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Hemer describes MvR

Event ID: 805

Categories: 

Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 11 - Volume 1 - Bruno Schmäling - 2024 Aeronaut Books

07 December 1917

Exact date?
20 Rue Jean Bart, 59296 Avesnes-le-Sec, France
Avesnes-le-Sec

Source ID: 71

Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 11 - Volume 1 - Bruno Schmäling - 2024 Aeronaut Books p.  77 

ISBN: 978-1-964637-05-1

Franz Hemer, a pilot in Jagdgeschwader I’s Jasta 6 from September 1917 until the end of the war, explained during a long telephone conversation with Bruno Schmäling in 1976: “Richthofen was a Rittmeister and Geschwader commander as well as a nobleman. I was just a simple Vizefeldwebel. However, he treated each pilot equally, whether he was an officer or in the ranks. The decisive factor was how he performed as a fighter pilot. There were no differences between ranks, and we NCO pilots ate and socialized in the Officer’s mess. It was very different from what I had experienced before in the ‘Kommiss’. He never flaunted his nobility either, unlike other noble officers who treated us like third-class beings during training. Our Staffel leaders Reinhard, Kirchstein, and Neckel, were the same as Richthofen.”

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