Leutnant Hans von Keudell was a World War I 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...

 credited with twelve aerial victories.

Early life and service

Keudell was educated in Berlin. In 1904, he joined the cadets at Bensberg. In 1911, he joined the Uhlans. He began World War I with the Uhlans, and went into combat with them in both France and Poland. He was commissioned by April 1915, transferred to aviation and began training on 7 June. On 13 December, he was posted to fly bombing missions, objectives Verdun

Verdun

Verdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.- History :...

, Toul, and Dunkirk, for Breiftauben Abteilung Ostende.

Service as a fighter pilot

By early summer of 1916, Keudell was training as a fighter pilot. On 4 August, he joined KEK B under the command of Hans Bethge

Hans Bethge (aviator)

Oberleutnant Hans Bethge was one of the first World War I flying aces, as well as an aerial commander. He was credited with 20 aerial victories. He was also a squadron commander for the unusually long term of fourteen months.-Early life and ground service:...

. From there, on 22 August, Keudell became a founding member of Jasta 1, destined to fly successively a Fokker D.I

Fokker D.I

|-See also:-Bibliography:*Gray, Peter and Thetford, Owen. German Aircraft since the First World War. London:Putnam, 1962.*Green William and Swanborough, Gordon. The Complete Book of Fighters. New York: Smithmark, 1994. ISBN 0-8317-3939-8....

, a Halberstadt D.III and an Albatros D.III

Albatros D.III

The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service and the Austro-Hungarian Air Service during World War I. The D.III was flown by many top German aces, including Manfred von Richthofen, Ernst Udet, Erich Löwenhardt, Kurt Wolff, and Karl Emil Schäfer...

 for them. On 31 August 1916, he shot down a Martinsyde Elephant

Martinsyde G.100

-See also:-References:* Aircraft of World War I, Kenneth Munson, 1967 Ian Allan ISBN 0-7110-0356-4-External links:* http://www.theaerodrome.com/aircraft/gbritain/martinsyde_g100.php* http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/aircraftpage.php?ID=721...

 for his first win. He then scored steadily through the rest of the year, reaching ten on 22 November.

1 January 1917 saw Keudell awarded the Knight's Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. He shot down his eleventh victim on 24 January 1917. On 5 February, he was appointed to raise and command Jasta 27. He then scored the brand new jasta's first victory on 15 February, only to be in turn killed in action by Stuart Harvey Pratt.

Reference

• Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps 1914 - 1918 Norman L. R. Franks, et al. Grub Street, 1993. ISBN 0948817739, 9780948817731.
• Early German Aces of World War I. Greg VanWyngarden, Harry Dempsey. Osprey Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1841769975, 9781841769974.