{{Short description|German flying ace (1896–1927)}} {{Infobox military person | name = Paul Bäumer | image = Bäumer.jpg | caption = | birth_date = 11 May 1896 | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1927|7|15|1896|5|11}} | birth_place = [[Duisburg]] | death_place = [[Copenhagen, Denmark]] | nickname = "Der Eiserne Adler" (The Iron Eagle) | allegiance = [[German Empire]]; [[Weimar Republic]] | branch = [[Infantry]], ''[[Luftstreitkräfte]]'' | service_years = 1914–1918 | rank = ''[[Leutnant]]'' | unit = FA 7, Jastas 2 & 5 | awards = [[Pour le Mérite]], [[Military Merit Cross (Prussia)|Military Merit Cross]], [[Iron Cross]] 1st & 2nd Class, Silver Wound Badge, [[House Order of Hohenzollern]] }}
:''This article deals with Paul Bäumer the pilot. For the fictional Paul Bäumer, see [[All Quiet on the Western Front]]. For the former (now dead) member of electronic music group Bingo Players, see [[Bingo Players]]''
Paul Wilhelm Bäumer (11 May 1896 – 15 July 1927), also known as '''The Iron Eagle''', was a German [[fighter ace]] in [[World War I]]. Bäumer died in an air crash at [[Copenhagen]] on 15 July 1927, age 31, while test flying a [[Rohrbach Ro IX Rofix|Rohrbach Ro IX]] fighter. Rohrbach's [[test pilot]] had already been involved in a spinning accident, and Bäumer, acting as a freelance test pilot, continued the testing and died after the aircraft entered a spin and crashed in the [[Øresund]].
==Background== Bäumer was born on 11 May 1896 in [[Duisburg]], Germany. He was a [[dental assistant]] before World War I, and earned a private pilot's license by the summer of 1914.<ref name=lines>Franks et al. 1993, pp. 66–67.</ref>
==Involvement in World War I == {{See also|List of aerial victories of Paul Bäumer|Aerial victory standards of World War I}} [[File:Albatros D.V of the Jasta 5, at the wheel Paul Bäumer (or possibly Wilhelm Lehmann), summer 1917 (Ans 05297-036-AL-FL).jpg|thumb|left|Paul Bäumer's Albatros D.V fighter aircraft, 1917]] At the start of the war, he joined the 70th Infantry Regiment. He served in both France and Russia, being wounded in the arm in the latter. He then transferred to the air service as a dental assistant before being accepted for military pilot training.<ref name=lines/>
By October 1916, he was serving as a ferry pilot and instructor at ''Armee Flugpark'' 1. On 19 February 1917, he was promoted to ''[[Gefreiter]]''. On 26 March, he was assigned to ''Flieger Abteilung'' 7; he was promoted to ''[[Unteroffizier]]'' on the 29th.<ref name=lines/>
On 15 May 1917, he was awarded the [[Iron Cross|Iron Cross Second Class]]. He subsequently received training on single-seaters, consequently being posted to fighter duty. Bäumer joined [[Jagdstaffel 5|''Jagdstaffel'' 5]] on 30 June 1917, scoring three victories as a [[balloon buster]] in mid-July before going to the elite ''[[Jasta 2|Jasta Boelcke]]''.<ref name=lines/>
[[File:Albatros1 Wiki.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Albatros D.V]] of Paul Bäumer while with ''[[Jagdstaffel 5]]'']]
Bäumer claimed heavily, reaching 18 victories by year end. He was [[commission (document)|commissioned]] in April 1918. On 29 May Bäumer was injured in a crash, breaking his jaw, and he returned to the ''Jagdstaffel'' in September. With the arrival of the [[Fokker D.VII]] he claimed even more success, including 16 in September. He flew with a personal emblem of an [[Edelweiss]] on his aircraft. He was one of the few pilots in World War I whose lives were saved by [[parachute]] deployment, when he was shot down in flames in September. He received the ''[[Pour le Mérite]]'' shortly before the [[Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)|Armistice]] and was finally credited with 43 victories, ranking ninth among German aces.<ref name=lines/>
==Post-war career== After the war, Bäumer worked briefly in the dockyards before he 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]]''.<ref name=lines/>
[[File:Rohrbach IX Rofix L'Air November 15,1926.jpg|thumb|Bäumer was killed testing a [[Rohrbach Ro IX]] fighter.]]
Continuing his interest in flying, he founded his own aircraft company in Hamburg.<ref name=lines/> Bäumer died in an air crash at [[Copenhagen]] on 15 July 1927, age 31, while test flying a [[Rohrbach Ro IX]] fighter, Rohrbach's test pilot had already been involved in a spinning accident, and Bäumer, acting as a freelance test pilot, continued the testing and died after the aircraft entered a spin and crashed in the [[Øresund]].<ref name=lines/><ref>''Archive'' 1981 No. 1, p. 27</ref><ref>''Archive'' 1981 No. 2, p. 52</ref>
== References ==
<references />
== External links == *[http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/baumer.php Paul Bäumer page at theaerodrome.com] * {{PM20|FID=pe/000877}}
== Bibliography == *{{cite magazine |title=Casualty Compendium |magazine=Archive |publisher=Air-Britain |year=1981 |issue=1 |page=27}} *{{cite magazine |title=Casualty Compendium: Part 2 |magazine=Archive |publisher=Air-Britain |year=1981 |issue=2 |pages=53–55}} *{{cite book |first=Norman |last=Franks|year=1993 |title=Above the Lines: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service, and Flanders Marine Corps 1914–1918 |publisher=Grub Street|location=London |isbn=9780948817731|display-authors=etal}}
== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |last1=Franks |first1=Norman |year=2004 |title=Jasta Boelcke |publisher=Grub Street |location=London |isbn=978-1-904010-76-0}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baumer, Paul}} [[Category:1896 births]] [[Category:1927 deaths]] [[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Denmark]] [[Category:German World War I flying aces]] [[Category:Luftstreitkräfte personnel]] [[Category:Military personnel from Duisburg]] [[Category:Military personnel from the Rhine Province]] [[Category:Prussian Army personnel]] [[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class)]] [[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1927]]