Hermann von der Lieth - Thomsen General Hermann von der Lieth - Thomsen , born Hermann Thomsen , ( 10 March 1867 – 5 May 1942 ) was a German military aviation pioneer , a senior air commander in the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I and a founding father of the German military aviation . Early life and military career . Hermann Thomsen was born on 10 March 1867 in Flensburg which had recently been lost by the Kingdom of Denmark and incorporated into Prussia . Lieth - Thomsen joined the Prussian Army in 1887 , serving first as a pioneer officer . In January 1908 the German General Staff established a technical staff to monitor foreign and domestic progress in aviation , motorized transport and telegraphy . Captain Thomsen was appointed as its head , serving under Erich Ludendorff . Thomsen served on the General Staff until February 1914 when he was transferred to the staff of the 2nd Railway Regiment . However , he was soon transferred again and at the start of August Thomsen took up post as the Investigation Officer for Airship Guidance at Posen . World War I . In March 1915 von der Lieth - Thomsen was appointed Chief of Field Air Forces ( " Chef des Feldflugwesens " ) for the entire German Army . At this stage he held the rank of major which was far more junior than the rank of his opposite numbers in the Royal Flying Corps . In October the following year , with the reorganization of the German Army Air Services into the Luftstreitkräfte , Thomsen , by now a lieutenant - colonel , was named Chief of Staff to Ernst von Hoeppner , the newly appointed Commanding General of the Air Service . He served as the Luftstreitkräfte Chief of Staff until after the end of World War I . In 1917 von der Lieth - Thomsen was awarded the Pour le Mérite even though as a senior commander he was not directly involved in air combat . The award was resented by some of his junior officers . His son , Joachim von der Lieth - Thomsen , was hit by a ship , while he was flying over the Thames Estuary , and ended the war as a POW . Inter - war years . After close of World War I , Germany was required to disestablish her Air Services . Lieth - Thomsen served in the Aviation Department of the Prussian War Ministry during January and February 1919 and was then assigned to other duties at the War Ministry . However , he resigned his position and retired from military service as a colonel in August 1919 . In the 1920s Lieth - Thomsen actively participated in the German efforts to build a secret Air Force in the Soviet Union . In 1923 he first made contact with the Soviets and in 1925 he was instrumental in establishing the German military mission in the Soviet Union . During the 1920s he developed serious eye problems which eventually led to his blindness . In 1928 he moved back to the island of Sylt in his native Schleswig - Holstein . Luftwaffe service . Despite his blindness , when the " Luftwaffe " was established in 1935 under Hermann Göring , Lieth - Thomsen re - entered military service as Head of the Military Science at the Reich Air Ministry . He was granted the rank of major general . He held this post until his death in 1942 , receiving promotions to lieutenant general and General of Flying ( " General der Flieger " ) before the outbreak of World War II . Hermann von der Lieth - Thomsen died on 5 May 1942 in Sylt and was buried in the Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery in Berlin .