14 Facts About Josef Jacobs

Josef Carl Peter Jacobs PlM, was a German flying ace with 48 victories during the First World War.

Postwar, Jacobs fought the communists attempting to take over Germany, before becoming a flight instructor for the Turkish Army.

Josef Jacobs was racing both power boats and automobiles, as well as bobsledding.

Josef Jacobs went into hiding in the Netherlands to shelter his company from the Nazis.

Josef Carl Peter Jacobs was born in Kreuzkapelle, Rhineland, German Empire on 15 May 1894, and learned to fly in 1912, aged 18.

On 3 July 1915, Josef Jacobs was posted to Feldflieger Abteilung 11 for a year, flying long-range sorties over Allied lines, his first flight occurring the evening of his arrival.

Three days later, Josef Jacobs fell ill from dysentery; the sickness waylaid him for several weeks.

Fokker Staffel West became Jagdstaffel 12 on 6 October 1916, and Josef Jacobs remained with it while recuperating, although a month later he transferred to Jagdstaffel 22, then under the command of Oberleutnant Erich Honemanns, who was a personal friend.

Josef Jacobs achieved three officially confirmed and eight more unconfirmed victories whilst at Jagdstaffel 22, where he remained until 2 August 1917, when he transferred to Jagdstaffel 7 as its Staffelfuhrer It was in August that Jacobs received the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, having previously been awarded both classes of the Iron Cross.

Josef Jacobs's first combat flight leading his squadron was a memorable one.

On 10 September 1917 Josef Jacobs shot down French ace Jean Matton as his seventh victim.

Josef Jacobs would remain with Jagdstaffel 7 until the armistice; his final victory tally was 48 enemy aircraft and balloons.

Josef Jacobs continued to fight against the Bolshevik forces in the Baltic area in 1919, with Gotthard Sachsenberg and Theo Osterkamp in Kommando Sachsenberg.

Josef Jacobs owned a construction crane operation, became president of The German Bobsleigh Society, and aided aviation historians of World War I Josef Jacobs died in Munich on 29 July 1978.