Hans Joachim Buddecke
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Flying Ace
Flying ace
A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...
in World War I, credited with thirteen victories. He was the third, after Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann was the first German World War I flying ace. He was a great pioneer in fighter aviation and is often mistakenly credited with the first aerial victory using a synchronized gun...
and Oswald Boelcke
Oswald Boelcke
Oswald Boelcke was a German flying ace of the First World War and one of the most influential patrol leaders and tacticians of the early years of air combat. Boelcke is considered the father of the German fighter air force, as well as the "Father of Air Fighting Tactics"; he was the first to...
, to earn the Blue Max
Pour le Mérite
The Pour le Mérite, known informally as the Blue Max , was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order for German soldiers until the end of World War I....
(Pour le Mérite). He saw combat in three theaters: Bulgaria, Turkey, and the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
.
Background
Buddecke was born in Berlin and followed his father's footsteps into the Army. In 1904, he started as a Cadet; in 1910, he received his commission as Leutnant in the 115th Life Guards Infantry Regiment. He left the army in 1913 due to his little time for a social life and his new enthusiasm for flying. In the same year, he moved to the USA to start a new life. There, he worked as a mechanic at a car factory in IndianapolisIndianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
. By saving his earnings, he soon was able to buy his own aircraft (a Nieuport
Nieuport
Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars.-Beginnings:...
monoplane) and he immediately taught himself how to fly. On the day Buddecke started his own aircraft production company, war was declared and he abandoned his business plans and returned to Germany. Travelling under a fake name, Buddecke crossed the Atlantic in the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
ship Athene to Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
(Italy). After he arrived in Europe, he immediately made his way home to join the German Flying Service
Luftstreitkräfte
The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte , known before October 1916 as Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches , or simply Die Fliegertruppen, was the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I...
.
Involvement in World War 1
Buddecke was sent to the Western Front in September 1914. Initially he flew as an observer but soon he would become a single-seater fighter pilot with FFAFeldflieger Abteilung
Feldflieger Abteilung or Field Flying Companies were the pioneering field aviation units of the Luftstreitkräfte in World War I.-Composition:...
23. Because of his previous experience on monoplanes, Buddecke's good friend, Rudolph Berthold
Rudolph Berthold
Rudolf Berthold was a German World War I flying ace. Between 1916 and 1918 he shot down 44 enemy planes—most of them over the Belgian front. Berthold had the reputation as a ruthless, fearless and—above all—a very patriotic fighter...
, suggested that he should fly the first of the Fokker Eindecker
Fokker Eindecker
The Fokker Eindecker was a German World War I monoplane single-seat fighter aircraft designed by Dutch engineer Anthony Fokker. Developed in April 1915, the Eindecker was the first purpose-built German fighter aircraft and the first aircraft to be fitted with synchronizer gear, enabling the pilot...
aircraft delivered to the unit. Buddecke and Berhold, flying the Eindecker and a AEG G.II
AEG G.II
-See also:-Further reading:* Kroschel, Günter; Stützer, Helmut: Die deutschen Militärflugzeuge 1910-18, Wilhelmshaven 1977* Munson, Kenneth: Bomber 1914–19, Zürich 1968, Nr. 20* Nowarra, Heinz: Die Entwicklung der Flugzeuge 1914-18, München 1959...
, respectively, formed a small Kampfstaffel within the unit, intercepting British reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
aircraft. Buddecke scored his first three victories during this assignment.
Buddecke scored his and the new unit's first victory on 19 September 1915; a B.E.2c of No 8 Squadron RFC, crewed by pilot Lt WH Nixon and observer Capt JNS Stott. Opening fire from 200 meters he disabled the observer's machine gun, althoiugh Captain Stott then returned fire with a pocket pistol
Pocket pistol
A pocket pistol is an American term for any small, pocket-sized semi-automatic pistol or, less-popular, any other handgun of small caliber, suitable for concealed carry in either a front or rear pocket of a pair of trousers, or in an exterior coat pocket...
. It was shot out of his hands at a range of ten meters and Nixon was hit. Buddecke's gun then jammed when its cartridge belt tore in the slipstream. As Buddecke struggled with the jammed gun, Stott clambered atop the shoulders of his dying pilot, set his heels on the pilot's knees to operate the rudder and bent forward to grab the controls. Buddecke cleared his gun and aimed at the British observer's yellow leather coat. The BE.2c crash landed near Saint Quentin
Saint Quentin
Saint Quentin , Quintinus in Latin, also known as Quentin of Amiens, is an early Christian saint. No real details are known of his life.-Martyrdom:...
. Buddecke drove to the wreck after landing, where the uninjured captive Stott showed him the bullet holes in his coat. Buddecke followed this up with confirmed claims on 23 October (a B.E.2 of 13 Squadron, with Capt CH Marks
and Lt WG Lawrence-the brother of TE Lawrence,of Arabian fame-both killed) and 11 November and an unconfirmed victory on 6 December 1915.
He was then sent to Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
to fly the Halberstadt D.II
Halberstadt D.II
The Halberstadt D.II was a biplane fighter aircraft of the Luftstreitkräfte that served through the period of Allied air superiority in early 1916, but had begun to be superseded in the Jagdstaffeln by the superior Albatros fighters by the autumn of that year.-Design and development:The D.II was...
and Fokker E.III
Fokker E.III
|-See also:...
with Ottoman FA 6 against the Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
. After a successful campaign in Turkey, with four victories confirmed and seven unconfirmed, Buddecke was recalled to the Western Front in late August 1916 as leader of the newly formed Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 4.
After three kills during September, he again left for Turkey to fly with Ottoman FA 5. By early 1918 he was back in France with Royal Prussian Jasta 30, before switching to Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 18.
Within a few days Buddecke was killed during an aerial combat above Lens, France on 10 March 1918, victim to Sopwith Camel
Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...
s of Naval 3, RNAS. Hans-Joachim Buddecke is buried at the Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery
Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery
The Invalids' Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Berlin. It was the traditional resting place of the Prussian Army, and is regarded as particularly important as a memorial to the German Wars of Liberation of 1813-15.-History:...
in Berlin.