PEEBLES PROFILES
EPISODE 219
Friedrich Noltenius
FROM MEDICINE TO WAR
Friedrich Theodor Noltenius was born in Bremen on January 8, 1894, the son of a professor of medicine. After graduated from high school in Bremen, the young Friedrich wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and study medicine. However, the outbreak of the First World War interrupted his university trek.
Noltenius enlisted in the Kingdom of Württemberg’s Field Artillery Regiment Number 13 three days after Imperial Germany went to war. In the last two months of 1914, he served on the Eastern Front before transferring to France. On November 17, 1915, Noltenius was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class.
In October 1916, Noltenius was commissioned as an officer. Six months later, he was wounded. Then on May 10, 1917, he received the Iron Cross, First Class. Noltenius was also awarded Württemberg’s Knight’s Cross of the Military Merit Order a little under two months later.
SOLDIER TURNED ACE
Upon his recovery, Noltenius transferred to flying service in the Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Air Force) in November 1917. Three months later, he began actual flight training. By the beginning of summer 1918, Noltenius was flying his first artillery direction missions with Flieger-Abteilung Artillerie 234 (Flier Detachment Artillery 234). Shortly thereafter in late June, he was sent to fighter training. Upon graduation, Noltenius was assigned to Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 27, one of the fighter squadrons of Bruno Loerzer’s Jagdgeschwader III.
Noltenius’ weapon was the Fokker D.VII. His personal insignia was an elaborate display of red and white checkerboards and stripes… both encircling the fuselage in a wide band and painted on the upper wing above the cockpit. His sister’s name (Hertha) was on the side of the cockpit.
On July 16, 1918, an exceptionally hot spell of weather settled in… so hot that it sometimes detonated incendiary bullets within aircraft cockpits with fatal results! During a two-day stretch, at least seven German airplanes were lost to “ammunition cooking”.
In the stifling heat, Noltenius was one of three German pilots attacking a French Breguet 14 two days later. As he wrote in his diary:
“Alternately, I was over him or under him and behind him…anyway, at an altitude of 2500 metres I took good aim and pressed the trigger. Then a body broke free of the seat and the observer fell out. It was an abominable sight, and I can only say that I was extremely sorry for the poor devil…”
The horror of the gunned observer was compounded by Noltenius’ commanding officer (Hermann Frommherz) after landing. According to Frommherz (and unseen by Noltenius), the French pilot had futilely raised his arms to surrender. In addition, Noltenius’ combat claim for this victory was denied. Thus, credit was given to another pilot.
On August 3, 1918, Noltenius pushed through rainy weather to unsuccessfully attack a drenched enemy observation balloon. He chalked the failure up to experience. Finally, Noltenius earned his first official win over a Sopwith Dolphin exactly one week later.
Victory number two came ten days later (August 20th) against an observation balloon. This initiated Noltenius into the ranks of “balloon busters”. His triumphs continued to mount… and on September 2nd, Noltenius became an ace… scoring his fifth and sixth victories.
The next day, Noltenius claimed another victory, only to find it was also being claimed by commanding officer Frommherz (who took credit for himself)! Then on September 4th, Noltenius submitted another claim… and that victory was ALSO awarded to another pilot! Disgruntled, Noltenius requested transfer to another squadron.
In the meantime, Noltenius went back to balloon busting. But on September 14th, he attacked an observation balloon without knowing it was booby-trapped! Filled with high explosives, the balloon was detonated from the ground during the assault. The flaming inferno singed much of Noltenius’ wing fabric. Melting balloon fabric trailed from its spars! Although Noltenius managed to fly the battered craft back to safety, his beautiful Fokker D.VII was scrapped! Having escaped injury from the blast, Noltenius was lightly wounded the next day by a ricocheting bullet!
One week later (September 22nd), Noltenius was shot down by American ace George Vaughn… and again managed to survive! Then on September 29th, his requested transfer came through… and Friedrich Noltenius joined the Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 6. By this time, he had successfully shot down another four enemy airplanes and three more balloons, raising his overall tally to thirteen (with one pending).
Now with his new unit, Noltenius shot down another balloon and a Sopwith Camel. Then a clash with Ulrich Neckel (Noltenius’ commanding officer) led to another move… this time to Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 11.
Noltenius scored three victories for his new squadron on October 23rd. Another three came five days later. Then on November 3rd and 4th, Noltenius closed out his list of victims: his 21st and last officially-credited win was over an Airco DH.4 bomber of the American 11th Aero Squadron.
On November 8th, Noltenius received the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. His twentieth victory qualified him for the coveted Pour le Mérite, but the armistice at Compiegne three days later denied him the “Blue Max”. Noltenius had flown 141 combat sorties by the end of the fighting.
POSTWAR YEARS
With the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, Germany was in chaos! Left and right-wing revolutionists fought for control of the nation. Friedrich Noltenius enrolled in the Freikorps, fighting against the Spartacus League of communist revolutionists attempting to take over Germany.
On the domestic side, Noltenius finally completed his medical studies. Upon being qualified as a doctor, he moved his family to South America. Noltenius then returned to Germany in 1933… and again took up flying.
Three years later, Noltenius was one of Germany’s flying veterans asked by Luftwaffe historians to contribute his extensive diaries to the government archives… because the Jagdeschwader III war diary was incomplete. Noltenius was willing to oblige. As a result, historians found that the wing’s total air victories during its nine months of existence was 370 destroyed enemy aircraft.
DEATH
Just before 2 P.M. on the first of March 1936, Friedrich Noltenius took off from Johannisthal Air Field near Berlin. He crashed his Bücker Bü 131 biplane and died en route to hospital. Noltenius was forty-two years old.
