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The first ace of the U.S. Air Service — Baer Field's namesake
On the record
Paul Frank Baer was born in Fort Wayne on January 29, 1894. A mechanic before the war, he enlisted in the French army in February 1917 and flew with the Lafayette Escadrille before transferring to the 103rd Aero Squadron of the U.S. Air Service. On March 11, 1918, he scored the Air Service's first victory, and on April 23 he became its first ace; he finished with nine confirmed victories before he was shot down and captured on May 22, 1918. He received the Distinguished Service Cross — the first awarded to an American airman, by the Indiana service record's account. In 1925 Fort Wayne named its new municipal airport for him: Paul Baer Municipal Airport, later Baer Field, on the ground of today's Fort Wayne International Airport and Air National Guard base. Baer kept flying after the war and died in a flying accident at Shanghai on December 9, 1930; he is buried in Lindenwood Cemetery.
Find them on this page
- § 06 — people of the record · famous-people supplement
Sources: U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 133 (via This Day in Aviation); Indiana Historical Collections (service record, via WWVets); Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana (veterans honor roll).