Franz Büchner PlM (2 January 1898 – 18 March 1920) was one of the most successful German fighter aces of the First World War, shooting down 40 enemy aircraft.

Once he progressed to become a fighter pilot flying a Fokker D.VII, he initially struggled to gain his first aerial victories.

Franz Büchner served in the 106th (7th Royal Saxon) Infantry "King George" (Kgl.

He was subsequently commissioned in 1916 shortly after his 18th birthday He was wounded in combat in France on 3 April 1916 After his recovery, he transferred to the German Army Air Service, or Luftstreitkräfte, and was assigned as an observation pilot with Fliegerabteilung 270.

[1][2] In March 1917 Büchner became a fighter pilot, joining the Prussian Jagdstaffel 9, where he scored his first and only victory with them on 17 August.

[6] Five days later, he followed up with Canadian ace Lieutenant Merrill Taylor killed in a Sopwith Camel of No.

While attacking and shooting down a two seater in bad flying weather, his plane's fuel tank was hit.

Its lion's head insignia was cut from its fuselage as a souvenir, but was later lost in the Second World War.

[12] In the turbulent postwar period the 22-year-old Büchner flew against communist revolutionaries but was shot down and killed by members of the Spartacus League during a reconnaissance flight near his hometown of Leipzig on 18 March 1920, three days after Rudolf Berthold was murdered in Harburg.