Paul Bäumer

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This article deals with Paul Bäumer the pilot. For the fictional Paul Bäumer, see All Quiet on the Western Front

Paul Bäumer (May 11, 1896 – July 15, 1927) was a German fighter ace in the First World War.

Bäumer learned to fly before the war but joined the infantry and was wounded in 1915. He transferred to the air service as a dental assistant before being accepted for military pilot training. In 1917 he gained experience on two-seaters with FA7 before acceptance as a noncommissioned fighter pilot.

Bäumer joined Jagdstaffel 5 in June of 1917, scoring three victories in July before going to the elite Jasta Boelcke.

Bäumer claimed heavily, reaching 18 victories by year end. He was commissioned in April 1918 and, with arrival of the Fokker D.VII he claimed even more success, including 16 in September. Nicknamed 'The Iron Eagle' and with a personal emblem of an Edelweiss on his aircraft, he was one of the few pilots who saved their life by parachute when he was shot down in flames in September. He received the Pour le Mérite shortly before the armistice. He was credited with 43 victories, ranking ninth among German aces.

Bäumer became a dentist and reportedly one of his patients, Erich Maria Remarque, used Bäumer's name for the protagonist of his antiwar novel All Quiet on the Western Front.

Bäumer died in an air crash at Copenhagen in 1927, age 31.

[edit] External links

• http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/baumer.html

[edit] References

Norman Franks et al (1993). Above the Lines: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service, and Flanders Marine Corps 1914-1918. Grub Street, London.