Early life and service

Weiss was a native of Hof, which was situated on the Austrian/German border. He began school in Bayreuth in 1912, studying mechanical engineering. After several attempts to volunteer for service at the beginning of World War I, he was accepted by the pioneers at Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...

. He trained in Darmstadt in 1916; one of his schoolmates from high school, Richard Wenzl

Richard Wenzl

Leutnant Richard Wenzl was a German World War I flying ace credited with twelve aerial victories.Wenzl flew first for an artillery cooperation unit, FAA 236. He transferred, first to KEK Ost, then to Jasta 31 in the spring of 1917. For his first victory, he shot down a Spad on 19 April 1917. He had...

, trained with him there and would also become an ace.

Weiss began his aerial service as an observer gunner in artillery cooperation units FF(A) 282, FF(A) 28, and FFA 68 during June 1916. At that time, he was a corporal. During a reconnaissance flight, he was wounded in the foot by anti-aircraft fire though flying at nearly 9,000 feet. Upon recovery, he was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class. On a later mission, on 26 May 1917, he bombed an enemy supply train, breaking it in half; he then continued the attack despite ground fire from machine guns and infantry. For this feat, he won the Iron Cross First Class and was promoted to sergeant.

Service as a fighter pilot

Then, in August 1917, he was sent to Jastashule in Valenciennes

Valenciennes

Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...

. By the following month, he was already flying a fighter for Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 41; he scored his first victory on the 17th. Weiss was then commissioned a leutnant in October 1917. He then went on a streak as a balloon buster

Balloon buster

Balloon busters were military pilots known for destroying enemy observation balloons. These pilots were noted for their fearlessness. Seventy-six fighter pilots in World War I were each credited with destroying five or more balloons, and thus were balloon aces....

, downing four observation balloons in a row. Weiss followed that with four triumphs over enemy aircraft, the last of which, his tenth win, occurred on 13 March 1918. He was transferred to Royal Prussian Jasta 10, which was part of Manfred von Richthofen

Manfred von Richthofen

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen , also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I...

's Flying Circus

Flying Circus

Flying Circus may mean:In aviation:*Jagdgeschwader 1 , a German World War I fighter wing commanded by Manfred von Richthofen at one point*The American World War II air corps led by Joe Foss...

, Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War I). He scored a single victory there, on 28 March 1918, before being transferred to another Flying Circus unit, Royal Prussian Jasta 10, as a Flight Leader. He scored his first win in his new unit on 2 April 1918. Six days later, he was selected to temporarily command Jasta 11, and did so until his death in action on 2 May 1918.

On that day, Weiss was flying his Fokker Triplane; although Richthofen's Jagdgruppe used scarlet as their identifying color, Weiss's plane was largely or entirely "Weiss" (white). Weiss died of a bullet through the head from the guns of No. 209 Squadron's Lt. Merrill Samuel Taylor's 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...

 while attacking another Camel from Taylor's unit.

Reference

• Fokker Dr I Aces of World War I. Norman Franks, Greg VanWyngarden. Osprey Publishing, 2001. ISBN 1841762237, 9781841762234.