Hans Klein (aviator)

Hans Klein (born January 17, 1891 in Stettin , † November 18, 1944 near Bremen ) was a German officer , most recently major general in World War II .

Life

Klein was born one of seven children to a businessman. He graduated from high school in October 1911 at the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Realgymnasium and then studied at the Technical University of Charlottenburg .

Military career

First World War

After the outbreak of World War I , he volunteered on August 12, 1914 as a volunteer in the replacement battalion of the Fusilier Regiment "Queen Victoria of Sweden" (Pomeranian) No. 34 in Stettin, then on October 26, 1914, he became the reserve infantry -Regiment No. 210 and was used with this on the Western Front . There he was promoted to NCO on November 2, 1914 . From February 15 to March 24, 1915, Klein was assigned to the Warthelager officer-aspirant course and on March 22, 1915, he was appointed lieutenant in the reserve . After his return to the front, he was employed as a platoon leader . One year later, on February 1, 1916, Klein was commanded to train at Army Airfield 4, which he then completed on April 2, 1915 at the Holsin Aviation School and Aviation Replacement Department 8. For the next few months, he was with Flieger Replacement Department 7, Fortress Aviation Department 6 and Army Aviation Park 2, before Klein was transferred as a pilot to Fighter Squadron 4 on November 22, 1916. From September 27, 1917, Klein was the leader of Jagdstaffel 10.

For the shooting down of 15 enemy planes and five tethered balloons, he was submitted to the order Pour le Mérite , which Wilhelm II awarded him on December 4, 1917. Before that, Klein had already been awarded both classes of the Iron Cross and the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords. In total, he was able to win 22 aerial victories.

On February 19, 1918, he was seriously wounded in front of Cambrai , where he lost his right thumb and was no longer fit for duty after a long hospital stay. Klein was placed at the disposal of the Aviation Replacement Department 9, on leave and resigned from military service on April 12, 1918.

Interwar years

In December 1918 he resumed studies at the Technical University Berlin-Charlottenburg, which had been interrupted as a result of the outbreak of war, and graduated on May 1, 1919 as a graduate engineer . He then worked for a short time at the Düsseldorf Treuhand-Gesellschaft Altenburg & Teves as a commercial clerk and two months later became the owner of the company Ordinance and Profit, an office for modern business organization in Altona. Klein came on 1 June 1920 as a director in the company SKF Bearings Norma Berlin where he worked until December 31, 1926th He was then appointed managing director of the Adolf Wolfsholz company in Düsseldorf . In mid-1931 he moved to Landsberg am Lech . Here Klein was active as a landowner and a member of the city council. The local Hitler Youth appointed him honorary ban leader.

As pilot captain and staff leader of Fliegerlandesgruppe III, Klein joined the German Air Sports Association on March 15, 1934 and was taken over by the Luftwaffe on March 1, 1935 after the official establishment of the Air Force . At first, Klein acted as commander of Luftgau Reserve I and was promoted to major a month later . From October 1, 1936 to January 31, 1939 he was the commander of the Celle Aviation School and at the same time commandant of the air base there , during which time he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 1, 1937 . In his function as the Wiesbaden air base commander , he was promoted to colonel on April 1, 1939 .

Klein received the character of Major General on August 27, 1939, the so-called Tannenberg Day.

Second World War

On 1 October 1939, the beginning of World War II Klein took over as commodore the Jagdgeschwader 53 . He gave up this post on December 15, 1939 and was appointed Fliegerführer 3. From March 9 to December 18, 1940 he was transferred to the inspection of the fighter pilot and destroyer pilot schools and his subsequent assignment as a consultant in the Reich Aviation Ministry . Klein was made available on January 21, 1941, promoted to major general on February 1, 1941, and retired from active service on May 31, 1941. Just one day later it was made available again, but no longer used and finally retired on May 31, 1943.

Klein had a fatal accident in a car accident near Bremen.

literature

• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweig: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 2: HO. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2003, ISBN 3-7648-2516-2 , pp. 210-212.
• 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 .

See also

• List of German fighter pilots in the First World War