Hans Bethge (aviator)

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Hans Bethge (born December 6, 1890 in Berlin ; † March 17, 1918 in Passendale ) was a German officer in the air force and achieved a total of 20 confirmed kills as a fighter pilot in World War I. He is counted among the " most successful German fighter pilots " of the First World War.

Life

Hans Bethge was the second son of Kapitänleutnant a. D. Wilhelm Bethge. He grew up in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance and passed the Abitur at the secondary school in Ravensburg in 1911 . Due to his slight shortsightedness, he was denied a career in the navy, which is why he joined the No. 1 railway regiment in Berlin-Schöneberg as a flag junior . He received his officer's license in 1912 at the war school in Anklam and then returned to Berlin.

After the outbreak of the war, Bethge moved a construction company to the western front and carried out typical pioneering work there, such as blasting bridges, laying rails and building tunnels. He injured his ankle in the process. After the hospital, he applied for pilot training in Germany and completed it in Poznan . After three months he came to Döberitz and flew in group and squadron flights. He soon returned to the front and flew the LVG biplane in reconnaissance and bombing flights of the Ostend bomb squadron.

A single-seater Pfalz D.IIIa , as flew by Hans Bethge from 1917/18.

In March 1916 Bethge was transferred to Lieutenant Otto Parschau's combat squadron . On August 28, 1916, he shot the first, on September 2, the second, and on December 26, 1916, the third enemy. In February 1917 he took over command of the newly established Jagdstaffel  30, which was located in Phalempin in the front section of the 6th Army . He later flew the single-seater Pfalz D.IIIa there , which was deployed at the front from August 1917.

After both classes of the Iron Cross , Bethge was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords. After his 20th kill, he was also an aspirant for the Order Pour le Mérite .

death

Lieutenant Bethge was killed in an aerial battle on March 17, 1918 near Passendale and was laid out in the village church of Phalempin. He was directed to the railway by Manfred von Richthofen and the Commanding General of the Air Force ( Kogenluft ), Ernst von Hoeppner , among others . The coffin was transferred to Berlin, where it was buried in Cemetery III of the Jerusalem and New Churches in front of the Hallesches Tor .

Various sources indicate that his mother was told at her son's grave that her son would have received the Pour le Mérite if he had survived. However, it was not customary to award this medal posthumously.

Hans Bethge's grave has not survived.

See also

literature

  • Greg Van Wyngarden: Pfalz Scout Aces of World War 1. Osprey Publishing, Oxford (England) 2006, ISBN 1-84176-998-3 , pp. 39, 70-72, 91, 95. (English, online at Google books ) .
  • Walter Zuerl: Pour le merite-Flieger. Luftfahrt-Verlag Axel Zuerl, Steinebach am Wörthsee 1987, ISBN 3-934596-15-0 ( reprint of the first edition from 1938).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Greg Van Wyngarden: Pfalz Scout Aces of World War 1. Osprey Publishing, Oxford (England) 2006, ISBN 1-84176-998-3 , pp. 39, 70-72, 91, 95. (English, online at Google books ).
  2. ↑ a b Association for the Promotion of Air Sports (Ed.), Peter Supf (Ed.): The book of German flight history. Volume 2, Verlag Drei Brunnen, Plüderhausen 1958 ( online at Google books).
  3. ↑ Joachim Hans Seyppel: Well o immortality. Hikes to the cemeteries in Berlin. Colloquium Verlag, 1964 ( online at Google Books). Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin tombs . Haude & Spener, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-7759-0476-6 , p. 113.
  4. ^ Mende: Lexicon of Berlin tombs . P. 113.
personal data
SURNAME Bethge, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer in the air force
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1918
Place of death Passendale