''Vizeflugmeister'' Alexander Zenzes (10 July 1898–September 1980) IC was a German World War I

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

. He was a German naval pilot credited with 19 confirmed aerial victories. After World War I, he gained a Doctorate in Engineering. In 1926, he moved to the United States. Although he became a

naturalized citizen Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

, in 1942 the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

suspected him of being a subversive.

Early life

Alexander Zenzes was born on 10 July 1898 in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

.The Aerodrome websit

Retrieved 22 July 2012.

World War I service

There is no information about him until he appeared on the rolls of Marine Flieger Jagdstaffel II by scoring his first aerial victory on 5 June 1918. He had run his total to six by the end of the month. He was awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

First Class during the summer. On 22 July 1918, he was wounded by anti-aircraft fire. On 30 July, he was promoted to Vizeflugmeister. Two days later, on 1 August, he received more serious wounds that kept him out of action until September. Upon his return, he would score ten victories in October 1918 alone, running his total to at least 19 confirmed victories.''Above the Lines'', pp. 235–236.

Postwar life

Immediately postwar, Zenzes would serve in

Gotthard Sachsenberg Gotthard Sachsenberg (6 December 1891 – 23 August 1961) was a German World War I fighter ace with 31 victories who went on to command the world's first naval air wing. In later life, he founded the airline ''Deutscher Aero Lloyd'', became an ant ...

's Marine Freikorps, battling the communist insurgents. During the early 1920s, Zenzes earned a Ph.D in Engineering. In 1926, he moved to the United States. In 1929, he applied for citizenship; he became a naturalized American in 1934. He lived in San Francisco until World War II. He worked as a clerk and a sales manager while conducting chemical research. By 1942, the

suspected him of being a German agent carrying out subversion in Mexico. He was last heard of living in New York City in the 1950s. He died in September 1980, and was buried in Middle Village, New York.Findagrave website, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117183085/alexander-zenzes. Retrieved 21 October 2017.

External links

Website forum with further details and speculations on his life: http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52334&highlight=alexander+zenses

Sources of information

References

* ''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918''.

Norman Franks Norman Leslie Robert Franks (1940 – 21 May 2023) was an English militaria writer who specialised in aviation topics. He focused on the pilots and squadrons of World Wars I and II. Biography Franks published his first book in 1976. H ...

, Frank W. Bailey, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1993. , . {{DEFAULTSORT:Zenzes 1898 births 1980 deaths German World War I flying aces Imperial German Navy personnel of World War I Military personnel from Chemnitz Naturalized citizens of the United States Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class