The name
"Anhalt" refers to the German region which is today part of
the German Federal State "Sachsen-Anhalt" (Saxonia-Anhalt).
Dessau, the home town of Oswald Boelcke is located in Anhalt, which
might be the reason for the hut in the Alps being named after the
region of Anhalt.
According to Prof.
Werner, the military training ground where Boelcke made first contact
with the Flying Forces was located in Griesheim. Together with Boelcke's radio
operator unit, the 3rd Company of the 3rd "Fliegerbataillon"
(Air Force Batallion) had been stationed at the place. Boelcke himself did not write to his parents
about this encounter. Additional information about this time had been provided by Boelcke's close friend
Balzer, who was a Major of the
German "Reichswehr" at the time Prof. Werner published his
book (1932).
Balzer said:
"We flew in an aircraft already in June of 1913 at the occasion
of a visit at the airport of Frescaty, as we had the command of the
radio station of the fortress of Metz and we both were very
enthusiastic. At the training ground of Griesheim we had many
occasions to watch the flying activities and to participate in short
and long flights due to the lack of observers. We both were very
delighted, but we decided not to report about it at home to avoid
worrying the parents unnecessarily.
With
the Flying Officers we not just met at their camp casino but also we
was often together with them at their nightly regular's table held at
the Hotel Heß"
On Whit Monday of
1914, Boelcke arrived in Halberstadt after a two day ride on his
motorbike through the region of the "Spessart", Kissingen
and the forest of Thüringen. His life as an aviator started on June
2, 1914. There is nothing known about his flight training in
Halberstadt. In June he found no time for writing because he often
rode his motorbike over to Dessau. In July he wrote letters to his
parents who were in the Alps but he was not allowed to write about his
flying activities. So he wrote only about hiking and motorbike tours
to the Harz, where he was very proud of his NSU motorbike that climbed
the "Broken" without a problem. He also reported about a
dancing contest where he won a price as well as about his dog Ibi now
being trained.
It is not known where Oswald Boelcke got his little Airedale-Terrier
from. He wrote about him in early January 1914 as he took him to
Darmstadt. Ibi got his name from Wally Istas, who was the sister of a
friend of Oswald Boelcke. She named the dog after the nickname of her
brother - Ibi. The true name of her brother is not known.
Oswald
Boelcke learned to fly at the Halberstadt Flying School. The airfield
was located about 5km outside the city. Service was only in the morning
and the afternoons were off. When the weather was good for flying, the
student pilots had to get up at 03.30am, training starting at 04.00am
but Boelcke often was dissatisfied about the long waiting times before
it was at his come. The afternoons he spend mostly playing tennis,
dosed in the sun or went hiking in the nearby mountains of the Harz.
The flying school had four instructors, each having one trainer
aircraft and three student pilots assigned to him. Their trainer
aircraft were Bristol "Tauben" (doves) which was - according
to Oswald Boelcke - fitted with a 70hp engine. Other sources speak of
the "Taube" being equipped with a 75hp engine. The Taube
featured a complex four wheeled landing gear. The short, fish-like
nose held a 6-cyl. Mercedes engine, which was cooled by two Hazet-type
radiators beneath the wing on each side of the fuselage. The wing
roots were "cellon"-covered for downward visibility.
"Taubes" was also flown by the British and Italian Air
Forces prior to WW1. This aircraft was particularly suited for
training because it was very slow, but also it had its weaknesses.
When the weather was a little too warm or the engine not perfect it
barely left the ground to a height of 5-10m (15-30ft) with its crew of
two. Under such conditions the student pilots pilots could not fly
and did nothing but taxiing on the ground which was not a popular
occupation for the enthusiastic young men who wanted to fly. It also
happened to the student pilots that their instructor did not feel for
training one after he had trained another so they often hung around up
to four hours which was something that upset Oswald Boelcke very much,
according to his letters he wrote to his friend Balzer. A training
flight around the airfield to practice landings from an altitude of
100-150m (300-450ft) lasted for 6 minutes. On June 16, 1914, Boelcke's
instructor took him on a longer flight of 40min. from Quedlinburg to
Blankenburg in a 100hp "Taube". They climbed to an altitude
of 1400m (4242ft).
The "Taube" was build by the "Deutsche Bristol-Werke
Flugzeug GmbH". This Company was founded on April 9, 1912 in
Halberstadt, in order to manufacture Bristol designs in Germany.
Owners were the Behrens brothers, Kurt Stockhausen and Eduard
Schnebel. Bristol was only concerted in so far that there was a
license agreement. In May 1912 a flying school was started. It was a
usual procedure at that time, to have a flying school attached to the
aircraft manufacturing company. After license-building Boxkites and Coandas, manufacture switched to "Taubes". These were
designed by Hans Burkhard, an engineer who joined in 1912, having
worked for Rumpler before - hence he designed the "Taubes".
First "Taube" prototypes were build in 1913 with some small
series of the "Taube" III and IV designs following in 1914.
The "Taube" III was powered by a 100 hp Daimler D I engine,
the "Taube" IV by the 75 hp Daimler. That should be the
aircraft Oswald trained on. Actually there is no picture of a
Halberstadt (or Bristol) "Taube" available yet but will be
posted as soon as one will be found.
In September 1914 the "Bristol" name was considered
inappropriate, therefore the company switched its name to
"Halberstaedter Flugzeugwerke GmbH". Obviously,
they then started design and manufacture of the successful D series
fighters as well as the Cl, II, IV and C V aircraft.
To obtain his pilots badge, Oswald Boelcke had to pass three check
flights:
His first flight was made on July 13, 1914 to the
"incredible" altitude of 300m (ca 990ft), after he had
made only four solo flights. The task demanded was a "high
altitude flight". Oswald Boelcke was very proud to have reached
the altitude of 300m on his flight. After his report, he needed about
15min to reach this altitude. After reaching 300m, Boelcke flew five
figure eights before he happily landed , but his witnesses told him they
were
just "Pretzels". He only then realized that he had to turn
the eights around specified points so he started again to prove that
he was able to do so. A "Pretzel" was the pilot's designation
for an eight that was not correctly flown around the specified turning
points.
The second check flight was made on July 31, 1914 - one day before the
general mobilization of the troops. Duration: 68min. Altitude: 1200m
(ca. 3636ft). Route: Halberstadt-Werningerode. Aerial distance:
ca. 20km (12.5miles). The aerial distance was measured on the road map
below, between the two town centers. In fact, the airfield of the
Flying School was located out of town so the true distance that
Boelcke flew was a bit different. The map below is provided to give you
an idea about the region where he learned to fly.
Third
check flight was on August 15. Cross country flight to Mainz with a
stopover at the "Grosser Sand" airfield ("The Great
Sand"). After successfully passing this last check flight, Oswald
Boelcke finally received his pilot badge! The place called
"Grosser Sand" is located just southwest of the city of
Mainz. The first airfield was build there in 1909, and the
"Goedecker Flugzeugwerke" were situated there. This early
aircraft company deserves its place in history for training and
later the employment of a Dutchman called A.H.G Fokker, who was still unknown at that
time. Anthony Fokker build his first aircraft design at their
workshops. The "Grosser Sand" airfield was quite popular for
cross country flights due to the usually good weather in the area and
the ease of navigation. It was easily findable because it was
situated beside the landmark of the Rhine river and maybe was also
popular because of the excellent wine produced nearby.
Even today one can find the former location of the airfield (which also
housed a KEST during the war) by the names of streets nearby - there´s
a Boelckestrasse, an Immelmannstrasse, a Richthofenstrasse and a
Bucklerstrasse. Julius Buckler was the only German airman decorated
with the Pour-le-Mérite who originated from Mainz.
On Boelcke's first
solo flight, he put his kite on the nose as he had to emergency land
in a corn field after the engine quit. He flew a 70hp Taube and said
the bird toppled over very slowly after he landed it softly on a 3ft
high corn field. Aviators know that the one who bends or breaks a prop
is allowed to keep it - that custom was already known at
Boelcke's time since he had decorated the wall of his room with the
broken prop of this bird. That was the only damage he did to an
aircraft during his training time. Contrary to Von Richthofen he did
not crash-land on his check flight.
Boelcke was a man of
great airmanship. If one keeps in mind that aviation was still very
new and many experiences had yet to be made, Boelcke did
things that are common practice in our days, like a preflight check of
the engine for example. He pointed out that the engine was totally ok
after a check run as he started for his first solo, but soon after he
got airborne he constantly lost rpm, hence he had to land as soon as
possible, choosing a well grown corn field for a soft landing.
As the German troops
got mobilized, the Flying School of Halberstadt became empty as
Boelcke's comrades received their mobilization orders one by one.
Sadly, Boelcke had to wait until he had passed his last check flight
but even after he had passed it, they did not call him to the front
yet. Finally, by the end of August he received the order to report to
the "Etappen-Flugzeugpark" (air base) in Trier, which is the
old Roman town located near the border with Luxembourg and where
German troops departed from to invade Luxembourg and Belgium in the
early morning of August 2, 1914.
Oswald drove all the way from Halberstadt to Trier in an
"Opel" car that he steered himself. He made a short stop at
friends in Koblenz and fought his way through all of the tunnels and
accross the many bridges of the Rhine and Mosel valley that were heavily
guarded by the German "Landwehr" (militia). The air base of
Trier, Boelcke was assigned to provide reinforcements to the
troops at the front. Using all of his wit to get assigned to the
"Feldflieger Abteilung 13" of his brother Wilhelm he spent
his time practising flying the new Albatros biplanes because these
aircraft got flown by F.A.13 while he was waiting for the assignment.
He was billet at the mansion of Mrs. Maria Kunz, a widow two girls who possessed important vineyards and wineries. The girls were
about 11, resp. 9 years old as Oswald came to the family and they
loved him like a brother, fondly calling him "Uncle Ossi".
But despite the wonderful life he had at the house of Mrs. Kunz,
Oswald wanted nothing more than going to the front to help in the
fight. In his first letter from the field, written on September 4,
1914, he reported home how he managed to join his brother Wilhelm's
unit. F.A. 13, stationed at the airfield of La Ferté, was missing
two of its aircraft so it needed replacements. Oswald immediately
volunteered to fly one of the replacement machines over to F.A.13 but
because the leader of the Trier air base was not present at that time,
his representative refused to let him go. Oswald secretly prepared the
aircraft for the flight, checking compass and altimeter, placing armor
plates under the seat etc, being determined to run away without a
permission. But then the air base leader came back and gave him
permission to leave because the aircraft was ready for take-off and the
order was just given to transfer part of the air base of Trier to
Sedan anyway. It was already 06.00pm as Oswald finally took off which
was a little late to reach Sedan before the sunset. But Oswald did
not intend to land in Sedan anyway. He wanted to join his brother in
La Ferté and to achieve this goal he prepared himself already a story
he wanted to tell when asked why he did not land in Sedan. If he could
not stay with F.A.13 and if asked why he landed at their field rather
than landing in Sedan he wanted to declare that he did so because of
the falling night, making it impossible to land in the darkness at
Sedan.
With the map fixed to the control wheel of his aircraft to avoid his
observer leading him to Sedan, he flew over Luxemburg, passed north of
Montmédy to land in the dusk at the airfield of "La Ferté"
at 07.10pm. His brother Wilhelm was away at the Command Headquarters
together with his Captain as Oswald landed. Wilhelm's comrades gave
him a warm welcome, dragging him immediately over to the Casino. It was
already late as Wilhelm finally arrived. He was very happy to have
his "little one" with him now. On the next morning, the
Boelcke brothers got the good news that the leader of F.A.13,
Hauptmann Streccius, refused to let Oswald go, taking the full
responsibility for Oswald's landing at "La Ferté" against
the given order to land in Sedan.
