page_title: Tadija Sondermajer
section_title: Fighter pilot
hierarchical_section_title: Tadija Sondermajer / World War I / Fighter pilot
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Groupe de pilotes des escadrilles SPA 3, SPA 26 et SPA 103 sur le terrain d'Hétomesnil, le 8 mai 1918 - Assis au premier plan&#160;: René Fonck (SPA 103) - Au second plan, de gauche à droite&#160;: X - X - Ltt Benjamin Bozon-Verduraz (SPA 3) - X - Ltt Joseph Battle (cdt SPA 103) - Cne Louis Bucquet (pilote SPA 3) - Cne de Sevin (Cdt SPA 26) - X - Cne Georges Raymond (cdt SPA 3) - Ltt Sondermayer (pilote serbe de la SPA 3)
context_page_description: Tadija R. Sondermajer was a Serbian and Yugoslav Royal Air Force Reserve Colonel, a decorated fighter pilot of the First World War, and one of the founders of the first civil aviation company in Yugoslavia, Aeroput.
  Born in Belgrade, he was the first engineer of aeronautics in the country and the only fighter plane pilot from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to fight in the French Air Force during World War, I on the Western Front, most notably against the German squadron of Manfred von Richthofen. In between the wars he flew a record intercontinental flight between Paris and Bombay, India, and back to Belgrade. He received the highest, Serbian, Yugoslav and French decorations for his war service and numerous peacetime decorations. Sondermajer is undoubtedly one of the most striking figures in Yugoslav civil aviation and a major contributor to the development of civil aviation in the region.
context_section_description: During the summer of 1917 Sondermajer entered and completed pilot training at the 403th Aviation Park and Training Centre of Sedes Air Base near Salonika. On one occasion he succeeded in forcing a superior enemy aircraft to escape, for which he received praise from Field Marshal Stepa Stepanović. In November 1917, Lieutenant Tadija Sondermajer, ill from malaria, is sent to hospital in France.
  Instead of the planned three months, Sondermajer spent only one in the hospital and joined the advanced flying school in Pau to learn acrobatics and aviation-sharpshooting, his brother Vladimir joined him a few months later. Tadija finished best in class following with training at the Aerial Gunnery School in Cazaux before being recruited to join a French fighting squadron on the western front while his brother headed back to the Salonika front.
  On 1 March 1918, Tadija Sondermajer is transferred to the French elite fighter squadron (GC 12) 'Les Cigognes' ('The Storks') the best fighter plane group in France, it was commanded by celebrated French ace Georges Guynemer, and after Guynemer’s death, by an even greater ace – the legendary Rene Fonck; as one of the 60 top fighter pilots, Tadija was selected to join the group in charge of the hardest combat missions on the Western front during the battle of the Marne. From April 15 to May 21, his group had for enemy the "Flying Circus" composed up of Fokker fighters led by the famous German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron. During one mission above the enemy line, as he was returning to the base with a empty machine gun, Sondermajer was attacked by three German fighters. He saved himself by performing flying acrobatics, which made the enemy failed to shot down him. On his return from a second fight on May 21 his SPAD XIII caught fire after being shot, miraculously he was able to land in Flanders, Sondermajer survived the crash of his plane but was severely burned with a leg injury. After treatment and demobilization, Sondermajer enrolled at the School of Aeronautics and Mechanical Construction in Paris (École supérieure d'aéronautique et de constructions mécaniques) where he received a degree in airplane engineering in 1921. In 1923 he left active service to become a reserve officer. 
  For his service France made him an Officer of the Legion of Honour and awarded him the Croix de Guerre (War Cross); at his return to Serbia Alexander I of Yugoslavia awarded him, Serbia's highest decoration, the Order of Karađorđe's Star and both Gold and Silver Medal for Bravery.
caption: Tadija Sondermajer (first from right) with other officers of Groupe de Combat 12. René Fonck is seated on the ground.
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