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Name: Franz Büchner
Orden Pour le Mérite (Blue Max)
Military Order of St. Henry
Knight's Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern
Iron Cross 1st class		 Franz Büchner
Country: Germany
Rank: Leutnant
Units: FFA 270
Jasta 9, 13
Victories: 40
Born: 02 January 1898
Place of Birth: Leipzig
Killed In Action: 18 March 1920 Killed In Action
Place of Death: Near Leipzig
Cemetery: Leipzig
 
 
The son of a successful businessman, this highly decorated German ace was 16 years old when he joined the infantry in 1914. After surviving a case of typhoid fever, Büchner served on the Russian front in 1915 before returning to the trenches of France where he was wounded in combat on 3 April 1916. When he recovered, he transferred to the German Air Force, serving first with FFA 270. Posted to Jasta 9 in March 1917, he scored his first and only victory with this unit on 17 August 1917. Büchner was then reassigned to Jasta 13 but only scored one more victory by the end of the year. During the summer of 1918, his score began to climb after downing three enemy aircraft in June. Scoring his seventh victory on 2 July 1918, Büchner shot down the Sopwith Dolphin of Irish ace Joseph Callaghan.  Five days later, he scored his eighth victory over a Sopwith Camel flown by another allied ace: Merrill Taylor of Canada. With the aid of a parachute, Büchner survived a midair collision with another Jasta pilot on 10 October 1918 and although he survived the war, he was killed in action during Germany's postwar revolution.
 
Opponents
#7 Joseph CallaghanIreland
#8 Merrill TaylorCanada
 
Victories
Date Time Unit Aircraft Opponent Location
1 17 Aug 1917 1230 Jasta 9   Nieuport SE of Chappy
2 15 Oct 1917 Jasta 13   SPAD Margivil
3 10 Jun 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD S of Vauxaillion
4 11 Jun 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD  
5 28 Jun 1918 2100 Jasta 13   S.E.5a  
6 01 Jul 1918 Jasta 13   Sopwith  
7 02 Jul 1918 1045 Jasta 13   Sopwith Dolphin (D3671) Contay
8 07 Jul 1918 1115 Jasta 13   Sopwith Camel (D3329) Near Hamel
9 16 Jul 1918 Jasta 13   Bréguet 14  
10 16 Jul 1918 Jasta 13   Bréguet 14  
11 19 Jul 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD  
12 29 Jul 1918 1840 Jasta 13   Sopwith Camel (D9498) Venizel
13 09 Aug 1918 1820 Jasta 13   SPAD 2 Lignieres
14 10 Aug 1918 1125 Jasta 13   Bristol F.2b  
15 11 Aug 1918 1908 Jasta 13   Sopwith Roye
16 11 Aug 1918 1910 Jasta 13   SPAD Estrées
17 14 Aug 1918 1840 Jasta 13   Sopwith Camel Chaulnes
18 19 Aug 1918 1006 Jasta 13   Bréguet -or- D.H.9 Pertain
19 20 Aug 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD  
20 20 Aug 1918 Jasta 13   Bréguet 14  
21 12 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   D.H.4 USA N of Hattonville
22 12 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   D.H.4 Vieville-en-Haye
23 12 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   Bréguet 14 E of Thiaucourt
24 13 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD Allamont
u/c 13 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD Allamont
25 14 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   Two-seater Mars-le-Tour
26 14 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   Bréguet 14 Latour
27 15 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD XIII Thiaucourt
28 15 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD XIII Lachaussee
29 17 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   Salmson 2A2 Dampvitoux
30 18 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD Dampvitoux
31 18 Sep 1918 1725 Jasta 13   SPAD Chambley
32 18 Sep 1918 1730 Jasta 13   SPAD W of Chambley
33 26 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD XIII Consenvoye
34 26 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD XIII Charpentrie
35 26 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD XIII Gercourt
36 26 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   SPAD XIII Etreillers
37 28 Sep 1918 Jasta 13   Salmson 2A2 Nantillois
38 01 Oct 1918 Jasta 13   Salmson 2A2  
39 21 Oct 1918 Jasta 13   EA Argonne
40 22 Oct 1918 Jasta 13   Two-seater  
 
Books
Franks, Norman, Frank Bailey and Russell Guest. Above the Lines: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914-1918. London: Grub Street, 1993

Treadwell, Terry C. and Alan C. Wood. German Knights of the Air 1914-1918: The Holders of the Orden Pour le Mérite. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1998
 
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