Royal Bavarian Jagdstaffel 16 was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the Luftstreitkräfte

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...

, which was the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 forerunner to the Nazi Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

.

History

Royal Bavarian Jagdstaffel 16 was founded from two ad hoc predecessor units — a Bavarian reconnaissance unit, Flieger Abteilung 9, and Kampfeinsitzer-Kommando Ensisheim. These two units were amalgamated on 16 October 1916, while posted in Armee Detachment "B" Sector. Oberleutnant Otto Doosloch commanded this nascent squadron the few days it took to be designated Jagdstaffel 16, on 1 November. By the time it disbanded just two years later, it had established its credentials 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....

 squadron, with an even two dozen enemy observation balloons destroyed, as well as 58 victories over enemy airplanes.

Staffelführer

Staffelführer

Staffelführer was one of the first paramilitary ranks used by the German Schutzstaffel in the early years of that group’s existence...

s

1 Paul Kremer: 1 November 1916 - 8 July 1917

2 Heinrich Geigl: 18 July 1917 - 20 August 1917

3 Robert Dycke: 20 August 1917 - 1 December 1917

4 Heinrich Geigl: 1 December 1917 - 4 April 1918

5 Friedrich Ritter von Röth

Friedrich Ritter von Röth

Oberleutnant Friedrich Ritter von Röth was a German World War I fighter ace with 28 victories. He was the most successful German pilot at shooting down enemy observation balloons; 20 of his triumphs were against them.-Early service:Friedrich Röth served originally in an artillery regiment. He was...

: 8 April 1918 - 9 September 1918

6 Rudolf Eck: 9 September 1918 - October 1918

7 Friedrich Ritter von Röth: October 1918 - 11 November 1918

8 Albert Wilhelm Ferdinand Gröner, 1 November 1916 - 20 July 1917

Duty stations (airfields)

1 Ensisheim: 16 October 1916 - 13 April 1917

2 Habsheim: 13 April 1917 - 6 May 1917

3 Château-Porcien: 7 May 1917 - 4 June 1917

4 Spincourt: 6 June 1917 - 20 October 1917

5 Erlon: 21 October 1917 - 23 November 1917

6 Mercy-le-Haute: 24 November 1917 - 4 February 1918

7 Aertrycke: 7 February 1918 - 14 March 1918

8 Le Cateau: 15 March 1918 - 20 March 1918

9 Foucaucourt: 21 March 1918 - 6 April 1918

10 St. Marguerite: 13 April 1918 - October 1918

11 Scheldewindeke: October 1918 - 11 November 1918

Notable personnel

• Ludwig Hanstein
  Ludwig Hanstein
  Leutnant Ludwig Hanstein was a World War I flying ace credited with 16 aerial victories.-Early service:He scored his first triumph while flying artillery cooperation missions with FA 6...
  
  
• Karl Odebrett
  Karl Odebrett
  -Reference:* Albatros Aces of World War 1. Part 1 of Albatros aces of World War I. Norman L. R. Franks. Osprey Publishing, 2000. ISBN 1855329603, 9781855329607....
  
  
• Otto Kissenberth
  Otto Kissenberth
  Otto Kissenberth was a German flying ace of World War I.Born in Landshut, Bavaria in 1893, Kissenberth studied at Grenoble University completing an engineering degree in Munich and then working for the Gustav Otto aircraft works as a mechanical engineer.With his interest in aircraft design,...
  
  
• Theodor Rumpel
  Theodor Rumpel
  Theodor Rumpel was a German surgeon remembered for describing the Rumpel-Leede sign. He received his doctorate in 1887 in Marburg and worked at the Hamburg-Eppendorf Hospital. He oversaw the building of the Barmbecker Krankenhaus in Hamburg, of which he became director in 1913.- References :...
  
  

Aircraft operated

Fokker E.III

Fokker E.III

|-See also:...

Fokker E.IV

Fokker E.IV

|-See also:...

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....

Fokker D.II

Pfalz D.II

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...

Albatros D.V

Albatros D.V

|-See also:-Bibliography:*Bennett, Leon. Gunning for the Red Baron. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2006. ISBN 1-58544-507-X....

Fokker Triplane

Fokker Dr.I

The Fokker Dr.I Dreidecker was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918...

Fokker D.VII

Fokker D.VII

The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. In service, the D.VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft...