Hans Albrecht Wedel

Hans Albrecht Wedel (born November 30, 1888 in Berlin , † September 30, 1917 in Zeebrugge ) was a German naval aviator in the First World War .

family

Wedel was born in Berlin-Schöneberg as the son of Major Otto Wedel and his wife Elisabeth Wedel. Poppe was born. He was a nephew of General Gustav Adolf von Deines and the General Director of the German Linoleum and Oilcloth Compagnie Oskar Poppe .

career

After the early death of his parents, he attended the Plön cadet institute , first became a naval officer and then joined the naval aviation department of the Imperial Navy established in 1913 , where he received his training as a pilot . On March 16, 1917, he was promoted to first lieutenant at sea , squadron leader of the Torpedo Squadron II of the 1st Sea Aviation Division, which was set up on that day in Zeebrugge in West Flanders occupied by Germany , which was supposed to fight enemy shipping in the English Channel and in the southern North Sea . On the morning of May 1, 1917, he and his torpedo officer , Lieutenant of the Naval Artillery d. R. Wulf Krüger, with her machine T 701, sank the British cargo ship Gena (2784 GRT ) off Suffolk , the greatest success of the German torpedo pilots up to this point. Six weeks later, on June 14, 1917, his squadron sank the 3718 GRT British freighter Kankakee off the Thames estuary , the largest ship ever sunk by German naval aviators in World War I.

Wedel and his torpedo officer, flight supervisor Erich Golembiewski, were killed on September 30, 1917 when their plane went up in flames on landing in Zeebrugge. He was buried in Berlin in the cemetery of St. Jacobikirche (Berlin) at the side of his father.

Honor

In 1940 the Luftwaffe named one of their air traffic control ships after him, the Hans Albrecht Wedel .

Notes and individual references

↑ All in all, German naval aviators managed to sink only seven merchant ships.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Wedel, Hans Albrecht
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German naval aviator in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH	November 30, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH	Berlin
DATE OF DEATH	September 30, 1917
Place of death	Zeebrugge

[1] All in all, German naval aviators managed to sink only seven merchant ships.