Hermann Goering was a fighter pilot in World War I
Hermann Goering was a fighter pilot in World War I. Goering served with his infantry regiment in the first year of World War I in the vicinity of Mülhausen, a garrison town less than 2 km from the French border. Later that year, Goering, who had formally transferred himself, flew in Feldflieger Abteilung 25 (FFA 25) as Loerzer's observer. After being found, he was given a sentence of three weeks in a barracks, although the sentence was never carried out. Goering's affiliation with Loerzer had been made official by the time it was meant to be imposed. They were given FFA 25 in the Fifth Army of the Crown Prince as a unit. They carried out bombing and reconnaissance flights, for which the Crown Prince awarded Göring and Loerzer the first-class Iron Cross.
Goering was assigned to Jagdstaffel 5 after finishing the pilot training program. He needed almost a year to recuperate from a serious hip injury sustained during aerial combat. In February 1917, he was then moved to the Loerzer-commanded Jagdstaffel 26. Up until May, when he was given command of Jagdstaffel 27, he continued to amass air victories. He proceeded to achieve triumphs when serving with Jastas 5, 26, and 27. He also got the Zähringer Lion with swords, the Friedrich Order, the House Order of Hohenzollern with swords third class, and lastly, in May 1918, the coveted Pour le Mérite. These awards were in addition to his Iron Crosses. Hermann Dahlmann, who was acquainted with both men, claimed that Göring had Loerzer advocate for the award. He won 22 battles by the war's end.
Manfred von Richthofen's replacement, Wilhelm Reinhard, passed away on July 7th, 1918, and Goering became the new leader of Jagdgeschwader 1, the "Flying Circus". The guys in his squadron disliked him because of his haughtiness. Goering received many orders to withdraw his squadron during the closing stages of the war, first to Tellancourt Airdrome and later to Darmstadt. He was once told to give the plane to the Allies, but he refused. To prevent their aircraft from falling into enemy hands, many of his pilots purposefully made forced landings.
