Fritz Rumey

Infobox Military Person
name=Fritz Rumey
lived=March 3, 1891 - September 27, 1918
placeofbirth=Königsberg
placeofdeath= Neuville St. Rémy


caption=Fritz Rumey
allegiance=German Empire
serviceyears=1914-1918
rank=Leutnant
branch=Luftstreitkräfte
unit=FA(A) 19, Jastas 2, 5
awards=Pour le Mérite

Fritz Rumey (March 3, 1891 – September 27, 1918) Pour le Merite, Golden Military Merit Cross was a German fighter pilot in the First World War, credited with 45 victories.

ervice Career

A prewar infantryman with the 45th Infantry regiment, he saw action against the Russians and was decorated with the Iron Cross 2nd class. Subsequently in August 1915 he applied for aviation and completed an observer's course and served with FAA 219. Later he was accepted for pilot training and when he completed his training was sent to France in early 1917, serving for a brief period with Jasta Boelcke, and then went to Jagdstaffel 5 on 10 June 1917. He served as a Vizefeldwebel (non-commissioned officer). Along with Josef Mai and Otto Koennecke, he was one of threee sergeant pilots who flew together, scored 40% of the squadron's successes, and were known as "The Golden Triumvirate". His personal marking on the aircraft he used was a demon's head.

Rumey's first victim was a British observation balloon, flamed on July 6 1917. His third was over British ace Gerard Crole. Rumey was wounded on 25 August 1917, and again on 24 September. By year's end he was credited with five victories.

Rumey continued to accrue single wins throughout the first half of 1918. He killed British ace James Dawe on 7 June 1918, for victim number 23. The day he scored his 23rd triumph, he was commissioned as a leutnant on 7 June 1918. He brought down English ace Lt. Edward C. Eaton, of No. 65 Squadron on 26 June 1918. About this time, he switched planes to a yellow Fokker D.VII.

With 29 victories to his credit, Leutnant Rumey received the coveted Pour le Mérite in July 1918. This made him one of only five pilots to have received both this award and the Golden Military Merit Cross. He went scoreless in August but hit his stride in September, scoring 16 airplanes, a figure only narrowly surpassed by Franz Buchner.

Killed In Action

There are conflicting accounts of Fritz Rumey's death.

One says he was killed after a mid-air collision with the SE5a of Captain G. E. B. Lawson (No. 32 Squadron, who survived). With the top wing of his Fokker DVII smashed to pieces (his plane thus driven out of control), he bailed out. The spin that his aeroplane was in, however, caused his parachute to open incorrectly when he threw it from the cockpit.

Another insists that Lieutenant F. L. Hale actually shot Rumey down.

Rumey's squadron mates believed that his full throttle diving pursuit of a British SE 5a caused the fabric to peel off his upper wing.

Whichever tale is true, when he jumped from his damaged machine, his parachute failed entirely, sending the 27-year old ace plummeting to the ground below (from 1,000 feet up according to Lawson's account). Unsurprisingly, Rumey did not survive.

Fritz Rumey's legacy of 45 victories was almost entirely over enemy fighter planes. He shot down more enemy scouts than the more famous Red Baron, von Richthofen.

External links

* [http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/rumey.php Fritz Rumey page at theaerodrome.com]

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.

* Norman Franks, et al. Fokker D VII Aces of World War I: Part 2. Osprey Publishing, 2004.

* Norman Franks. Albatros Aces of World War I. Osprey Publishing, 2000.