Oberleutnant Franz Schleiff (born 19 September 1896, date of death unknown) was a 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 ...

credited with twelve aerial victories. Nine additional combat claims went uncredited.

Aerial service

Russia and Palestine

Schlieff joined German aviation in July 1915.The Aerodrome website http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/schleiff.php Retrieved on 16 April 2010. After training at FEA 9 in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

, he was assigned to FA 54, an artillery cooperation unit operating on the Eastern Front. From there, he was transferred to FA 300 in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. On 11 May 1917, he shot down a Martinsyde Elephant over

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

. He scored again, on 25 June, but failed to get confirmation when he forced an enemy fighter to land on the 29th. For his efforts, Schlieff was decorated by the Turkish government.

France

His next move took him to the Western Front, to

Jagdstaffel 41 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 41, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 41, was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The unit would score 73 aerial victories durin ...

, in October 1917. He scored once for them, on 6 December 1917. On 9 January 1918, he was promoted to command of

Jagdstaffel 56 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 56, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 56, was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The squadron would score 63 aerial victories d ...

. Beginning 19 February, and running through 24 March, he tallied nine more confirmed victories, and an unconfirmed one. On 26 March, he received the

Royal House Order of Hohenzollern The House Order of Hohenzollern ( or ') was a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Hohenzollern awarded to military commissioned officers and civilians of comparable status. Associated with the various versions of the order were crosses an ...

. On 27 March, he was wounded in the hand by a tracer bullet, and the hand had to be amputated. This ended Schlieff's flying career. Schlieff claimed 12 victories and was nominated for the

Pour le Merite Pour is a name which can be used as a surname and a given name: * Kour Pour (born 1987), American artist of Iranian and British descent * Mehdi Niyayesh Pour (born 1992), Iranian footballer * Mojtaba Mobini Pour (born 1991), Iranian footballer * P ...

, but did not receive it.

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 L. R. Franks, et al. Grub Street, 1993. , . {{DEFAULTSORT:Schleiff, Franz 1896 births Year of death missing People from Sztum County Military personnel from West Prussia Recipients of the Imtiyaz Medal Recipients of the Liakat Medal German World War I flying aces Luftstreitkräfte personnel Prussian Army personnel German amputees