In Different Skies
A number of German fliers served with distinction in the First and the Second World War, several achieving victorires in both conflicts. In this second feature on the subject, Robin Schäfer charts the fascinating stories of some of those airmen.
It was very often the case that pilots who had served in the First World War, and who had achieved a status of rank, victory tallies, awards and decorations, were welcomed into the newly-formed Luftwaffe of the 1930s – even if just as reservists. This was largely because of their experience and standing within the history of the German air arms, but also to create an unbroken bond of tradition between the old and the new.
Some served with distinction throughout long periods of the Second World War. Others had their careers cut short through accident or combat. Perhaps, in some instances, it was a case of old men trying to play a young man’s game. And losing.
The Flying Baritone
Karl Hammes was born on 25 March 1896, the son of a wine merchant in Zell on the Rhine, and on 2 August 1914, Hammes - like many young men of his age - volunteered for service and joined the ranks of Fussartillerie-regiment Nr. 9 as a Fahnenjunker (officer cadet). A little over two months later he found himself in France and in command of an artillery piece of 6. Batterie.
Commissioned on 30 March 1915, Leutnant Hammes participated in the heavy fighting in Champagne before being transferred to the Balkans in October of that year. When the frontline along the Greek border became rigid and trench warfare developed, and in an attempt to improve his living conditions and chances of promotion, Karl volunteered to join the Fliegertruppe and joined Flieger-ersatz-abteilung 1 (FEA 1) in Johannisthal on 9 November 1916, to commence flight training. After a brief interlude with FEA 10, he transferred to the flight park of Armee-abteilung A in Lorraine, from where, on 9 April 1917, he was sent to Flieger-abteilung (A) 276 (known as the ‘Kronprinzenstaffel’) which, at that time, was mainly conducting longrange reconnaissance flights.
Having proven himself in combat flying, where he seemingly impressed with his skills, Hammes left the Abteilung after only four months to commence fighter pilot training in Jagdstaffelschule 1, leaving on 10 August 1917 to take up service with Jagdstaffel (Jasta) 35, commanded by Oberleutnant Otto Deßloch.
His first combat flight seems to have taken place on 31 August 1918, although we don’t know what type of aircraft he flew, we do know that on 31 August 1917, he claimed a SPAD shot down at 19:10 in the vicinity of Diksmuide. Only a day later, on 1 September, another SPAD went down beneath Hammes’ guns, this time over Houthulst Forest, his foe probably being 2nd Lt. Edward Medley Sant of 19 Squadron.
On 3 September, Hammes shot down a Sopwith Triplane piloted by Henri le Garrec of the French Escadrille Terrestre De Chasse, the detached squadron of the Centre of Marine Aviation, Dunkirk. His fourth and last victory, over a Sopwith Camel (Lt. N.C. Saward of 70 Squadron), occurred over Stadenberg on 9 September 1917. This time, Hammes was also unlucky.
During the engagement, Hammes aircraft was hit by a machine gun burst in his left arm, right hand, stomach, the right thigh and toes of the right foot.
Amazingly, Hammes, in severe pain and bleeding profusely, managed to land his bullet riddled aeroplane and was rushed to hospital.
On 9 March 1918, Hammes had recovered sufficiently to be classed as capable of garrison duty in Germany, but would never fly another combat mission during that war and was finally discharged, as Oberleutnant der Reserve, on 4 February 1919.
RE-ACTIVATED IN LUFTWAFFE
With thousands of former German aviators trying to find new employment after the war, Hammes decided to fall back upon another talent. With a wonderfully soft baritone singing voice, a natural talent for acting and after studying at the School for Music and Dance in Cologne and Essen, he quickly secured employment as lyrical baritone with the Cologne City Theatre. With a first major stage debut at Berlin‘s Kroll Opera House
in 1927, his musical career skyrocketed. In the same year, at the famous Bayreuth Festival, he played Amfortas in Parsifal and Gunther in the Götterdammerung.
In 1929, Hammes was signed by the Vienna State Opera, performing several times at the Salzburg Festival in the lead role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In 1935, he returned to Germany to perform in the Berlin State Opera, secured a role in the UFA movie ‘Koenigswalzer’ and then became a regular on the stages of the world’s great theatres and opera houses performing in London, Paris, Geneva and even Cairo.
What made Hammes decide to rejoin the Luftwaffe after taking part in a Luftwaffe reserve exercise in Lubeck on 10 June 1937, we will never know. However, by the end of the year, he ended his musical career and was reactivated in his rank of Oberleutnant d.r. After brief refresher training, he took command of 1st Staffel of JG132 which had just been equipped with Messerschmitt 109s.
Promoted to Hauptmann, he took over the 4th Staffel of the newly formed Zerstörergeschwader 141 (I./ZG141) in Juterbog-damm, which, although equipped with Messerschmitt 109 D-1s, was trialing operational tactics for the Messerschmitt 110. On 1 May 1939, the unit became I. Gruppe of Zerstörergeschwader 76 (I./ZG 76), equipped with the latest version of the Messerschmitt 110.
Shortly after the outbreak of war, Major Karl Hammes took command of 1./ZG 1 on 6 September. As part of I. Gruppe, Karl was commanded by another veteran pilot of the First World War: Major Joachimfriedrich Huth.
NO WALK IN THE PARK
Only days before the Wehrmacht marched into Poland, Hammes, now 43 years old, had written to his parents that: ‘...it would not be a difficult task to overcome the Poles in the air’ and it would be ‘a nasty coincidence’ if anything happened to him. The air campaign in Poland would be no walk in the park for I./ZG1, though.
On 2 September, Hauptmann von Müllenheim-rechberg, commander of 3. Staffel, had been shot down by Polish anti-aircraft fire. Only four days later, on 6 September, Hammes’ Staffel was forming an escort for Stukas bombing targets in ‘fortress’ Warsaw when his formation was pounced on by six Polish PZL P.11c fighters.
Hammes’ Messerschmitt 110 C-1 was hit several times, the bullets disabling his rear gunner’s (Oberfeldwebel Walter Steffen) machine gun before mortally wounding Hammes, the aircraft going down in a shallow arc before skidding to a halt in a field near Wojcieszyn, 18 km west of Warsaw. The force of the impact threw Steffen out of the cockpit, knocking him unconscious. Found by Polish soldiers, Steffen was transferred to a field hospital and returned to Germany after Poland’s surrender while Hammes was buried by villagers in an unmarked grave.
The wreck of his missing aircraft was discovered by a German Feldgendarmerie patrol on 29 October, its left wing damaged by Flak with the fuselage and wings showing several bullet holes. The aircraft‘s armament had been removed, and after questioning villagers, Hammes’ grave was located and marked. Later, his body was exhumed and laid to rest in the military cemetery at Warsaw-powazki, Block III, Row 24, No. 1390.
After 1945, his grave was lost and has never been rediscovered.
‘An Elegant Chap’
Alexander von Winterfeldt was born on 11 December 1898 in Berlin, the son of Generalmajor Detolf von Winterfeldt.
Volunteering for service, and interrupting his grammar school education on 17 June 1916, shortly before taking his Abitur, he joined the prestigious Kaiser Franz Garde-grenadier Regiment Nr. 2 in Berlin. His family background, allowed him - after basic training - to become an officer candidate and he joined the Fahnenjunker (officer cadet) school in Döberitz in September 1916. It was there that Alexander was wounded for the first time in his military career, running into the bayonet of fellow cadet Karl Wilhelm, son of the commander of the central section of the General Staff of the Field Army, Hans Tieschowitz von Tieschowa, while the two were ‘fooling around’.
On 15 January 1917, upon discharge, his superiors rated him well:
‘Age: 18 years, militarily well disposed, self-confident manner, good language of command, quick-witted with great alertness of the mind, interested and comprehensive in field exercises, has the knowledge and skills of a platoon leader. Discharged as trained.’
Two months later, he transferred to his regiment at the front in Champagne. His mother, Marianne von Winterfeldt, recorded that day in her diary:
‘Now my dear Alex, my merry beam of sunlight, has marched into the field. We are missing him infinitely. Eight months of training have passed so quickly. My husband, who after five months had a brief period of leave, managed to say farewell and has given him good advice.’
In June, Fahnenjunker von Winterfeldt, now in the Argonne, took command of a
platoon of 1st company. His mother later wrote:
‘During an assault he has harrowing experiences and is finally, with many injuries and a shot in the arm, brought to the fortress hospital in Mainz. I rush there as quickly as I can just to find him in a totally sordid state. Just barely healed, he is released after 14 days and I am happy to hear that the 2. Garde-division will be transferred from West to East, to Galicia.’
Her fragile hopes that her son would live a more secure life on the Eastern Front were shattered one month later:
‘...but then came the fighting at Gorkyze and Tarnopol. Alex is buried alive. They managed to dig him and two others out, but he alone survives without lasting damage - even though his body is full of splinters and with a large wound on his head.’
Again, a period of hospitalisation followed and during this time von Winterfeldt received his promotion to Leutnant and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class.
FINISHED SCHOOL EDUCATION
After fighting at Riga, the Kaiser Franz Grenadiers returned to the Western Front, first to Verdun, to the Meuse heights at St. Mihiel and the Foret de Apremont, and then to Lorraine and the Vosges in January. We do not know, however, if he was still with his regiment then. He may have been wounded badly enough to allow for a longer period of convalescence, but in January 1918 he was in Berlin to finished his school education, an event which his mother recorded with great delight:
‘First thing I have to note here is that Alex has passed his Abitur. The examination lasted a full week. They examined him in Maths, Greek, Latin, Religion, History and German. We celebrated together and fulfilled his most fervent wish: to become a pilot. The staff surgeon classed him fit for service and Alex headed to Cottbus for his training. I am not entirely sure if I should be happy like this. But we have allowed him to go, as during the war one must not interfere in the destinies of others. He then trained in Müncheberg on the Rumpler Taube.
He has become such an elegant chap who dances fabulously well. During his time here he participated in dancing competitions and lived life to the full, having experienced the horrors of war.’
We also know that he joined Fliegerersatz-abteilung 12 in Cottbus on 16 April 1918, before finishing training in the fighter pilot school of Valenciennes in early August:
‘In August Alex comes to visit us at Eyrichshof for two days to say farewell before heading to his Jagdstaffel 20 (von Busse). He is full of zest for action. His training lasted three months and made 300 flights, several long distance flights and passed a multitude of exams.’
No doubt his mother hid her worries as Alex said his farewells.
RIPPED WINGS CLEAN-OFF
On 14 August 1918, Leutnant Alexander von Winterfeldt joined Jasta 20 at Menin, Flanders. Not a great deal is known about his career as a fighter pilot at the time and not even records of his four aerial victories survive. Neither do we know what his aircraft looked like, although he flew a Fokker D.VII. The author did,
however, have fragmentary access to the history of the family by Marianne von Winterfeldt, which has sadly disappeared in a private collection and contains quotes from Alexander’s letters from which we can reconstruct the dates of his aerial victories and identify two of his victims.
On 27 August, he wrote to his parents describing the plight of an inexperienced fighter pilot:
‘This air-fighting thing goes very well. However, I still get rapped now and then. The whole thing is not easy, and being a ‘little bunny’ one is, of course, at a disadvantage. The most difficult part is spotting and identifying the machines. The eye has to get used to it. When the leader of our chain realises that I am flying close behind him, I usually follow him in the frenzied dive and usually I first see nothing and only then slowly understand what is happening. At which point, all the favourable opportunities have been taken by the others. Well, that doesn’t matter. Every beginner has the same experience; the crucial thing is not to dive to dive down on someone without reason and to have a close look at proceedings first.’
Only a few days before he had wrecked his ‘beloved Fokker’ after being forced to conduct an emergency landing after engine failure coming down in an orchard between two trees which ripped his Fokker’s wings clean-off.
‘On 5 September my own Fokker has been repaired and I am flying it. The English outnumber us ten-to-one and every evening there is a big 5pm casino in the air above Houthulst forest near Ypres. It is the meeting point of the enemy cavaliers. The English chuck incendiary grenades on our airfield, and in return we fire at them from below. Every day, there are wild air battles. On 19 September, I attend the wedding of my cousin Lona von Willich with Tin von Lieres in Gorzyn, Posen. My brother went as well. It was the final time one could be merry in Germany.’
A month later, Winterfeldt was beginning to understand ‘proceedings’ and claimed his first aerial victory:
‘I shot down my first enemy, an American, on 28 September 1918. Alive, he crawled out of his machine, and approached me after I had landed, introducing himself as Mr. Telfer from America, whereupon - after shaking hands - he let himself be taken prisoner.’
The S.E.5A Winterfeldt shot down had been piloted by 2nd Lt. Harry Charles Telfer, a Canadian with 41 Squadron. His second victory followed on 4 October:
‘Dear parents, I will now only write when I have shot one down. I hope I can do that quite often. Yesterday I shot down my second one. It was a hairy thing. With five Fokkers, we attacked 12 to 15 Sopwith Camels, the most dangerous of the enemy single seaters. The chaps flew splendidly. One of my comrades damaged one, whereupon the others scarpered. Alone, I kept up with all the Sopwiths as I didn’t want to go before I had at least tried to get one. I flew up close to one, the leader, and ignored the others – who, of course, tried to shoot me down with guns blazing. By doing so, they only hindered one another. At this close distance, I then fired about 20 rounds and he went down wrapped in flames. I was very proud about that, and as things were getting a bit too hot around me, I decided to bolt.
The English have nothing to laugh about here. The German fighter arm is marvellous. At our Army 10-12 Englishmen are being shot down on a daily basis. We lose one at most every 14 days. We are generally the only ones who still accomplish something.’
Von Winterfeldt’s vanquished foe was 2nd Lieutenant Stanley Johnston Hill of 65 Sqn whose Camel (E1596) was last seen north-east of Menin at 11,000 feet going down in flames on offensive patrol. His aircraft crashed at Lendelede and he is buried at Harlebeke New British Cemetery.
Winterfeldt scored his final two victories of the war on 9 November 1918, only two days before the armistice and it is uncertain if they were ever confirmed:
‘On 9 November, I shot down two more enemies and received the pilot’s badge, the silver goblet and the Iron Cross First Class.’
(Note: In the German air service a pilot didn’t received his ‘wings’ automatically after passing flight-training. He had to prove himself in combat first, so the late award is not unusual.)
While the First World War ended in November 1918, the war of Alexander von Winterfeldt did not end there. Like many other young men of that generation who grew up and reached adulthood in war, von Winterfeldt voluntarily threw himself into the next conflict, fighting in the Baltics against Bolshevik insurgents, in his case as a pilot in the ‘Kurland Geschwader’, or Kampfgeschwader Sachsenberg.
NEXT CONFLICT
This formation had been raised by German ace Gotthard Sachsenberg, a large proportion of its initial personnel consisted of men who had served under or with Sachsenberg during the war and who now answered the call for volunteers to defend Germany’s eastern borders against advances being made in the Baltic States. Its Abteilungen were equipped with the latest, state-of-theart equipment, including revolutionary all-metal monoplanes - the Junkers D.I and CL.I - produced too late for the German Air Service at the close of the war and the latest and best models of conventional bi-planes, Fokker D.VII and D.VIII fighters, Halberstadts, DFW, LVGS and Rumplers.
Little is known about Winterfeldt’s service in Flieger-abteilung 424 and 429, but we do know that due to the quality of pilots and aircraft, the Kurland Geschwader had no rivals in the air, the Red air force avoiding confrontation whenever possible.
INDUSTRIEFLIEGER
It is difficult to find details about Alexander von Winterfeldt’s life in the interwar period, but we do know that he was the proud owner of a D-rad motorbike made by the Deutsche Werke AG and that he must have lived in a manner fitting the so-called ‘roaring twenties’ in the Berlin of the Weimar Republic. In society circles, he was known as ‘der schöne Alexander’ (handsome Alexander) and he was a proficient dancer; so proficient in ‘Twostep, Shimmy, Charleston and Blues’, in fact, that he received several paid bookings as a ‘Tanzherr’, or dancing master, organising public dances in high society
circles. We do not know, however, how he made his money - even though he seemed to have no shortage of it!
His mother’s notes, however, tell us that from 1924/25 he was back in the aviation industry and in 1925 took part in the ‘BZ Flug’ air contest organised by the Berliner Zeitung - an important event in which the entire who’s-who of German aviation participated. At some time in the early 1930s, he joined Henschel AG as sales-representative and factory test pilot and bought an expensive and fashionable apartment on Olivaer Platz, Berlin.
In 1936, China bought twelve Henschel Hs 123 dive-bombers and several spare engines and spare parts. The purchase was done in secret, because at the time China was already at war with Japan with which Germany had excellent relations. Business was done via a half-private/ half-public company named ‘HARPO’, which acted as intermediary for foreign governments wanting to purchase products of the German arms industry.
On 3 November 1937, the 12 aircraft were shipped in crates from Bremen to Hong-kong, arriving two months later. From Hong-kong, the Hs-123s were transported to Canton by rail, where 10 were fully assembled and two kept as spares. The whole operation was led by a small German team of the Henschel company with Alexander von Winterfeldt at its head. He supervised assembly and trained the Chinese pilots of the 15th Squadron to handle the rugged Henschels. Even though the Chinese complained they had been sent used aircraft instead of new ones, the business commitment had been fulfilled and the Henschel team returned to Germany.
During the summer, the Chinese Hs 123s were supposedly used for attacks on Japanese vessels on the Yangtze River, but little is known about Hs 123 operations in China. It is interesting, however, that Oberst von Massow, in a 1942 speech, mentioned that
Winterfeldt, during his extended stay in East Asia, actively took part in combat operations as a pilot.
Since 1936, von Winterfeldt had been recalled to the Luftwaffe as Oberleutnant der Reserve, joining JG2 as Technischer Offizier when war broke out in 1939. When the German campaign in the West opened in May 1940, Hauptmann von Winterfeldt joined 3./JG2 with whom he claimed his fifth aerial victory on 18 May 1940, shooting down a Blenheim of 15 Squadron near Landrecies.
Two additional victories followed on the two following days, but in late May or early June, he was transferred to 8./JG2 and appointed Staffelkapitän on 26 June. During his time with this unit, he added two additional victories.
Major Von Winterfeldt was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III. Gruppe JG52 on 1 August 1940. On 7 October, von Winterfeldt was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 77, leading the unit through the invasions of Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete.
For his performance in command, and his personal victory score (6 aerial victories and 15 aircraft destroyed on the ground), he was decorated with the Knight’s Cross on 5 July 1941.
Von Winterfeldt continued to lead III./JG 77 during the invasion of Russia, gaining his last three victories in this theatre of war, but on 3 August 1941, Oberstleutnant von Winterfeldt was appointed Kommandeur of Jagdfliegervorschule 4 (No. 4 fighter pilot pre-school ), before transferring to take over command of Jagdfliegervorschule 3 on 19 December.
On 16 May 1942, he was killed in a flying accident at Vienna-schwechat, flying a Messerschmitt 109 E-3 (W.NR. 2458).
Alexander von Winterfeldt was credited with 13 aerial victories (including four victories during the First World War) and during the Second World War flew more than 260 combat sorties.
Killed on first 1940 sortie
Theodor Quandt was born in the Netherlands, to German parents, on 22 June 1897. Initially, however, the Quandts came from Königsberg, East Prussia, to where young Theodor returned for schooling in the Wilhelms-gymnasium.
At the outbreak of war, Theodor joined the 6th East-prussian Infanterie-regiment, ‘Herzog Karl von Mecklenburg-strelitz’ Nr. 43, as war volunteer and Fahnenjunker (officer candidate). It was a unit with which he took part in the Battle of Tannenberg from 26 - 30 August 1914. Only three weeks after he joining his unit, however, the future officer was transferred to the artillery, and the 2nd Battery of Fußartillerie-regiment Nr.20, and deployed on the Western Front on 21 October 1915, in Champagne.
In February 1916, Quandt was commissioned as a Leutnant and shortly afterwards volunteered to join the Fliegertruppe. After training as an observer, he joined Feldflieger-abteilung 22. A prominent member of FFA 22 was
Leutnant Albert Dossenbach, soon the first two-seater pilot decorated with the Pour le Merite.
ACE IN FIVE MONTHS
On 6 October 1916, Quandt joined the flight school in Halberstadt to train as a pilot, being trained by Gustav Kaniß, an ‘Old Eagle’ - one of Germany’s aviation pioneers who held pilot licence no. 172.
On 1 January 1917, Quandt joined Flieger-abteilung (A) 270 and flew artillery spotting missions until ultimately transferring to Jagdstaffel 36. At this time the unit was at Le Châtelet, France, and was commanded by Quandt’s former comrade, Albert Dossenbach. Subordinated to 1. Armee, the unit stood in the face of the great French offensive in Champagne.
On 21 May, Quandt was part of a Kette of Jasta 36, led by the new Staffelführer Walter von Bülow-bothkamp, to attack French observation balloons in the area of Jonchery. In the following engagement, Quandt claimed three French balloons shot down, two of them confirmed. Two days later Quandt, claimed to have shot down a French SPAD near Pontavert. This, however, would not be confirmed, the victory credited to Ltn.d.r. Kohlmann & Ltn.d.r. Frister of FA 205 (A).
About a month later, with Jasta 36 now attached to the 4th Army in Flanders, Quandt’s ‘star’ began to rise when he shot down an RFC RE8 of 21 Squadron near Zonnebeke (2nd Lt. C.E. Holaway and 2nd Lt. R.G. Harris, both KIA).
On 3 September, he scored his fourth confirmed victory - a French Voisin VIII of Escadrille VB 109 over Bellewaerde (S/ Lt. A. Navarin & Sgt. R. Delaunay, MIA), while a victory over a Sopwith Camel at Langemarck on 11 September was not confirmed but credited instead to Leutnant Wüsthoff of Jasta 4.
On the 26th, in a large dogfight with Sopwith Triplanes of 1 and 3 Squadron, Quandt scored his 5th confirmed victory (F/S/LT. W.J. Burnett, KIA).
Quandt, now decorated with both classes of the Iron Cross, scored several more victories in the weeks that followed. His seventh was over a Bristol F2b of 20 Squadron near Poelcapelle on 17 October. Both crew members of the ‘Brisfit’ were also aces: pilot 2/Lt. Arthur Gilbert Vivian Taylor (7 victories) and Sgt.
William Benger MM, were both taken prisoner. Taylor later succumbed to his wounds in German captivity.
DOWNED IN COMBAT
On 24 December 1917, Quandt was given command of Jagdstaffel 53 - a new formation raised as part of the so-called ‘Amerikaprogramm’ - an armament programme launched in June 1917, with aims to end aerial superiority of the Entente and sparked by America’s entry into the war. The intention was a rapid increase of German aircraft production - and the number of trained pilots - to be able to raise 40 new Jagdstaffeln and double the regular strength from eight to nine aircraft.
This drastic expansion, however, came at the price of quality and many inexperienced pilots were rushed into
action, while fuel and ammunition supplies began to arrive in meagre amounts - and ofen too late or not at all.
Jasta 53 was deployed at Attigny, in the then ‘quiet’ Champagne region. Things, however, were not going well.
On 11 March 1918, Jasta 53, so far without any victories, lost one of its pilots, Uffz. Josef Henn, in an accident during take-off. Eight days later, the Staffel’s airfield at Mont d’origny was subjected to a bombing attack which killed two mechanics and wounded about a dozen more. When the time came for Jasta 53 to support the great German spring offensive, the
Kaiserschlacht, it had already lost three pilots for only three confirmed aerial victories. On 22 March, Quandt himself was downed in combat behind German lines, but was uninjured.
Until August, the Staffel only scored two victories - meagre success for which it paid dearly with the loss of three more pilots. It may have been this rather bleak record which led to Quandt handing over command to Leutnant Robert Hildebrandt on 21 August 1918.
COMMAND OF JASTA 36
Surprisingly, however, Quandt was given command of his old formation, Jagdstaffel 36. This was due to the fact that its previous commander, Harry von Bülow-bothkamp, had been discharged from service after his three brothers were killed and left him as the only dynastical family heir.
At this point, Jasta 36 was part of Jagdgeschwader 3 under Hauptmann Bruno Loerzer. The Staffel deployed Fokker DR.I triplanes, then considered obsolete. In command however, and alongside the experienced hunters of Jasta 36, Quandt’s luck changed. Days later, on 27 August, at 10:55 am, he shot down a Sopwith Camel of 73 Squadron near Tilloy (2/Lt. A.R. Heaver, KIA) and a second about 15 minutes later near Marcoing.
A successful day followed on 1 September, with Quandt claiming three SE.5A fighters of 32 Squadron. One was eventually credited to Quandt (E.5939, 32 Sqn. RAF, 2/Lt. J.O. Donaldson DFC, POW) and it is likely he also shot down at least one of the others (Lt. E.C. Klingman, POW).
The next day, Quandt scored his 12th victory over a Sopwith Camel. A second victory claim that day remained unconfirmed, but it appears highly likely that his second victim on 2 September was a German Rumpler C.IV of FAA 210, which he accidentally shot down near Cambrai, killing the observer Leutnant Adolf Thomas. The fact that during this engagement Quandt was attacked and his aircraft damaged by fire of a German Fokker D.VII rather supports this theory.
On 4 September, Quandt scored his final and 15th confirmed victory over an SE.5A of 60 Squadron (Lt. O.P. Johnson). A British air raid on Jasta 36‘s airfield at Aniche, on 17 September, destroyed most of the Staffel’s Fokkers and fuel reserves and Jasta 36 was grounded. It would take a long time until modern replacement aircraft,
like the Fokker D.VII, could be sourced, but on 4 October, eight damaged Pfalz D.XII fighters - modern, but inferior to the Fokker D.VII - were sourced from Armee-flugpark 17 in Grandglise. One was taken over by Quandt and decorated with his personal insignia: the black and white medal ribbon of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. Quandt had been decorated with this medal on 10 May 1918.
On 8 November, the aircraft of Jasta 36 were burned on the ground to prevent them falling into enemy hands, the formation being officially disbanded on 29 November. P 21
SHOT DOWN AND KILLED
Between the wars, Quandt married and had a son (1935) and like many other veterans had to find employment in the civilian sector. This he did as head clerk for an electrical company, but with the creation of the new Luftwaffe in 1935, many former aces were invited back to serve – Quandt among them.
In May 1936, Quandt presented himself at Schönwalde near Berlin for a pilot refresher course and was promoted (retrospectively to 1 June 1927) to Oberleutnant der Reserve. Two more courses followed, the last at Doberitz in 1937, with I. Gruppe of JG132 ‘Richthofen’ under command of Major Karl Vieck. Another course in the same unit, equipped with Heinkel He-51 biplane fighters and later Messerschmitt 109 Bs, followed in January 1938. On 1 October 1938, he was promoted to Hauptmann but classed as not having the necessary skill set to take command of a Staffel. With the outbreak of war, this would change.
Quandt was called up in September 1939, joining I./ JG20, equipped with the brand new Messerschmitt 109 E, at Brandenburg-briest. With the outbreak of hostilities, the I. Gruppe of JG20 became III. Gruppe of JG2 ‘Richthofen’ and on 18 September, Quandt took temporary command of what had been I./JG20, being promoted to Major d.r.
On 26 September 1939, Quandt’s old friend, Oberstleutnant Karl Vieck, was made Kommodore of JG3 in Zerbst, near Magdeburg, and shortly afterwards Quandt joined him after his command at JG20 had been taken over by Hauptmann Hannes Trautloft.
During the German campaign in the West of May 1940, JG3 initially remained in Zerbst but transferred to Valheureux, France, on 4 June. It was from there, during his first flight with the Stabsstaffel of JG3 on 6 June 1940, that Theodor Quandt flew his first and last operational sortie, being shot down and killed during combat with H-75s of GC I/4, crashing near Envermeu, 15 km east of Dieppe.
He was buried where he crashed, resting in a field grave until his body was exhumed and buried in the Rouen military cemetery in 1941.