''Offizierstellvertreter'' Leopold Rudolf Reimann was a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

credited with five aerial victories.The Aerodrome websit

Retrieved 23 September 2020

Biography

See also Aerial victory standards of World War I Sopwith 1B2 Strutter Front

Leopold Rudolf Reimann was born at Oberhohnsdorf,

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in French period, Napoleonic through German Confederation, post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

on 7 December 1892.''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918'', p. 185 Reimann joined a pioneer battalion at the start of World War I, winning an

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia e ...

Second Class on 30 August 1914. In Spring 1915, he was wounded in action. In June, he was awarded the Silver

Military Order of St. Henry The Military Order of St. Henry (''Militär-St. Heinrichs-Orden'') was a military order of the Kingdom of Saxony, a member state of the German Empire. The order was the oldest military order of the states of the German Empire. It was founded on Oc ...

. He then transferred to aviation duty. While his training is unknown, he was posted to fly one of the world's original fighter planes, the Fokker Eindekker, as a member of a pioneering fighter organization, ''Kampfeinsitzerkommando B'' (Combat Single-Seater Command B). On 30 June 1916, he was shot down, but survived uninjured. As ''Kampfeinsitzerkommando B'' was augmented to become '' Jagdstaffel 1'' (Fighter Squadron 1), Reimann continued to fly for them. He shot down a

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter Sopwith may refer to: * Douglas George Sopwith (1906–1970), Scottish engineer * Karl Sopwith (1873–1945), English clergyman * Sopwith Aviation Company, British aircraft manufacturer * ''Sopwith'' (video game) * Thomas Sopwith (disambiguation ...

on 24 August for his first aerial victory. On 1 September, he transferred to the equally new ''

Jagdstaffel 2 Jasta 2 (Jagdstaffel Zwei in full and also known as ''Jasta Boelcke'') was one of the best-known German Luftstreitkräfte Squadrons in World War I. Its first commanding officer was the great aerial tactician Oswald Boelcke, and it was the incubator ...

''; on the 10th, he received the First Class Iron Cross. During September and October 1916, he would claim six more aerial victories, four of which were verified. He was wounded during his last successful

dogfight A dogfight, or dog fight, is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft conducted at close range. Dogfighting first occurred in Mexico in 1913, shortly after the invention of the airplane. Until at least 1992, it was a component in every maj ...

on 22 October. Albatros D

On 31 December 1916, Reimann married. Shortly thereafter, he began fighter training at

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

, France. On 24 January 1917, while in flight, his Albatros D.III shed its wings and Reimann fell to his death.

Sources of information

Reference

* ''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 (born 1940) is an English militaria writer who specialises in aviation topics. He focuses on the pilots and squadrons of World Wars I and II. Biography He published his first book in 1976. He was an Organisation ...

, Frank W. Bailey, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1993. , . 1892 births 1917 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in France German World War I flying aces People from Zwickau People from the Kingdom of Saxony German military personnel killed in World War I Luftstreitkräfte personnel Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1917 Military personnel from Saxony {{germany-mil-bio-stub