{{Infobox military person | name =Rudolf Klimke | image = | caption = | birth_date = 8 November 1890 | death_date = | placeofburial_label = | placeofburial = Bückeburg, Friedhof an der Scheier Straße, Germany | birth_place =Merseburg, German Empire | death_place = Bückeburg, Germany, Landkreis Schaumburg | placeofburial_coordinates = | nickname = | allegiance =Germany | branch =Artillery; aviation | serviceyears = | rank =Leutnant (World War I);Colonel (World War II) | unit =Artillery Regiment No. 75;Artillery Regiment No. 10;Feldflieger Abteilung 55 (Field Flier Detachment 55);Flieger-Abteilung 50 (Flier Detachment 50);Flieger-Abteilung 19 (Flier Detachment 19);Kampfstaffel 13 (Tactical Bomber Squadron 13) of Kampfgeschwader 3 (Tactical Bomber Wing 3);Jagdstaffel 27 (Fighter Squadron 27) | commands = | battles = World War I;World War II | awards =Iron Cross First Class | relations = | laterwork = }}Leutnant Rudolf Klimke (8 November 1890 – 18 March 1986) IC was a German World War flying ace credited with 17 confirmed and two unconfirmed aerial victories. Serving initially as a bomber pilot, his aggressiveness in bombing England, and in shooting down a couple of enemy airplanes got him reassigned to a fighter squadron. After a string of a dozen victories during 1918, he was wounded in action on 21 September 1918. Biography Rudolf Klimke was born in Merseburg on 8 November 1890. He began his mandated military service on 12 October 1910, serving in Artillery Regiment No. 75. When World War I began, Klimke was serving in Field Artillery Regiment No. 10. He transferred to aviation service on 8 August 1915. He was posted to Feldflieger Abteilung 55 (Field Flier Detachment 55) in 1916. He scored his first credited aerial victory while posted with them, shooting down a Morane Parasol over Bourney, south of Krewo on the Russian Front on 25 September 1916. After a tour of duty with Flieger-Abteilung 50 (Flier Detachment 50), Klimke was transferred to Flieger-Abteilung 19 (Flier Detachment 19). On the night of 6/7 May 1917, Klimke and aerial observer Oberleutnant Walter Leon flew an Albatros C.VII out of an airfield near Ostend, Belgium. The commander of Flieger-Abteilung 19 (Flier Detachment 19) had authorized their bombing of England. When Klimke and Leon returned from dropping five ten-kilogram bombs on Hackney and Holloway, they were reprimanded. Nevertheless, he would raid England again, on 7 July 1917. Flying a three-seater Gotha gunship for Kampfgeschwader 3 (Tactical Bomber Wing 3), he shot down a