 Squadron RFC and a

Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristi ...

from No. 46 Squadron RFC. The latter was part of a large offensive patrol of mixed British aircraft escorting 46 Squadron's DH.5s. He was chosen to command Bavarian

Jagdstaffel 77 Royal Bavarian Jagdstaffel 77, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 77, was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The squadron would score over 28 aerial victo ...

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 ...

on 21 January 1918. He had been commissioned 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 ...

on 22 May 1917; he was further promoted, to

oberleutnant () is the highest lieutenant officer rank in the German-speaking armed forces of Germany (Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the Swiss Armed Forces. Austria Germany In the German Army, it dates from the early 19th century. Trans ...

, on 15 March 1918. As pilot or as commander, he continued to score victories; in the first three months of 1918, at least three out of five of his victims were French. Ewers was honored with both classes of the Iron Cross, his native Bavaria's Military Merit Order, and the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern for his exploits. At 0930 hours on 15 May 1918, Oberleutnant Walter Ewers was killed in action while piloting his

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 ...

in combat over

Villers-Bretonneux Villers-Bretonneux () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Villers-Bretonneux is situated some 19 km due east of Amiens, on the D1029 road and the A29 motorway. Villers-Bretonneux border ...

with

No. 65 Squadron RAF No. 65 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. First World War The squadron was first formed at Wyton on 1 August 1916 as a squadron of the Royal Flying Corps with a core provided from the training station at Norwich. It served as a trai ...

. He was buried in a mass grave.

List of aerial victories

Endnotes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ewers, Walter 1892 births 1918 deaths Aviators killed by being shot down German military personnel killed in World War I German World War I flying aces Luftstreitkräfte personnel Military personnel from Lübeck Military personnel of Bavaria Recipients of the Military Merit Order (Bavaria)