Josef Carl Peter Jacobs (15 May 1894 – 29 July 1978) PlM, was a German flying ace with 48 victories during the First World War.

[2] When war broke out, he joined up for the Imperial German Army Air Service to train as a pilot with Fliegerersatz-Abteilung (Replacement Detachment) 9.

[1] On 3 July 1915, Jacobs was posted to Feldflieger Abteilung 11 (a reconnaissance squadron) for a year,[3] flying long-range sorties over Allied lines, his first flight occurring the evening of his arrival.

After leave in April, Jacobs was posted to Fokkerstaffel-West to fly a Fokker E.III Eindecker and he finally achieved his first official victory, over an enemy aircraft on 12 May 1916 when he shot down a two-seater Caudron crewed only by its pilot.

[4] At the end of July, Jacobs and his unit had been pulled back for what became a month's aerial bodyguard duty, protecting General Headquarters at Charleville.

[5] His old comrade in arms, Kurt Wintgens, was killed in action on 25 September; another old friend, Max Ritter von Mulzer, died in a crash the next day.

On 21 August, he led his squadron into a Jagdstaffel 26 dogfight, only to see its commander exploded in midair; upon recovery back at base, he survived a low-level landing collision with one of his pilots.

[1] On 28 February 1918, Jacobs gave up his Albatros D.V[10] and started flying the Fokker Dr.I triplane with Jagdstaffel 7, and had his aircraft finished in a distinctive black scheme.

He owned a construction crane operation, became president of The German Bobsleigh Society, and aided aviation historians of World War I.