Aerial service and victories Otto Schmidt (aviator)

1 aerial service , victories

1.1 aerial observer
1.2 pilot , staffelführer
1.3 group commander

aerial service , victories
as aerial observer

after fortnight s trial observer flieger-abteilung (artillerie) 25, schmidt forwarded official training. in june 1916, returned unit. flew on 150 sorties them. scored first 2 aerial victories while still flying artillery direction missions fa(a) 25. on 20 june 1916, downed enemy aircraft; on 11 july 1916, shot down enemy observation balloon. pilot on latter occasion future ace renatus theiller, credited second of 12 victories. afterwards, victim of downing. however, on 23 october 1916, schmidt began pilot s training.

as pilot , staffelführer

in march 1917, transferred royal prussian jasta 7. schmidt continued career balloon buster, shooting 1 down on both 25 , 27 june 1917.

schmidt took temporary command of royal bavarian jasta 32, 30 june 19 august 1917. during period, downed spad , balloon fifth , sixth victories, becoming ace in process. however, shifted out of command because not bavarian.

schmidt moved on temporarily command royal prussian jasta 29 19 august 18 october 1917. while leading squadron staffelführer, scored 4 more victories. eighth victory, on 11 september, on captain louis fleeming jenkin, whom schmidt killed. on 19 september, schmidt awarded knight s cross swords of royal house order of hohenzollern.

as group commander

by 28 september 1917, had run victory total ten; subsequently appointed command of jagdgruppe ii. fighter wing consisted of jastas 7, 33, , 35, in addition jasta 29.

schmidt severely wounded ground fire on 18 october 1917 while attacking balloon. when came out of hospital on crutches, did not return jasta 29; instead, after recovery, appointed command royal prussian jasta 5 on 3 july 1918.

royal prussian jasta 5 re-equipped new fokker d.vii fighters. under schmidt s leadership, squadron notch on 300 aerial victories, sparked such aces otto konnecke, josef mai, , fritz rumey. on 8 august, jasta 5 became part of jagdgruppe ii; schmidt reappointed commander of jg ii while maintaining post jasta 5. other squadrons attached jg 2 @ time included jastas 34, 37, , 46.

a fokker d.vii, such schmidt flew.

schmidt reopened victory list shooting down balloon on 26 august 1918. accumulated 9 more victories 4 november, bringing total 20. final tally twelve enemy airplanes shot down, , 8 observation balloons.

schmidt had won both classes of iron cross, hohenzollern, recommended germany s highest decoration valor, blue max, or pour le mérite, @ end of october 1918. however, war s end left unconfirmed; of victory claims may been left uncredited. records show @ least 3 unconfirmed claims schmidt.