Friedrich T . Noltenius Lieutenant Friedrich Theodor Noltenius ( 8 January 1894 – 12 March 1936 ) was a German flying ace in the First World War , with a total of 21 kills . Early life and service . Friedrich Theodor Noltenius was born in Bremen on 8 January 1894 , the son of a Professor of Medicine . The younger Noltenius graduated from high school in Bremen . The war interrupted him becoming a doctor . Noltenius enlisted in Field Artillery Regiment No . 13 at the outbreak of war , on 4 August 1914 . He served on the Eastern Front until December 1915 ; during this time , he was in the assault on Warsaw and saw action in Serbia . He then saw action at Ypres and the Somme in France until November 1917 , winning the Iron Cross 2nd class . He was commissioned in October 1916 and was wounded on 16 April 1917 . In May he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st class . Aerial service . In December , he commenced ground school in Altenburg ; he then took flight school with FEA 10 at Böblingen in February 1918 . In June 1918 he attended fighter school and then posted to the Royal Prussian Jasta 27 in Jagdgeschwader 3 , commanded by Bruno Loerzer . Flying a Fokker D . VII with red and white bands painted around the fuselage and on the middle of the top wing , Noltenius soon became a ' star ' of the Jasta . His first victory was over a Sopwith Dolphin , on 10 August . His second win , ten days later , initiated him into the ranks of balloon busters as he destroyed an observation balloon . By 2 September , he was an ace , scoring his fifth and sixth triumphs . He survived being blown out of the sky on 14 September , when he attacked a booby - trapped balloon full of high explosives that singed much of the fabric from his plane ' s wings , and being wounded on the next day . He was also shot down on the 22nd by George Vaughn . Nevertheless , by the end of September , Noltenius had successfully claimed victory over another four enemy airplanes and three more balloons , raising his score to a baker ' s dozen . Disputes over victories with his fellow pilots prompted his transfer to the Royal Prussian Jasta 6 on 27 September , the day after his thirteenth victory . He thus joined the elite Flying Circus , Royal Prussian Jagdgeschwader I . Noltenius scored twice with Jasta 6 , once on a balloon on 6 October 1918 , and once four days later on a Spad . The former victory made him one of the rare balloon aces . A clash with Ulrich Neckel , his Commanding Officer , led to another move , this time within the Circus , to the Royal Prussian Jasta 11 . He scored thrice for his new squadron on 23 October . Three more singleton victories , on 28 October , 3 and 4 November , closed out his career as an ace . The armistice a week after his final victory , and the subsequent revolution , scotched his chances of being awarded Germany ' s highest decoration , the Pour le Mérite or Blue Max . Indeed , he was one of the last awardees of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern . Postwar life . After the war he fought against the communists before qualifying as a doctor . Living in South America from 1923 – 33 , he returned to Germany , where on 12 March 1936 he crashed his Bucker Jungmann on take - off . He died of his injuries . His writings . His war diary and military service record ( Kriegsranglisten - Auszug ) was published in the Cross and Cockade Journal , Volume 7 , Number 4 ( Winter 1966 ) .