45 victory ace and Pour le Mérite (Blue Max) holder, Vizefeldwebel Fritz Rumey. When the war began, Rumey was serving with the 45th Infantry Regiment. After serving with the 3rd Grenadier Regiment on the Russian Front, he transferred to the German Air Force in the summer of 1915. Serving first as an observer with FA(A) 219, he completed Jastaschule and was assigned to Jasta 2 in May 1917. The following month, he joined Jasta 5. He was wounded in action on 25.8.1917 and again on 24.9.1917. He was a scoring machine of a pilot, shooting down 40 aircraft in nine months of 1918, including 16 in September alone. In his last dogfight, Rumey's Fokker D.VII was badly damaged when he collided with an S.E.5a flown by South African ace George Lawson. Rumey jumped from his plane but was KIA on 27.9.18 when his parachute failed to open. For more, see my Facebook group - Eagles Of The Reich