Franz Hemer

World War I flying ace
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroWorld War I flying ace
PlacesGermany
wasMilitary personnel
Work fieldMilitary
Gender
Male
Birth1894, German Empire
Death18 October 1982Frankfurt am Main, Germany (aged 88 years)
The details

Biography

Leutnant Franz Hemer was a World War I flying ace credited with 18 aerial victories.

He was originally a talented concert cellist. His long curly blonde hair sparked his nickname of "Locken".

Hemer served with FA(A) 283 before he was posted to Jasta 6 on 10 September 1917. He scored his first victory on 27 October 1917, when he shot down an RE.8. He scored once more in 1917, on 12 November. He was then assigned a Fokker Dr. 1. By the end of March 1918, he became an ace. He scored at least five more victories with the triplane before upgrading to a Fokker D.VII. He scored his last win on 8 August 1918. The following day, he was wounded in action when his Fokker DVII was shot down during a dogfight with RAF D.H.9s of 49 Squadron and Sopwith Camels. While convalescing, he was commissioned a leutnant. However, he apparently did not return to flight duty before the war's end.

Later he became managing Director of König & Bruder in Leipzig, head office in Vienna, an old fur trading company.

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 22 May 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.