Friedrich Altemeier
Friedrich Altemeier (4 June 1886 – 18 September 1968) was a German World War I fighter ace with 21 confirmed aerial victories. He was born in Niederbecksen (today Bad Oeynhausen) and died at age 82.
Before the war he attended military school (1906–1908) and worked for Krupp. He was called up on 2 August 1914 and served in infantry, in a machine-gun company, where he was wounded on 15 January 1915. He transferred to the air service on 11 August 1915.
After training at Posen, he first flew with Flieger-Abteilung 67 starting 21 July 1916. In September he joined Jagdstaffel 14, and on 1 December 1916 moved to Jagdstaffel 24 on the Western Front, soon after promoted to Offizierstellvertreter.
His first victory came on 3 March 1917. He flew a twin-gun Albatros D.III, sometimes marked with Krupp rings. He was awarded the Iron Cross First Class on 30 May 1917. He added several more victories in 1917, including over a Sopwith Triplane, a Spad VII, a Spad S.VII and an R.E.8. He was wounded in September 1917 and did not score again that year.
In 1918 he scored again to reach 21 victories. He received the Silver Friedrich August Medal on 4 March 1918 and the Military Merit Cross on 11 April 1918. He was wounded again on 25 July 1918, but returned to fly, scoring in August, September and October. His 21st victory came on 10 November 1918, the squadron’s last win of the war. He and his commander Heinrich Kroll accounted for about half of their squadron’s victories.
Altemeier was trusted to test the Fokker E.V/D.VIII, the last German fighter of the war. He survived the war and died in 1968.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:35 (CET).