Otto Kissenberth Otto Kissenberth ( 26 February 1893 – 2 August 1919 ) was a German flying ace of World War I credited with 20 aerial victories . He was a prewar mechanical engineer who joined the German air service in 1914 . After being trained and after serving as a reconnaissance pilot , he became one of the first German fighter pilots , flying with " Kampfeinsitzerkommando " ( Combat Single - Seater Command ) Einsisheim . He scored six victories with this unit as it morphed into a fighter squadron , " Jagdstaffel 16 " . His success brought him command of " Jagdstaffel 23 " on 4 August 1917 . He would run his victory tally to 20 , downing his final victim using a captured British Sopwith Camel on 20 May 1918 . Nine days later , a crash while flying the Camel ended Kissenberth ' s combat career . His injuries were severe enough he was not returned to combat , instead being assigned to command Schliessheim ' s flying school . Although Otto Kissenberth survived the war , he died soon after in a mountaineering accident on 2 August 1919 . Early life . Born in Landshut , Bavaria in 1893 , Kissenberth studied at Grenoble University before completing an engineering degree in Munich and then working for the Gustav Otto aircraft works as a mechanical engineer . Early aviation service . With his interest in aircraft design , Kissenberth joined the German Air Force in 1914 . After training as a reconnaissance pilot with " Fliegerersatz - Abteilung " ( Replacement Detachment ) 1 at Schleissheim , " Vizefeldwebel " Kissenberth was posted to Bavaria ' s " Flieger - Abteilung " ( Flier Detachment ) 8b . On 21 March 1915 , while on a sortie over the Vosges Mountains , he was wounded in action . Upon recovery , he joined another Bavarian unit , " Flieger - Abteilung " ( Flier Detachment ) 9b , on 8 July 1915 , which was stationed at Toblach in the Dolomite Alps . The unit served in Italy , including a daring bombing raid on Cortina on 31 July 1915 , as well as on the Vosges front , Service as fighter pilot . In 1916 , FA 9b morphed into " Kampfeinsitzerkommando " ( Combat Single - Seater Command ) Einsisheim , as the German Army struggled to find a tactical formation for its fighters . While flying with " KEK E " , Kissenberth was credited with his first three victories on 12 October . An Anglo - French bombing raid of some three French squadrons , 26 aircraft from the Royal Naval Air Service , and a contingent of four from the Lafayette Escadrille attacked the Mauser Rifle Works at Oberndorf am Neckar . Kissenberth blunted the assault , downing two of the invaders on his first sortie , and another on his next one . It was a feat worthy of Württemberg ' s Friedrich Order , Baden ' s Order of the Zähringer Lion , and the Bavarian Military Merit Order . Kissenberth would not score again until 26 May 1917 . " KEK E " formed the basis for a new fighter squadron , Royal Bavarian " Jagdstaffel 16 " . As a member of " Jasta 16b " , he downed two SPAD s and flamed a balloon during Summer 1917 , bringing his count to six . Kissenberth was transferred to command of Royal Bavarian " Jasta 23 " on 4 August 1917 . He thus became one of the few flying aces to wear spectacles . Kissenberth usually flew an Albatros D . V with a yellow and white Edelweiss insignia painted on its fuselage . He scored over a dozen victories with this aircraft , although his twentieth and final victory on 20 May 1918 came while flying a captured Sopwith Camel . On the evening of 29 May 1918 , he was seriously injured when he crashed this British fighter . After convalescense , he did not return to his squadron . Instead , he served as commanding officer of the Schliessheim flying school until the end of the war . Death . On 2 August 1919 , Kissenberth was killed in a mountaineering accident in the Bavarian Alps .