In later life, he founded the airline Deutscher Aero Lloyd,[2] became an anti-Nazi member of the German parliament, and also became a pioneering designer of hydrofoils.

[3] Gotthard Sachsenberg was born in Rosslau, north of the Elbe River near Dessau, Germany[4] on 6 December 1891.

[citation needed] He volunteered for seagoing service and became a sea cadet on the cruiser SMS Hertha on 1 April 1913.

Still later, two more MFJs were raised and added to the parent unit, bringing its strength up to about 50 fighter planes, comparable to an army Jagdgeschwader.

He scored again on the 12th, claiming a Sopwith Pup into the sea, and then notching a double victory on 7 June to make him an ace.

[1] Midway through this run, Sachsenberg was awarded Prussia's and Germany's highest decoration, the Pour le Mérite, on 5 August 1918.

They were as colorfully and distinctively marked as Manfred von Richthofen's "Flying Circus" (Jagdgeschwader I), with the basic color scheme being yellow and black, as a yellow and black checkerboard had been Sachsenberg's personal motif, and it was spread to the entire unit, with minor variations marking the different pilots.

Based at Riga, Latvia, it gave aerial support to the Freikorps, fighting Russian communist forces on the Baltic borders of Germany.

It was successful in establishing air superiority over its opponent, and mainly flew ground support missions on behalf of the Freikorps.

[2] Another business interest of Sachsenberg's was his brother's shipyard, building river craft and small coastal ships.