 He became a pilot and later a commander of a Bomber Squadron, and received the "Pour le Mérite" in 1918.He crashed his aircraft behind enemy lines and was captured and held as a POW in France, but managed to escape and returned to Germany.After the end of World War I he worked for the German Police and for the Reichswehr, but in 1925, he transferred to civil aviation and became the head of the "Deutsche Luft Hansa" Nightflight Branch in 1926.