Hermann Vallendor

{{Infobox military person | name = Hermann Vallendor | image = Hermann Vallendor.jpg | caption = Hermann Vallendor photographed during WW1 | birth_date = 13 April 1894 | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1974|11|15|1894|4|13}} | birth_place = [[Offenburg]], [[Grand Duchy of Baden]], [[German Empire]] | death_place = [[Montevideo, Uruguay]] | burial_coordinates =  | nickname = | allegiance = Germany | branch = Aviation | service_years = | rank = ''[[Leutnant]]'' | unit = ''Flieger-Abteilung 23'',<br>''[[Jagdstaffel 2]]'' | commands = | battles = | awards = [[Knight's Cross]] 2nd Class of the [[Order of the Zähringer Lion]],<br> [[Iron Cross]] First and Second Class | relations = | other_work = }} '''Hermann Vallendor''' (13 April 1894 – 15 November 1974) was a German [[List of World War I flying aces from Germany|World War I flying ace]].

==Early life== '''Hermann Vallendor''' was born in [[Offenburg]], the [[Grand Duchy of Baden]] on 13 April 1894. He was an engineering student in [[Mannheim]] before World War I began.<ref name=lines>''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918'', p. 222.</ref><ref name=jasta2>''Jagdstaffel 2 Boelcke: Von Richthofen's Mentor: Volume 26 of Aviation Elite Units: Volume 26 of Osprey Aviation Elite'', p. 51.</ref>

==Service in World War I== Vallendor joined the 114th Infantry Regiment of the German Army on 16 October 1914. He was promoted to [[Gefreiter]] on 19 May 1915. He was awarded the [[Iron Cross]] Second Class on 29 July 1915. A promotion to [[Vizefeldwebel]] followed on 5 December 1915.<ref name=lines/> He then was raised from the enlisted ranks, being [[commission (document)|commissioned]] as a [[leutnant]] in the reserves on 24 December 1915.<ref name=lines/><ref name=jasta2/><ref name="album">''Der Fliegeralbum'' website [http://flieger-album.de/blog/index.php?rs_id=view&s=289] Retrieved 14 February 2012.</ref>

He transferred to aviation duty and began pilot's training with FEA 5 on 16 October 1916. When he completed pilot's school, he exited training for Armee Flugpark 2 on 19 February 1917. In May 1917, he went to FA 23 to fly two-seaters. He soon left that detachment, to begin attending fighter pilot's school on 24 June 1917.<ref name=lines/> He was then posted to a fighter unit, [[Jagdstaffel 2]] on 5 July 1917.<ref name=jasta2/><ref name=album/> As was customary in German military aviation of the time, Vallendor had his aircraft emblazoned in his personal insignia. In his case, the marking was a huge white "V" on the fuselage. When he used a Fokker Triplane, he also had the "V" painted on its top wing.<ref name=lines/><ref name=album/>

Vallendor received the [[Order of the Zähringer Lion]] from his native Baden on 14 December 1917. He achieved his first aerial victory on 3 February 1918. He was awarded the Iron Cross First Class on 7 March 1918 and went on to score five more victories before war's end.<ref name=lines/><ref name=album/>

==List of aerial victories== See also [[Aerial victory standards of World War I]]

{| class="wikitable" border="1" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto" |- !No. !Date/time !Aircraft !Foe !Result !Location !Notes |- | align="center"| 1 | align="center"| 3 February 1918 @ 1520 hours | [[Albatros D.V]] | [[Sopwith Camel]] | Destroyed | East of [[Moorslede]], Belgium | 41 Sqn. RFC, 2/Lt. G. A. Lipsett [[killed in action]] |- | align="center"| 2 | align="center"| 27 March 1918 | [[Fokker Triplane]] | [[Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5]]a | Set afire in midair; destroyed | Northwest of [[Albert (Somme)|Albert]], France | Victim was Lt. W. S. Maxwell [[killed in action|KIA]] from [[No. 56 Squadron RAF|No. 56 Squadron]] |- | align="center"| 3 | align="center"| 27 September 1918 before noon | [[Fokker D.VII]] | Sopwith Camel serial number D9472 | Destroyed | North of [[Bourlon]] Wood, France | Victim was 2/Lt.W. A. Brett KIA from [[No. 73 Squadron RAF]] |- | align="center"| 4 | align="center"| 27 September 1918 | Fokker D.VII | Sopwith Camel | Destroyed | [[Marquion]], France | Victim was 73 Sqn. RAF, Capt. [[William Henry Hubbard]] force landed ok. |- | align="center"| 5 | align="center"| 9 October 1918 @ 1440 hours | Fokker D.VII | [[Airco DH.9]] | Destroyed | [[Sebourg]], France | Victims were 107 Sqn. RAF, 2/Lt. C. Houlgrave,KIA & 2/Lt. W.M. Thompson,KIA |- | align="center"| 6 | align="center"| 1 November 1918 | Fokker D.VII | Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n E5662 | Destroyed | Fresnes, France | Victim was Capt. C. L. Veitch, force landed, from [[No. 32 Squadron RAF]]<ref name=lines/><ref name=album/><ref>''No. 56 Squadron RAF/RFC'', p. 92.</ref> |- |}

==Post World War I== After war's end, Vallendor moved to [[Buenos Aires]], Argentina in 1920 to work for [[Deutsche Bank]]. He went on to [[Montevideo, Uruguay]] in 1921; there he founded a still existent family wholesale optical concern.<ref name=jasta2/> Ge died on 15 November 1974 in Montevideo.

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * ''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918''. [[Norman Franks]], Frank W. Bailey, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1993. {{ISBN|0-948817-73-9}}, {{ISBN|978-0-948817-73-1}}.

* ''Jagdstaffel 2 Boelcke: Von Richthofen's Mentor: Volume 26 of Aviation Elite Units: Volume 26 of Osprey Aviation Elite''. Greg VanWyngarden. Osprey Publishing, 2007. {{ISBN|1-84603-203-2}}, {{ISBN|978-1-84603-203-5}}.

* ''No. 56 Squadron RAF/RFC''. Alex Revell, 2009. {{ISBN|978-184603-428-2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vallendor, Hermann}} [[Category:1894 births]] [[Category:1974 deaths]] [[Category:People from Offenburg]] [[Category:German World War I flying aces]] [[Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class]] [[Category:Luftstreitkräfte personnel]] [[Category:People from the Grand Duchy of Baden]] [[Category:Military personnel from Baden-Württemberg]]