branch commands death_place death_date birth_place allegiance unit awards birth_date rank article_title name
aviation jasta 20 fontaine-notre-dame , france 30 november 1917 gotha , germany german empire fea 3 , fa 8 , jasta 8 iron cross first and second class 28 july 1890 leutnant rudolf wendelmuth
 rudolf wendelmuth
rudolf wendelmuth

leutnant rudolf wendelmuth was a world war i flying ace credited with 14 aerial victories .
at break of war , wendelmuth was posted to the 233rd reserve infantry regiment .
he transferred to aviation on 1 march 1915 , reporting to fea 3 in his home town of gotha for training .
his first assignment was to bulgaria in september .
in july 1916 , he returned to cologne to fokker commando .
he was then posted to fa 8 in sevdi koy , turkey as an acting oberleutnant .
while with this unit , he scored his first victory , downing a royal naval air service farman off the turkish coast on 5 november 1916 .
during bloody april 1917 , wendelmuth returned to the western front .
he was assigned to jasta 8 .
between 29 july and 14 october 1917 , he accumulated another ten victories ; during this span , on 25 september , his plane was shot down but he escaped unharmed .
on 19 october , he was appointed to command royal prussian jagdstaffel 20 .
he scored three more wins in october and november 1917 .
on 30 november , wendelmuth died in a midair collision that also killed wilhelm schulz .
