Hans Ritter von Adam Hans Ritter von Adam , born Hans Adam , ( 24 May 1886 – 15 November 1917 ) was a Bavarian flying ace in World War I , with 21 victories before being killed in action . He enlisted as an infantry private , and rose through the ranks to be commissioned an officer . His valor earned him his nation ' s highest awards , including one that posthumously raised him to nobility . Background . Hans Ritter von Adam was born as Hans Adam on 24 May 1886 , in Bayerisch Eisenstein in the Lower Bavaria region of the Kingdom of Bavaria ( a town now divided between Germany and the Czech Republic ) , son of a railway official , Andreas Adam , and his wife Hildegard " née " Fischer . Hans Adam entered the Royal Bavarian Army as a one - year volunteer ( " Einjährige - Freiwilliger " ) on 1 October 1906 , serving in the 4th Infantry Regiment in Metz . He then became a businessman in Munich . By the time World War I began , Adam was married , with two children . Military service . Adam returned to service as a lieutenant in the Bavarian " Landwehr " ( " Leutnant der Landwehr " ) when World War I began . He was assigned to the Bavarian 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment . He fought in the Battle of the Frontiers and while fighting around the French fortifications in the Nancy - Épinal region was wounded in action on 2 September 1914 . After recuperating , he returned to the front in late 1915 , but then chose to enter pilot training ( despite his age , which made him much older than most pilot trainees ) . He received his Observer ' s Badge on 15 May 1916 and began service as an aerial observer . He flew as an observer for Eduard Ritter von Schleich . On 2 March 1917 , he joined " Jasta " 34 and scored his first three victories in an Albatros D . III . He then transferred to " Jasta " 6 when Oberleutnant Eduard Ritter von Dostler took command . On 12 July 1917 he shot down and killed ace Lt . A . W . B . Miller ( 6 victories ) of No . 29 Squadron RFC for his fifth victory . Adam continued to score , totaling 12 confirmed victories by the end of August . He rose to become Staffelführer of Jasta 6 on 30 August 1917 , after von Dostler was shot down . Adam scored again the following day , then ran off seven more victories in September . He scored his 21st and final victory on 6 November 1917 . Death . Leutnant Adam was shot down and killed on 15 November 1917 near Langemarck in his Albatros D . V . He was combatting foes from both No . 29 Squadron RFC and No . 29 Squadron RFC ; Captain Kenneth Barbour Montgomery of No . 45 Squadron , Royal Flying Corps was the apparent victor . By the time of his death , von Adam had already won the Iron Cross First Class and the Military Merit Order . However , posthumous awards continued . On 2 February 1918 , von Adam received the Knight ' s Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern . On 20 May 1919 , Bavaria ' s highest military decoration , the Military Order of Max Joseph ( " Militär - Max - Joseph - Orden " ) , was posthumously bestowed on Adam , retroactive to 28 July 1917 . On that date , as deputy " Staffelführer " of " Jasta " 6 , while his " Staffelführer " chased one bomber , Adam had attacked and broken up the rest of a formation of enemy bombers , and continued the pursuit despite damage to his own aircraft , until his squadron had destroyed the enemy formation . For a commoner , award of the Military Order of Max Joseph carried with it a patent of non - hereditary nobility signified by the title " " Ritter von " " , and Hans Adam posthumously became Hans Ritter von Adam . Hans Ritter von Adam was interred in the Waldfriedhof in Munich , Germany .