Carl Degelow Carl " Charly " Degelow ( 5 January 1891 – 9 November 1970 ) Pour le Merite , Royal House Order of Hohenzollern , Iron Cross , was a German fighter pilot during World War I . He was credited with 30 victories , and was the last person to win the military Pour le Merite . Life before aviation . Carl Degelow was born on 5 January 1891 in Münsterdorf , Schleswig - Holstein , in the Kingdom of Prussia . In 1912 - 1913 , before World War I broke out , Degelow worked in the United States as an industrial chemist . His specialty was the manufacture of cement , and he was known to have visited Chicago and El Paso . He returned to Germany just before World War I erupted and enlisted in Nassauischen Infanterie - Regiment Nr 88 . Degelow initially served with distinction in this infantry regiment in both France and Russia , winning both classes of the Iron Cross and earning promotion in rank from Gefreiter to Vizefeldwebel . He was also wounded in the arm while fighting in Russia . He was commissioned as a " Leutnant " on 31 July 1915 . He was seriously wounded in the arm in Russia in 1915 , and commissioned in July 1915 while he was still hospitalized . Flying service . Degelow transferred to the air service in 1916 and trained as a pilot . His first assignment was to " Flieger - Abteilung " ( " Artillerie " ) : Flier Detachment ( Artillery ) 216 as an artillery spotter at the beginning of 1917 , directing and correcting artillery fire from an Albatros C . V . On 22 May 1917 , he claimed a French Caudron G . IV , but it was unconfirmed . Three days later , he shot down another Caudron ; for this one he got credit . He was reassigned to the Prussian " Jagdstaffel 36 " for transitional training into flying Pfalz D . III fighters in August 1917 , but lasted fewer than four days . The process involved zeroing in an aircraft ' s machine guns on a firing range . Degelow accidentally wounded a member of the unit and was hastily reassigned on 17 August to Prussian " Jasta 7 " to fly a Pfalz D . III under the leadership of Leutnant Josef Jacobs . Degelow chose to fly a Pfalz because the Albatros D . V available to him had a reputation at the time for losing its wings in a dive . He began his string of victories with " Jasta 7 " on an uncertain note . He filed three widely spaced consecutive victories that were unconfirmed as the enemy planes landed on the Allied side of the front lines . By German regulations , these could not be considered confirmed aerial victories . In September , he was almost shot down by a Bristol F . 2 Fighter after it hit his oil tank , which misted his flying goggles and blurred his vision . Only Jacobs ' intervention saved Degelow . Degelow claimed Jacobs destroyed the attacker , although the victory is not listed on Jacobs ' records . On 25 January 1918 he finally was credited with his second victory , after four unconfirmed claims . On 23 March , while landing in a 30 kilometer per hour ( 19 mph ) wind , he destroyed his aircraft by upsetting upon landing but was unhurt . The photo of his inverted aircraft shows he sported a running stag insignia on his plane . His third confirmed victory did not come until 21 April 1918 . He scored his fourth victory and transferred on 16 May 1918 to the Royal Saxon " Jagdstaffel 40 " . Degelow became the squadron ' s commanding officer on 11 July 1918 , after Helmut Dilthey was killed . During this time , he also flew a borrowed Fokker Dr . 1 Triplane , though he doesn ' t seem to have claimed any successes with it . He became an ace on 18 June , with the first of his two June victories . On the 25th , he took his new Fokker D . VII on a test flight , came upon a dogfight between D . VIIs of another Jasta and Sopwith Camels , and shot one of the Camels down . The D . VII remained his mount for the remainder of the war . His had the front three - quarters of the fuselage painted black ; the rear quarter was white . Emblazoned on the side was a white running stag with gold antlers and hooves , its head pointed toward the propeller . In July , he scored six times . On 9 August , he was awarded the Knight ' s Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern . In September , he again scored six times . October saw ten victories on ten different days . The victory on the 4th was over a Canadian naval ace , Captain John Greene of No . 213 Squadron . Degelow scored once more , on 4 November , just before the end of his and Germany ' s war . Thus credited with 30 confirmed victories and four unconfirmed , he was the last German pilot and final German serviceman to be awarded the Blue Max , on 9 November 1918 , the day the Kaiser abdicated , and two days before the end of the war . The abdication ended Imperial decrees and orders such as awards for the " Blue Max " . Degelow also received the Iron Cross , 1st and 2nd class . Post World War I . Immediately postwar , Degelow helped found the " Hamburger Zeitfetwilligen Korps " to battle communists in Germany . He wrote his war memoirs , " With the White Stag Through Thick and Thin " in 1920 . They were published in English in 1979 as " Germany ' s Last Knight of the Air " by Peter Kilduff , who added some additional commentary . Degelow remained in the reserves between World Wars I and II . During the first days of the Nazi regime , he was jailed for several days for failure to give the Nazi salute on parade . When someone recognized the Pour le Merite on his uniform , he was quickly released . By the time World War II began , he was a Hauptmann ( captain ) . Degelow went on to serve as a Major in the Luftwaffe during World War II . He died in Hamburg , Germany on 9 November 1970 .