Franz Büchner (fighter pilot)

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Franz Büchner (born January 2, 1898 in Leipzig , † March 18, 1920 near Leipzig) was a Saxon fighter pilot in World War I and a knight of the Pour le Mérite order .

Life

Büchner, only 16 years old, the son of a businessman in Leipzig, volunteered for the Saxon Army in September 1914 during the First World War . He came to the 7th Infantry Regiment "King George" No. 106 and experienced the war on the Eastern and Western Fronts , where he was wounded on April 3, 1915. After his recovery he enlisted as an observer in the Air Force and came to Fliegerabteilung 270 (artillery). On March 14, 1916, Büchner was promoted to lieutenant .

In March 1917 he joined Jagdstaffel 9 as a pilot, where he achieved his first aerial victory on August 1, 1917. He was later transferred to Jasta 13, where he fought under the command of the successful fighter pilot Rudolf Berthold .

After receiving the modern Fokker D.VII fighter aircraft , Büchner scored a whole series of aerial victories: three kills in June 1918, seven in July, including on July 2 against the successful Irish fighter pilot Joseph Callaghan with five victories , and five days later He fell victim to the Sopwith Camel of the Canadian Merrill Taylor , who had himself scored seven kills. In August he achieved eight and in September another 17 victories. By October 1918, the number of his kills rose to 40.

On October 7, 1918, Büchner received Saxony's highest military award, the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of St. Heinrich . Shortly afterwards, on October 10, 1918, Büchner survived the collision with a fellow fighter pilot because he was able to save himself with a parachute. After his 32nd kill, he was awarded the highest Prussian bravery award, the Order Pour le Mérite, on October 25, 1918.

Büchner survived the war and was accepted into the provisional Reichswehr . He worked at the Reichswehr-Fliegerhorst Großenhain and was shot down by Spartakists on March 18, 1920 during the Kapp Putsch during a reconnaissance flight over Leipzig .

He found his final resting place in the Plagwitz cemetery in Leipzig.

Afterlife

As part of the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the Großenhain Air Base, Büchner was honored in 1939 with a memorial stone on what was then the Holdinghausenring in Großenhain. The memorial was removed in 1945, the bronze plate with Büchner's portrait is now in the Old Latin School Museum in Großenhain . In the contemporary history exhibition of the Leipzig City History Museum , Büchner is brought to life in a fictional video sequence as a representative of the conservative, anti-revolutionary officer elite. The accompanying showcase shows a photo and various memorabilia.

Awards

See also

literature

  • Karl Alois Beck: 25 years of the Großenhain Air Base (Saxony) 1914-1939. Photo report of the holidays. Strong and Saxon Grossenhain 1939.
  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: A-G. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 , pp. 219-220.
  • Jürgen Brinkmann: The knights of the order Pour le merite 1914-1918. Th. Schäfer Druckerei GmbH. Hanover, Bückeburg 1982.
  • Walter Zuerl: Pour le merite-Flieger. Luftfahrtverlag Axel Zuerl, 1987, ISBN 9783934596153 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Büchner, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Franz Buechner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German fighter pilot in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1920
Place of death near Leipzig