Born 29 January 1894 in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, died 9 December 1930 (aged 36) in Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China. Burial in Lindenwood Cemetery, Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, Plot: Section H, Plot 13, from Paul Frank Baer on Find A Grave.
First Lieutenant Paul Baer's Funeral Procession: 1931 & 2015
America's first ace in World War I, Paul Baer, was born in Fort Wayne on January 1, 1895. He left his job as a Cadillac salesman in 1917 to be one of the 180 American volunteer pilots to join the Lafayette Flying Corps (later joining the famous Lafayette Escadrille) and fight the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire). He finally joined up with 103rd Aero Squadron in the United States Army Air Service with America's arrival into the War.
It was with the 103rd that Baer made his first kill in March 1918 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for taking on seven enemy aircraft alone. His fifth kill on April 23, 1918 made him the first Air Service Ace. By May 22, he had a total of 9 confirmed (plus 7 unconfirmed) when he, too, was shot down. He spent the remainder of the war as a German prisoner of war.
In the postwar years, Baer continued his flying career as an aeronautical inspector for the US Commerce Department. He died in an airplane accident in Shangai, China on December 9, 1930. His funeral was held in Fort Wayne on January 3, 1931 and afterward the procession marched down West Main Street to Lindenwood Cemetery.
(1931 photo taken by Clippinger, courtesy of the Allen County Public Library)
On April 23, 1918, Fort Wayne native 1st Lt. Paul Frank Baer of the U.S. Army Air Service got a fifth kill of an enemy pilot in World War I, which qualified him as the second American flying ace. He became the first Hoosier to do so.
He would record four more aerial victories before the end of the war. An enemy flyer succeeded in shooting down Baer in his final air battle on May 22, 1918. He survived the crash but the Germans captured and imprisoned him for the remainder of the war. In addition to being recognized as a flying ace, Baer’s other military honors included the Distinguished Service Cross, the DSC Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster, and the French Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, and the Croix de Guerre.
Additional information is found on Who's Who - Paul Baer on FirstWorldWar.com. Paul was credited with the destruction of 9 enemy aircraft in aerial combat before being shot down behind enemy lines and taken as a Prisoner of War on May 22, 1918. After being released from his German prisoner of war camp in November 1918, he returned to the U.S. and was discharged from the Army Air Service in early 1919. He continued to work in aviation after the war, and was flying as a transport pilot when he was killed in a flying accident in Shanghai, China, on December 9, 1930. Some information copied from Paul Baer Is Missing in the May 27, 1918 The News-Sentinel newspaper.
Paul Frank Baer 1st Lt., WWI ACE, Allen County, Indiana, 103rd Aero Squadron, Lafayette Escadrille, Credited with nine confirmed victories and an additional seven, unconfirmed. First Ace of the American Expeditionary Forces at Veterans of World War I.
TBT: Paul F. Baer was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1894. Fascinated with the development of the automobile, in 1912 Baer moved to Detroit to work for the Cadillac Automobile Company. Trained as an engine mechanic, Baer’s interests drifted from an engine’s capability to power ground vehicles to those that could traverse the skies. Subsequently, in 1916, Baer volunteered for service in the Lafayette Escadrille, the American flying squadron serving in support of France prior to US involvement in the First World War. Following the US entrance into the war, Baer transferred to the US Army Air Service 103rd Aero Squadron. Flying in support of the French 6th Army, Baer became the first ace in the US Army Air Service, scoring his fifth aerial kill on 23 April 1918. Baer scored four more kills before being shot down and becoming a POW on 22 May 1918. For his extraordinary service, Baer received the Distinguished Service Cross, the French Legion of Honor and the French Croix de Guerre.
Weir Cook and Paul Baer, WWI aviators and former airport namesakes: encore (original August 18, 2018) posted March 20, 2021 on the Archives of Hoosier History Live podcast on Saturdays, noon to 1 p.m. ET on WICR 88.7 FM introduction states: Both were pioneer aviators and heroic World War I fighter pilots from Indiana, and both were killed while flying aircraft overseas. And Weir Cook and Paul Baer once were the namesakes of the airports in the two largest cities in their home state. Today, although those airports are officially called Indianapolis International Airport and Fort Wayne International Airport, the terminal buildings at each still carry the name of these two great airmen. To explore the lives of the aviators who earned national acclaim for their valor during what once was known as the Great War, Nelson is joined by two guests in this encore of a show originally broadcast in 2018. The guests are: William Bell, an Indianapolis-based writer and retired law enforcement officer who has researched Hancock County native Weir Cook (1892-1943), recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross in World War I. Cook also was hailed as a hero during World War II even though he was well into his 40s when he returned to the Army Air Corp and flew combat missions over the Pacific. And Tony Garel-Frantzen of Fort Myers, Fla., the author of Hoosier Aviator Paul Baer: America's First Combat Ace (The History Press, 2017). In his biography of Baer (1894-1930), Tony contends the Fort Wayne native became the first American to shoot down an enemy plane in combat and the first to earn the title of "combat ace." Tony writes that Baer's historic achievements often have been overlooked because he flew for a French squadron prior to the United States' entry into World War I.
