Leutnant Rudolf Francke was a World War I flying ace credited with 15 aerial victories. Francke joined the German Air Service in 1914. He served with Kampfstaffel 41 (Tactical Bomber Squadron 41) until July 1916. The following month he became a pilot. When Kasta 41 became Schutzstaffel 17 (Protection Squadron 17) on 1 January 1917, he continued to fly with it. He was promoted to Vizefeldwebel on 23 March 1917 and briefly transferred to Jasta 2. After his posting to

Jagdstaffel 8 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 8 was a fighter squadron of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I. Although the ''Jasta'' went out of existence along with its parent units shortly after the Armistice end ...

(Fighter Squadron 8), he was awarded the Golden Military Merit Cross on 16 May. He scored his first victory on 3 June 1917. By 23 August 1918, he was officially credited with 14 victories, all scored in service with Jasta 8. A 15th claim, scored on 26 September 1918, was not made official although he is shown with 15 kills in Jagdstaffel 8's records. Rudolf Francke was commissioned toward the end of his service, and survived the war.Franks, Bailey, Guest 1993, p. 108.

Sources of information

References

* ''Fokker D VII Aces of World War 1, Part 2.'' Norman Franks, Greg VanWyngarden. Osprey Publishing, 2004. , . * ''Above the Lines: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service, and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914-1918.'' Norman Franks, Frank Bailey, Russell Guest. Grubb Street, London 1993. German World War I flying aces Year of birth missing Year of death missing Luftstreitkräfte personnel {{germany-airforce-bio-stub