File:FRITZ BECKHARDT.jpg

English: Fritz Beckhardt was from Wallertheim in Hesse. At the start of the war he volunteered for the infantry and later trained as a pilot in Hamburg and Hanover. He flew long-range reconnaissance missions and later received fighter pilot training and served with Jagdgeschwader 3, Jagdstaffel 26, and Kest 2. During the war Beckhardt received the Iron Cross (First Class), the House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords, the Hessian Medal of Bravery, the Hessian Order of Ernst Ludwig, the aviator’s badge, a silver cup for bravery, and various badges for accomplishments and wounds. After Germany lost the war, Beckhardt refused to deliver his plane over to the enemy and instead flew it to Switzerland. Beckhardt flew a Siemens Schuckert fighter with a swastika on it. Pilots on both sides flew planes adorned with swastikas, an ancient symbol that at the time of World War I still represented the sun, or good luck, or just an interesting image.