Walter Blume (10 January 1896 – 27 May 1964) was a German fighter ace of World War I. During World War I, he flew with two fighter squadrons, '' Jagdstaffel 26'' and '' Jagdstaffel 9'' gaining 28 aerial victories and earning 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 ...

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 ...

, and 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 ...

''.The Aerodrome website page for Blume http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/blume.php Post World War I he became a prominent aircraft designer for both

Albatros An albatross is one of a family of large winged seabirds. Albatross or Albatros may also refer to: Animals * Albatross (butterfly) or ''Appias'', a genus of butterfly * Albatross (horse) (1968–1998), a Standardbred horse Literature * Albat ...

and Arado, being one of the pioneers of jet propulsion design in airplanes.

Early life and World War I service

Walter Blume was born in Hirschberg,

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

, and originally served in the 5th Silesian Jaeger Battalion in September 1914. After being wounded early in the conflict, he trained as a pilot beginning 30 June 1915.''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918'', p. 75. He began his flying career in two-seater

Aviatik Automobil und Aviatik AG was a German aircraft manufacturer during World War I. The company was established at Mülhausen (today in France) in 1909 and soon became one of the country's leading producers of aircraft. It relocated to Freiburg in 1 ...

aircraft with ''

Feldflieger Abteilung Feldflieger Abteilung (''FFA'', Field Flying Detachment) was the title of the pioneering field aviation units of (The Air Forces of the German Empire) formed in 1912, which became the ( German air service) on 8 October 1916, during the First World ...

'' (Field Flier Detachment) 65 from 18 June 1916 through 20 January 1917. He received an

Second Class during this time, on 24 July 1916. He then successfully asked for a transfer to flying single-seat fighters for '' Jagdstaffel 26'' in January 1917. In August 1916, he was promoted to

Vizefeldwebel '' '' (Fw or F, ) is a non-commissioned officer (NCO) rank in several countries. The rank originated in Germany, and is also used in Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and Estonia. The rank has also been used in Russia, Austria-Hungary, occupied Serbia ...

. On 31 January 1917, he was commissioned a

leutnant () is the lowest junior officer rank in the armed forces of Germany ( Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") from Middle High German «locum ...

. This was also the month he would shift to ''Jagdstaffel 26''. He scored his first victory for ''Jagdstaffel 26'' on 10 May 1917. On 14 August, he received the

First Class. He became an

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

on 24 October 1917, and on 29 November 1917, he received a serious chest wound in combat with No. 48 Squadron RFC's Bristol F.2 Fighters. He was hospitalised for over 3 months. After a spell with ''Fliegerersatz-Abteilung'' (Replacement Detachment) 3, on 5 March 1918, Blume returned to active duty, commanding '' Jagdstaffel 9''. He scored a further 22 victories, all with his new unit. With the exception of double scores on 31 August 1918 and 14 September 1918, he accumulated his successes singly, mostly fighters. Only four of his victories were over two-seater aircraft. He flew in both Albatros fighters and the

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII is 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 second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII ...

. Blume was awarded the Knight's Cross of the

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 7 August 1918. This was followed by his receipt of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

's most prestigious medal, the ''

'' on 2 October 1918, the same day as his 27th and penultimate victory. He resigned from military service on 15 January 1919.Der Logbuch website https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.flieger-album.de/logbuch.php&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwww.flieger-album.de/logbuch.php%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us

Post war and World War II

After World War I, he remained in aviation. He trained as an

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

at the Technical University at Hanover, and subsequently joined the German

Arado Flugzeugwerke Arado Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer, originally established as the Warnemünde factory of the Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen firm, which produced land-based military aircraft and seaplanes during the First and Second World Wars. ...

in the mid-1920s, where he was involved in the design of the Ar 95,

Arado Ar 96 The Arado Ar 96 was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane of Aluminium, all-metal construction, designed and produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Arado Flugzeugwerke. It was the ''Luftwaffe''s standard advanced Trainer (aircra ...

, and Ar 196. In early 1933 he was appointed Chief Design Engineer of Arado Flugzeugwerke and over the next ten years was responsible for the design of some of the world's first jets, such as the Ar 234 twin-jet reconnaissance aircraft, which he saw through its development in several different prototypes and finally to the twin-jet bomber, the Ar 234 Blitz. Towards the end of World War II he led the Arado design team in upgrading the Ar 234 to a Four-Jet Bomber variant, but one which only reached "Proof of Concept" form.http://www.ww1aero.org.au/images/Journal%20Articles/JG3%5B1%5D1965.pdf He attempted to revive one of his designs, the Blume Bl.502, for Arado as a light civil aircraft, but met with no commercial success. After the German surrender he was captured by the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

and taken to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, where for several years he helped develop their fledgling jet aircraft program.

Decorations and awards

: **2nd class (24 July 1916) **1st class (14 August 1917) * Knight's Cross of the Royal

with swords (1918) * ''

'' (30 September 1918)

Inline citations

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. . * ''Fokker D VII Aces of World War I'', Norman Franks, Greg VanWyngarden. Osprey Publishing, 2003. .

Early life and World War I service

Post war and World War II

Decorations and awards

Inline citations

References

Further reading