Gustav Dörr was born on October 5, 1887 in Blindgallen, East Prussia, the son of a building contractor. He completed trade school and began work with Krupp AG at the age of eighteen. In 1908, Dörr enlisted in Infanterie-Regiment 176, and became a non-commissioned officer.
Three weeks after Imperial Germany went to war against the Triple Entente, Dörr was seriously wounded. It took nearly three months for him to recover, and upon his return, Dörr fought in actions along the Rawka River near Warsaw.
During an attack on February 17, 1915, Dörr suffered a bayonet wound to his right hip. This injury put him in the garrison hospital at Naumburg. Incapacitated for front line duty, Dörr was recommended for service in the reserve battalion of his regiment.
At this time, Dörr saw a circular from the War Ministry asking for volunteers for pilot training. Despite his physical condition and relatively advanced age, Dörr applied… and was accepted! He reported for training with Fliegerersatz-Abteilung 2 at Döberitz in July 1915… and later at Fliegerersatz-Abteilung 3 in Gotha.
On March 18, 1916, Dörr was posted as a Vizefeldwebel to Flieger-Abteilung 68, an artillery observation unit engaged in artillery spotting. One of his comrades was future ace Ernst Udet.
Dörr and his observer (Oberleutnant Serger) were transferred to Flieger-Abteilung 6 to help counter heavy Allied air pressure. On April 7, 1916, he was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class. One month later, the unit was renamed Flieger-Abteilung 257. Dörr would subsequently receive the Iron Cross, First Class on April 17, 1917.
In June of that year, the elevator on Dörr’s plane failed in flight, and he crashed from an altitude of 4,600 feet (killing his observer, Leutnant Bohn, in the process). Dörr survived with his jaw broken in six places. This serious injury kept him out of action for three months. Upon recovery, Dörr was a fully trained fighter pilot.
He returned to duty at Fliegerersatz-Abteilung 1 as a test pilot from November 1917 until February 1918. Dörr was then transferred from flying two seaters into Jagdstaffel 45, a fighter squadron. His first victory was in a dogfight that saw six Germans tackle twenty-six French and British machines. Dörr shot down a Sopwith 1½ Strutter on March 17, 1918.
A little over two months later, Dörr downed a French Breguet, But he himself was shot down in flames by others in the formation Fortunately, his altitude was only 1,300 feet, but Dörr crash-landed in “no man’s land” between the French and German trench works with minor burns. He made it back to the German lines under heavy fire.
For the month of June, Dörr claimed an unconfirmed victory along with three confirmed claims. In July, he tallied eleven more victories. In August, Dörr added six more victories, bringing his grand total to twenty-three. On August 29th, he was awarded the Gold Military Merit Cross (the enlisted man’s equivalent of the Pour le Merite, or “Blue Max”, given to officers).
The month of September saw Dörr (now a commissioned lieutenant) chalk up seven more confirmed victories: three Spad VIIs and four Spad XIs, raising his tally to thirty. The exact date is uncertain, but with his 24th and 25th victims falling on September 2nd, Dörr had at least twenty-three victories when he became an officer. Once commissioned, he was eligible for officer’s decorations. At the time, the minimum number of kills required for a pilot to win the Pour le Merite was twenty… and Dörr was well past that total.
On October 25th, Dörr was finally recommended for the Pour le Merite. Two days later, he scored his 34th victory and added two more unconfirmed claims. His 35th and last victory of the war came on October 30, 1918.
But ten days later, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the Imperial German throne. The application for the Pour le Merite was never completed and approved. Sadly, Gustav Dörr would not receive the Blue Max!
After the war, Dörr became one of the world’s original commercial airline pilots, eventually flying 360,000 miles for Deutsche Luft Hansa. On December 11, 1928, Dörr was piloting a Junkers G 31 on a night flight from Cologne to Berlin. While attempting an emergency landing at Letzlinger Heide, his plane brushed a tree on the final approach and crash-landed. The spilled fuel soon ignited, and Gustav Dörr and his crew were killed. Luft Hansa later commemorated him by naming one of its airliners after him.
Gustav Dörr was just forty-one years old.