Oblt.z.S. Hellmuth Riensberg (1890-1918)

[Igor Starikow]

Hello,
Does anyone have anything on his career 1908-1918?
10.04.1909 Fähnrich zur See (Z6z)
27.09.1911 Leutnant zur See (O4o)
19.09.1914 Oberleutnant zur See (F4f)

And what about his awards?

Many thanks in advance,
Igor

[Söderbaum]

Hi Igor

You might be able to find an decent service record for him in the Marine Ehrenranglisten which could be find on ancestry.de ?

He started his pilot education at MFA already before the War started but I dont have any date when he received the Seefliegerabzeichen.

I knew that he received the EKII on 17.12.1914 while serving at SFS Helgoland. Later on things went really bad for him...

Gunnar

[Igor Starikow]

Dear Gunnar,
Thank you very much for your response! You again helped me a lot!

I'm sorry that the site ancestry.de does not have a copy of the page 323 from the book Rangliste der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine. There must be information about Hellmuth Riensberg.

I wonder when he was demobilized from the fleet? Why in Jagdstaffel 10 was he an ordinary Flieger, and not a senior Oberleutnant?

Best wishes,
Igor

[Söderbaum]

Aha,

I knew that ancestry.de have several pages missing in some publications, for example in the MWB pages are missing for some days etc which is very irritating The search function they have is also more or less useless despite it slowly becomes better.. so they need to improve that.

The info on Riensberg from the ERL is rather short. It says
MFA x - x, I believe he started his pilot training in 1913.
I SFA 0116 - 0316
II SFA 0316 - 171216 when a.D., see notes below
(zur Armee übergetreten und 18.1.18 be Jagdstaffel 10 in Luftkampf getötet)

I do think he was an original member of SFS Helgoland from 0814, at least I have him there in 1014. His normally observer was Oblt zS zD Zirzow. I have notes hat he did fly a/c 202 here. He later joined SFS List on 211015. On 230116 he was nominated leader of the newly establish SFS Varna where he stayed until 210316. I have him flying a/c 534 here. Then he was posted to II SFA(no known units). For more accurate info you need to study the documents of these units which are available in Freiburg.
I meanwhile found that he received the EKI on 260915.

What did happen that he lost his rank and apparently was kicked out the the Marine is another story but you need to have done some really bad thing for this.. It might be really hard to find documents like Military trial records which explain the reason. But also here it might be somewhere in the archive in Freiburg.

Gunnar

[Igor Starikow]

Dear Gunnar,
Thank you very much for very interesting information! I will try to make a request to the archive in Freiburg.

I think that before joined Jagdgeschwader Nr. I, he had to undergo training at Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung and Jagdstaffelschule. Unfortunately, there is no information in ERL.

I think he is in this photo: http://www.buddecke.de/jasta10okt.htm Perhaps in the bottom row in the middle.

Best wishes,
Igor

[Glenn2438]

Igor,

following a nervous breakdown and severe blood poisoning he was compelled to be discharged from the navy on medical grounds. He began studying law but decided to re-join and was successful in entering the Prussian army as a pilot where in October 1917 he was employed on the western front.

Regards
Glenn

Source: Chronik des See-Offizier Jahrgangs 1908

[Igor Starikow]

Dear Glenn,
Thank you very much for your response!

I have already studied this source.

Best wishes,
Igor

[Söderbaum]

Hi again Igor

There is an odd note in the Tagesbefehle Kofl 4 dated 211017, that Flg Riensberg kdt to Jagdgeschwader I was transferred(versetz) to Jasta 6.

So maybe he made an short stint at Jasta 6 ? as he apparently was "back" in Jasta 10 later on. It could also be an order which was changed "quickly"..

Gunnar

[Igor Starikow]

Hello Gunnar,
This is very interesting information! Many thanks!

It is unfortunate that in Bodenschatz's book there is nothing about this transfer of a pilot from one Jasta to another.

Best wishes,
Igor

[luftk]

Igor,

Here is Riensberg's entry in the 1930 Ehrenrangliste der Deuschen Marine denoting his war-time service.

[Igor Starikow]

Thank you so much, luftk!

Igor