Friedrich Wilhelm Magnus Heinrich Walter von Eberhardt
(07.01.1862 - 07.01.1944)
place of birth:  Berlin
Königreich Preußen:  IdFlieg,  Div-Kdr,  Generalleutnant


Prussian Generalleutnant Walter von Eberhardt was a founding father of German military aviation, having served during the pre Great War years as Inspekteur der Fliegertruppen, referred to as IdFlieg. Walter was the son of Prussian Generalmajor Heinrich von Eberhardt (1821–1899).  His two older brothers Magnus and Gaspard were also generals in the Prussian Army. Walter entered military service in 1880 when he was accepted into a Berlin Guards unit. Although he served in Guards regiments for over 20 years in peacetime Germany, Eberhardt was nonetheless never assigned to the Great General Staff. At the age of 50, he was promoted to Oberst in 1912 and received command of Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 153 in Altenburg.

As luck would have it, Eberhardt was soon presented with a unique career opportunity. To better coordinate the buildup of military air power, the Imperial German Air Service (Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches) was launched in October 1913, with inspectorates established for fixed-wing aircraft (IdFlieg) and airships (IdLuft.) Oberst von Eberhardt dispatched to Berlin in order to serve as Germany's first IdFlieg and thus sit on the Military Transport Assessment Board (Verkehrstechnische Prüfungskommission.) Wearing the rank of Oberst as German forces mobilized in August 1914, Eberhardt was one of the very few Prussian officers to receive two war-time general-level promotions (Generalmajor in 1915, Generalleutnant in 1918.) He continued functioning in his role as IdFlieg for the first two years of the First World War.

Following a comprehensive restructuring of German military air forces in October 1916, Eberhardt was relieved on his command in Berlin and sent to the front in order to command the newly-formed 20. Landwehr-Division. He later headed up the 45. Reserve-Division for about a year and finally commanded 37. Infanterie-Division until War's end. Following the hostilities, Generalleutnant von Eberhardt continued his military service as a Reichswehr brigade commander.

	Generalleutnant	18.08.1918