Section 2 
The Combat Pilot

PLEASE NOTICE:

Original text from the Boelcke Field Reports in BLACK

Additional text which had been omitted in the Field Reports in BLUE

Comments by the author in 
GREEN

D(ouai)., 24. June, 1915

Our VIII. Corps, where we had been at until now, took such heavy casualties that it had to be taken out to be freshened up, but we aviators stay here. Its place took my former VI. Army Corps. So I will fly for my old Corps under Erzherzog von Pritzelwitz again. In a few days, my old section 13 will come here to our airfield - ain't that strange? Unfortunately none but Karstedt remain of the old friends. But I'm happy that I don't need to meet the section leader anymore - he had long been transferred. I am very happy to meet my old friends from Pontfaverger too - the telegraphers who will come here.

Yesterday afternoon, our army leader - the Crown Prince of Bavaria - visited our airfield. Here we have collected about everything that had been released by our aircraft industries: Two aircraft sections and one fighter wing. Both aircraft sections are equipped with ordinary biplanes but we now have an innovation on the aircraft - the radios - which we use (instead of the color flares) to home in the artillery. The fighter wing had been transferred here because in the West actually the most is going on. There are the funniest kites, for instance there is a Grosskampfflugzeug (Great Combat Aircraft) with two engines, three crew members and a bomb drop installation - a really gigantic tub. Furthermore there are (five) other combat aircraft with machine guns. They are a bit bigger than the normal ones. Then there are still the small Fokker Eindecker (Fokker Single Seater) which are also equipped with machine guns, hence there is everything one wants to have. The wing has departed but the French did not come back since then. It seems like something got to them.

The listing of the aircraft is correct but what Boelcke witheld from his parents was the fact that he flew the C-Type combat aircraft already since 12 days. He choosed the dashing Lieutenant of the Husars Von Wühlisch to be his observer after the man had completed machine gun training. He also witheld that he spend much time with Anthony Fokker who had been visiting the unit at the Douai airfield to introduce his new single-seater. Oswald had been eager to fly the new type. After the chronicler Prof. Johnannes Werner, Boelcke witheld the information from his parents because he wanted to give them time to get used the thought that there are even combat aircraft existing. It seems like his parents were frightened by the dangers of flying, and maybe terrorized by the thought that people even shoot at each other when flying these dangerous machines.

In fact, Boelcke's combat pilot career started already on June 15, 1915 after he did some instruction flights on the new C 162 on the 13th and the 14th. His logbook kept the following entries, all about air fights with von Wühlisch as his observer:

15.6.

Combat with Condor biplane near Arras. Enemy escaped in a glide. 200 rounds.

16.6.

10.20hrs-11.20hrs

Combat near Neuville. Frenchman avoided. Engine failure; back. 40 rounds.

16.6.

05.10hrs-06.30hrs

Combat with English Avro biplane near Lens. Gun jammed after 80 shots fired. Down. 4 hits in the wings.

16.6.

07.35hrs-08.50hrs

1st combat near Lens. Frenchman goes down.

2nd combat near Arras. Frenchman goes down.

3rd combat with 5 French biplanes near Neuville. One goes down, four come after us. Back. 880 rounds.

Notice: because the second and third entry for the 16.6. are listed after the action that happened between 10.20 and 11.20am it is supposed that the other action took place between 05.10hrs-06.30pm, resp. 07.35hrs-08.50pm, and not in the morning.

That means Boelcke participated already on the second day of his combat pilot career in five combat on three flights! Prof. Werner saw this as an evidence for Boelcke's determination. In the days following June 16, the logbook received similar entries. On the 24th, the first test flight on a Fokker E had been mentionned! But nothing of this had been mentionned in his letters written home on the 19.6. and the 24.6.. Only in his letter from the 30.6. he believed his parents being prepared enough to receive the truth. The entry below actualy shows only the official text from the Field Reports. The complete text of that letter will be added next.

30. June, 1915

Almost daily rain since the 22nd. The lounging around is about to get too much for me.

Since the 14. June I got a combat aircraft too. It's a biplane with a 150hp engine. The pilot is in the front seat with the observer in the rear seat to operate the machine gun which can fire to the side as well as to the rear. Since the Frenchmen try to disturb our air reconnaissance by combat aircraft we now have to cover the reconnaissance (aircraft) of our section. While the other do artillery flying etc. I climb up with them too, fly around in the vicinity, observe too and protect them against enemy attacks. So if a Frenchman wants to tackle them, I take him on like a hawk while the other one of us continues to fly and observe untroubled. In the meantime I chase the Frenchman while I fly on to him to shoot him efficiently with my machine gun. The chaps then flee so quickly that it is a real pleasure. In that way I have already driven off more than one dozen of them.

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Douai, 30. June, 1915 

Perhaps you've read it in the "Heeresbericht" (army report) - the German aviators prevail over the French aviators in the region of Arras. There I helped too. Since the 14.6. I've got a combat aircraft too. It's a biplane with a 150hp engine. The pilot is in the front seat with the observer in the rear seat to operate the machine gun which can fire to the side as well as to the rear. Since Wühlisch has been trained at the M.G. (machine gun) and because he's vigorous guy I choosed him to be my observer. Since the Frenchmen try to disturb our air reconnaissance by combat aircraft we now got combat aircraft too, to cover the reconnaissance flights of our section. While the other do artillery flying etc. I climb up with them too, fly around in the vicinity, observe too and protect them against enemy attacks. So if a Frenchman wants to tackle them, I take him on like a hawk while the other one of us continues to fly and observe untroubled. In the meantime I chase the Frenchman while I fly on to him to shoot him efficiently with my machine gun. The chaps then flee so quickly that it is a real pleasure. In that way I have already driven off more than one dozen of them. That's making fun!
My position in our section is so different from my position at section 13. There I was somewhat under the shadow of Wilhelm; I never cared about the useage of aicraft, about observation and the outcome of reconnaissance. Wilhelm did that all and I rarely or never had something to add. Here, this is much different now. My former observer always followed my instrcutions and Wühlisch relies on my greater experience too. To the other observers, mostly novices, I often give advices in our conversations they gladly accept. On the way back home, I even tell our section leader this and that would be better done this or that way, which he mostly accepts. Also I feel much better here regarding the comradely relationship than I felt at section 13 because jealousy and envy of the younger airmen falls completely away here and none of my actions can be blamed on personal zeal and selfishness.

6. July, 1915

The French Morane Saulnier Type L  Parasol aircraft that became  Boelcke's first victim on July 4, 1915

To fight a fight 'til victory is something that I succeed in on Sunday for the first time. My mission was it to protect Leutnant P(orr). - who flew artillerie observation - against enemy aircraft. I was just on the way forward as we saw a French Parasol monoplane near Liétard, approaching from higher than us. Because the lower flying is always the disadvantaged one, we evaded. He didn't see us but flew deeper into the country. We were very happy because in the past time the French came rarely and unwillingly behind our front. But above our territory, the ennemy cannot escape through a glide.

Ass soon as he had passed us, we took on the pursuit. But he flew very fast and we needed about half an hour before we catched up with him near B.(Valenciennes). It seems like he saw us very late. Close to B. (Valenciennes) we took him on, always trying (in that I tried) to cut him the way. Fortunately we were faster than him so he couldn't escape us by flying turns. As soon as we were close enough, my observer started to shoot at him with the machinegun. He fought as good as possible but we were always the attacker, he in the defense; we were higher and faster, he was lower and slower, so it became impossible for him to escape. Through all sorts of manoeuvers he tried to extend the distance between us but he failed because I was always breathing down his neck. It was a wonderful thing! I stood always very close so that my observer could aim at steady hand. Clearly, one could reconize everything on the opponent, almost every wire. The average distance was about 100m but at times I managed to close up to 30-40m. Because of the high speed of both aircraft there is a chance of success only at closest distance. 

The whole fight lasted for about 20-25 minutes, in the process we came to the region of Marchiennes. Because of sharp turns of the opponent as well as jamming or reloading of the machinegun, short ceasefires happened again and again which I used to come closer and catch up with him. Our superiority became more and more obvious. At the end I gained the impression that the opponent did not defend anymore, but that he almost gave up the escape. Shortly before the crash, the  enemy observer made such a typical movement with his hand, as if he wanted to say: "Let us go, we are done and surrender". But who in such a case can trust the opponent in the air? He then entered a glide and I followed him. My observer  fired once more about 30 or 40 bullets to the opponent as suddenly the aircraft vanished. To stay close, I entered a steep dive but suddenly my observer (Wühlisch) shout out loudly: "He's falling! He's falling!", clapping happily on my shoulder. First I did not trust the peace because it is possible to fly very steep glides with such monoplanes, looking similar to a fall. So I looked around in the air with astonishment but saw nothing. 

I descended in a glide while W(ühlisch). told me that the machine suddenly inverted, falling vertically down into a forest. We descended down to 100m and for 10 minutes we searched the forest for the crashed machine, but nothing could be seen. So we decided to land on a meadow near the forest and search for the aircraft. From everywhere soldiers and civilians poured into the woods. They said the machine fell vertically from high altitude while it somersaulted twice before it vanished in the wood. We felt much joy about the news which got immediately confirmed by a bicyclist who had been already at the crash site. He told us the crew members were dead. We went there immediately. Rittmeister W. (Bieler), who took me to the crash site in his car, told me on the way that everybody on the ground had watched the fight. On the way there we met the car of Rittmeister Bieler whom we knew from Pontfaverger. He picked us up and he told us that everybody on the ground had watched the scene. Everybody had been very excited, especially because of the high altitude that made it impossible to see who the German or the Frenchman was.

What was left after the crash is being  examined by German officers.

There were already some officers, doctors and soldiers at the crash site. The machine fell vertically from an altitude of 1500-1800m. Because both crew members had been buckled up they hadn't fallen out. The machine hit the trees with force and was completely wrecked, both crew ( a Lieutenant Tétu of the Husars and a Compte Beauvicourt) were dead indeed - strangely, the latter was the owner of the forest where he crashed. The doctors examined them immediately but they couldn't help anymore. The sudden fall of the aircraft can be explained by either the sudden death or by a fatal injury of pilot. The pilot got seven hits, the observer three. I'm quite sure both had been already dead in the air. We found several very important papers and other things (photos) at their bodies, among them was the photo of their own aircraft. Rittmeister Bieler took us and 4 other gentlemen of our section to lunch.  They had arrived by car after being called by telephone.
 
In the afternoon my observer W.(ühlisch) and me flew back to D.(ouai). after having turned several laps of honor above the village and the crash site. On the following day (yesterday), both airmen had been buried at the cemetary of  M(archiennes).with full military honors. Yesterday we had been there. (Yesterday Wühlisch and me had been ordered to the Crown Prince of Bavaria to tell him about our fight. Today we was in Marchiennes). The grave is decorated with flowers, just as the crash site is, where a blue-white-red bouquet stands. 

I had been very happy that W(ühlisch), my observer, had been awarded the Iron Cross (E.K.I). He fought and shot very well. Of the 83 shots that he fired, 27 hit the enemy aircraft. 
I send you both Tagesbefehle (daily reports) of the Armeekommando 6 as well as of the Generalkommando VI. 
Enjoy!

Boelcke (left) with von Wühlisch  at the remains of their victim.

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The daily report of the Armeekommando 6 closes by the words: "I welcome the brave airmen to this nice success and hope their audacity and flying skill will succeed in seizing superiority more and more, as well as to sweep clean the skies in front of the Army". 

sign. Rupprecht, Kronprinz von Bayern, K.B. Generaloberst.

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The daily report of the General Command of the VI. Army Corps dated from July 5th, 1915 first awards the Iron Cross 1st Class (E.K.1) to Ltnt. von Wühlisch before it ends by the words: "Hereby I express my sincere reconition to the pilot Ltnt. Boelcke for the energy and prudence he proved once more, and give him a commendation". 

sign. v. Pritzelwitz

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The letter that Senior Staff Physician Arendt wrote to the Boelcke family after the tragical death of their son contains the following information about his first victory: 

"And again came a Sunday, the 4th of July 1915. We lay in Marchiennes. A beautiful summer day stood us on the road, taking the salute over the dressed up citizens who moved to their huge temple. Then - a rattling sound - somewhere. A machinegun here, 35km behind the front? Then again! Where does that come from? We gazed upwards - airfight! Two aircraft in a terrific speed, one of them obviously fleeing - who is the German? Away it goes over the town in a height of 2000m. Then goes the fleeing one down to 1400m in the steepest glide, the other one follows, shooting all the time. Then the first one inclines, falling down vertically. While he falls, the French tricolore appears in the blazing sun. Hurray!
Now to the place! Rittmeister Bieler took me in the car. As we arrived at the meadow where the victorious German aircraft had landed, a dainty Red Husar walked towards us - our Boelcke. My god what a joy and congratulating it was! But it was loud only from our side - Boelcke was as usual, proudly modest and quiet. He then was the table guest of the Rittmeister. He appeared at us for coffee and he flew a few rounds of honor then above our garden, waving his hand and nodding, the great dear chap!"

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Boelcke's first victory had been reconized for being the very first official German victory in aviation history. However there had been other daring pilots before him who was sick of flying around in unarmed aircraft. In the beginning of air war, crews sometimes carried captured French machine guns or semi-automatic rifles on their aircraft which they used against the enemy. Boelcke was one of these men too *. Shortly before he got his C-Type aircraft, the captured machinegun of a French aircraft that had been forced to land near Douai had been build into his B-Type machine. From records kept in the Reichsarchiv in Berlin it is known that already on May 26, 1915, a C-Type which had been transferred from Feldflieger-Abteilung 12 to Feldflieger-Abteilung 20 stationned in Douai, forced an enemy aircraft to land. Unfortunately no other details were known and like this information was taken from the Boelcke biography published in 1932 it can be assumed that the original documents had been lost in the WWII bombing raids that hit the Reichsarchiv very hard. Because the F.A.20 laid together with Boelcke's unit F.A.62 at Douai airfield it can be assumed that the captured French machine gun presented to Oswald Boelcke had been taken from the forced down French aircraft.

The bringing down of that enemy aircraft by an aircraft of F.A.20 had been considered to be a success that happened by chance. The reason why no other than Boelcke's victory had been reconized for being the first true victory was due to Boelcke's determination to go after the French aircraft to fight it down in a 20-25 min. lasting battle. This sought and executed fight made it the very first real air victory of the still young German Air Service.

The victory on the 4th of July 1915 had been achieved in close teamwork of Boelcke and Wühlisch. Wühlisch fired the shots while Boelcke provided him the target through his great flying skills. The first victory had also been the last one that Boelcke scored on a two-seater. Shortly after the event he received a Fokker E.III single-seater which had been left for him by Anthony Fokker after he visited the airfield. According to the letter that Max Immelmann wrote home on July 17, Fokker had been visiting F.A.62 for a few days to demonstrate the performances of his new single-seater aircraft. The first machine that he left as he returned had been assigned to Ltnt. Boelcke. Immelmann himself received Boelcke's C-Type - the same machine Boelcke and von Wühlisch scored their vistory with.

This is probably the L.V.G. C-Type aircraft that Oswald Boelcke  flew together with observer Von Wühlisch on July 4, 1915.  After Boelcke had received his Fokker E.III, the L.V.G. had  been assigned to Hans Immelmann who can be seen here in  the cockpit. Source: "Immelmann - Der Adler von Lille" Hase & Koehler, Leipzig 1934

* = more information about the dawn of air war can be read in my article "Bricks, bottles and machineguns" at the WORKBENCH section on this website.

On July 10,1915, Oswald wrote a letter home that had not been included in the Field Reports. The reason maybe was that Oswald told his parents about his new aircraft in it. To complete the story, I added that letter here:

Since Wednesday I have my Fokker single-seater. I will now fly the biplane quite rarely. I regret this because I must separate from Wühlisch - it was a magnificent cooperation with him. On the other hand I am happy because I keep it with the following: The strong one is strongest alone. With the single-seater my ideal has been achieved: now I can be pilot, observer and fighter at the same time.

Letter from 16. July

...Dad is asking if he may publish my report at the newspaper. I don't appreciate the advertising in the newspaper very much. Also I don't believe that my report fits the column by size and stile. After all, the people want to have such stories told in a much more poetic and horrible way; want to hear about terrified and nervously excited mental strain, of rejoicing satisfaction, of sky-high almost alp-like clouds or the perfoliated zephyr-blue sky etc.. But if a publication will give you a lot of pleasure, I will not opposing it.

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In the Field Reports, the following text of the letter from July 16 had been omitted:

Among its technical advantages, my little single-seater still has the advantage that I am totally independant with it. I can fly when, where, as long as and how I want to. Above our lines I still didn't catch another one - the incident of July 4 intimitated the Frenchmen heavily and they are particularly scared of my single-seater. As soon as I appear on stage, they make themselves scarce. Because I can't catch one of them here at us I startle them behind their lines where they think they are safe when they are homing in their artillerie. I must always stalk up furtively and unseen. By now I could shoot at four of them in that way. Because they always evade downwards then I couldn't shoot another one down yet. I can't follow too far down behind the enemy lines if I don't want to expose myself to the fire of their artillerie.

The other gentlemen who fly Fokker combat aircraft - a total of 11 here in the West - mostly have a different opinion. They want to attack only behind our lines because they believe they can bring a fight to an end only there. That's true but the consequence is that they only stroll around above our positions but never get a shot fired while I always get the fun chasing the chaps over there reasonably. One must not wait until they come but look up for them and hunt for them.

Douai, 31.7.15

Boelcke wrote this letter home on July 31 but it had not been published with the Field Reports.

Since a short time I've got a new and lovely residence with bathroom. My aide-de-camp loves it so much that he told me yesterday: "Herr Leutnant, we'll never have it that lovely again. That's even nicer than at it is at home!" It's very close to our new Casino which we transferred to a big mansion at the channel. Yesterday I had two guests - old friends of the 11th Grenadiers from Pontfaverger, Ltnts. v. Brixen and v. John. There I heard about the real war again. In the last time they had participated in four assault attacks. I always fly above it and see only the big general image of it.

My main activity consits of disturbing and chasing off the French artillery observers in the evening, between 7 and 9 o'clock. That's the time that lures them out of their caves because then they have the sun in their back which gives them the most profitable illumination. In calm minutes I look down indeed to observe the enemy artillery positions. At dusk I can see their muzzle fire well. In that way I compete with the observers indeed but I do something positive beside my negative job of the chasing.

So Maxie (Oswald's youngest brother Max) wants to know how I can shoot forwards despite the propeller? The whole thing is simple: The M.G. (machine gun) is fixed on the cowling of my aircraft, pointing straight forwads. The M.G. has a security which is connected to the engine through a linkage system. Everytime the propeller passes in front of M.G's muzzle., the M.G. is automatically secured through the linkage system. The M.G. is getting unsecured again after the propeller passed it. Then, when I press a button that is connected to the trigger of the M.G., it can shoot. Did you get it? I do not aim with the gun indeed, since it is installed in a fixed position, but the art of shooting consits of flying in a way that the aircraft flies directly towards the target.

A short time ago "Feldflugchef" (lit. Field Air Chief) Thomsen - the highest ranking one of the whole aviation - was here. He seems to have a special interest into my person.

11. August, 1915

Early on the 10. August the weather had been very bad so that the officer in service telephoned to the city, saying that it wouldn't make sense to come out (to the airfield). So I enjoyed laying in the bed. Suddenly my aide-de-camp wakes me up, saying an Englishman is there. So I get out and to the window. But the Englishman flew into the direction of the front so I had no chance to get him. I crawled back into my bed, scolding. I barely laid comfortable and warm as my aide-de-camp came running again, saying the Englishman has come back. Well, if the chap is that cheeky I will dress up quickly! Unwashed, in the nightshirt, without gaiters, barely dressed up I race to the field with the motorbike. I arrive at the right time as the chaps (not just one but four!) enjoy themselves throwing bombs at our airfield. So I jump into my aircraft as I am, and follow. But like the Englishmen were very fast and because they flew home immediately after throwing their bombs, I did not succeed in getting in shooting range. Very sad I return, and barely can trust my eyes because in the meantime there are five more aircraft visiting us. So to the next, a French monoplane. I grasped him well, chased him efficiently too, but as I had come close enough to think that he must tumble soon - bauz - gun jammed! Oh how angry I was!

I immediately tried to unjamm the gun up there but I worked that furiously on the lock that the jammed cartridge broke completely. I had no choice but to land quickly to change the cartridges. While I went down, I saw our other single-seater arriving and I was happy that the Englishmen would still get plucked a bit by this one. While I was down to have new cartridges loaded I saw how Ltnt. Immelmann attacked an Englishman very nicely, who then ran away. I went up again quickly to help Immelmann against the other. But they ran away on my second arrival and I had to go away empty-handed.

In the meantime Immelmann had forced his Englishman to land. He had shot up his left elbow. - Immelmann has developed much luck. Two days before, I instructed him flying the Fokker. That means I flew with him and let him have the controls too. On the day before he flew alone for the first time but he could land only with great difficulty. He had never flown against the enemy and he never shot. But nevertheless, he did it very well.

This was the official version that had been printed in the Field Reports. I translated the complete letter from the biographie below for you to see what changes had been made to the original text. You can see that details such as the name of Boelcke's aide-de-camp Fischer had been omitted in the Field Reports.

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Douai 11. August, 1915

In your last letter you asked if I participated in the air fight from the 1.8.. Off course I did!

Early on the 1.8. - it had been a Sunday - the clouds hung so low that the officer in service telephoned to the city, saying that it wouldn't make sense to come out (to the airfield). So I enjoyed laying in the bed. Suddenly Fischer wakes me up, saying an Englishman is there. So I get out and to the window. But the Englishman flew into the direction of the front so I had no chance to get him. I crawled back into my bed, scolding. I barely laid comfortable and warm as Fisher rushed up again, saying the Englishman has come back. Well, if the chap is that cheeky, then let's go! Unwashed, in the nightshirt, without gaiters, barely dressed up I race to the field with the motorbike. I arrive at the right time as the chaps (not just one but four!) enjoy themselves throwing bombs at our airfield. So I jump into my aircraft, and follow. But like the Englishmen were very fast and because they flew home immediately after throwing their bombs, I did not succeed in getting in shooting range. Very sad I return.

As I arrived back at our field there was - I barely trusted my eyes - five more aircraft visiting us with bombs in the meantime. So to the next, a French monoplane. I grasped him well, chased him efficiently too, but as I had come close enough to think that he must tumble soon - bauz - gun jammed! Oh how angry I was! I immediately tried to unjamm the gun up there but I worked that furiously on the lock that the jammed cartridge broke completely. I had no choice but to land quickly to change the cartridges. While I went down, I saw our other single-seater arriving and I was happy that the Englishmen would still get plucked a bit by this one. While I was down to have new cartridges loaded I saw how Ltnt. Immelmann attacked an Englishman very nicely, who then ran away. I went up again quickly to help Immelmann against the other. But they ran away on my second arrival and I had to go away empty-handed. 

In the meantime Immelmann had forced his Englishman to land. He had shot up his left elbow so that he hed to go down immediately. - Immelmann has developed a terrific luck in this affair. Two days before, I instructed him flying the Fokker. That means I flew with him and let him have the controls too. On the day before he flew alone for the first time but he could land only with great difficulty. He had never flown against the enemy and he had never fired the machinegun - but then he got the luck to grasp a defenseless biplane above our field. The English man had left his observer at home because he wanted to save on weight for his bombs. But nevertheless, Immelmann had the guts and he did his job very well. I'm really glad for him. I'm just feeling annoyed about my own bad luck; it has been the first time since 4 weeks that I got an opponent before my gun but just then my gun must jam! So that was my participation on the 1.8.

That I don't just do combat flying you can see on the picture I added. Ltnt. von John, who is here because of an injured knee, visited us on our field together with two nurses from the field hospital. Because the nurses really wanted to fly too I wanted to take one after the other for a ride accross the field in my little single-seater - to the great delight of the whole section. But to avoid a stampede, the section leader now prohibited the taking along of nurses!

On that day, Oswald Boelcke took the cute nurse Blanka for a ride. Pictures like the one below were made, showing a beautiful youg girl apparently sitting behind the pilot's seat. However, it is not known if there had been a romance between the gentleman officer and Miss Blanka.

Oswald & Blanka, August 1915

23. August, 1915

In the evening of August 19 I had been very lucky again. I mostly fly in the evening to chase the Frenchmen at artillerie flying and on this evening many of them had been at the front. First I got an English Bristol biplane who aparently took me for a Frenchman because he comfortabely flew right on to me which is something the oponents usually don't do. But as he noticed that I was shooting, he immediately turned. I went hard after him to get at his throat. I must have hit either him or his machine because he suddenly switched off (the engine) and vanished into the deep. Because the fight happened above the positions he unfortunately managed to land on the other side. After statements of our artillery soldiers he landed at the enemy artillery poistions on the front. That's the second one of which I can positively say that he had gotten it and that he had been forced to land. We went down, not of fear but because he had been hit.
In the same evening I attacked two more but they both escaped in a dive. But I cannot say if I really hit them because the fights happened above the French positions.

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Douai, 23. August, 1915

On the 19.8. I had been very lucky again. There had been much action as I flew in the evening as usual, to chase Frenchmen at artillery flying. First I got an English Bristol biplane who apparently took me for a Frenchman because he comfortably flew right on to me which is something the opponents usually don't do. But as he noticed that I was shooting, he immediately turned. I went hard after him to get at his throat. His machine must have been hit because he suddenly switched off (the engine) and vanished into the deep. Because the fight happened above the positions he unfortunately managed to land on the other side. After statements of our artillery soldiers he landed at the enemy artillery positions on the front. That's the second one of which I can positively say that he had gotten it and that he had been forced to land. We went down, not of fear but because he had been hit.

In the same evening I attacked two more but they both escaped in a dive. But I cannot say if I really hit them because the fights happened above the French positions.

On Saturday noon I had been ordered to Prince Aribert who is here to represent our Duke and visit the 93th on the front. Because the Prince wanted to fly I took him for a 20 min. ride in my biplane - the Fokker is a bit too tight for such weighty men - to show him Douai and its environement from above. Because I did not want him to say afterwards: "Well, the flying is ain't nothing!" I intentionally shook him a bit in the air, doing a few turns. But he bravely maintained his position. I then flew with his aide-de-camp, Rittmeister von Oheimb. Both gentlemen had been very delighted about the flight.

By the way, I recently met our reverend Vahlteich who is the field reverend here, but he obviously did not feel for flying.

This morning I lived a great joke. Because I had to do ground service, Wolf was out with me. I tied him up because he always wants to fetch and bite everything that moves fast. This morning, the master armorer tested my machine gun with engine running. There came Wolf running, who had teared off himself. Before somebody could stop him he attacked the propeller. He died instantly indeed. I'm so sorry for the beautiful, smart, faithful animal. Good that one cannot still mourn about a dog in times of war!

29. August, 1915

The day before yesterday I flew my Fokker over to section ... where a deputy officer will fly it from now on. I'll receive a new and stronger machine with 100hp.
 
Yesterday I could prove my swimming skills again. There's the channel in front of our Casino, which is about 25 meters large and 2 1/2 meters deep. The legend says there are fishes in the water, that's why half of the population always stands there fishing. Until now I didn't see that one of them ever catched something. Before our Casino is sort of a ramp where the barges are getting unloaded. Yesterday afternoon after lunch, I stood in front of the door together with T. as I saw how a French boy of about 15 years climbs over the railing for fishing, but then hopping into the water. I ran there to see what he is doing down there but he wasn't visible anymore. Because I could not assume he's doing diving tests I hadn't much to think - header and in! That happened so quickly that T. only saw my legs vanishing without knowing what really happened.
 
I came back to the surface, but still alone. Then I saw air bubbles not far from me, and underneath it a bubbling guy. I swam there, dove under, grabbed him and came back up. In the meantime T. and the driver were at the place too. T. believed I will bubble away too and was ready to jump after me. At last T. received me and the boy at a nearby barge. As we were back on land the mother came running, thanking us in a great tirade. Also the rest of the population gave me ovations. I must have looked very funny because I jumped in in full dress, now looking quite crestfallen.

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Douai, 29. August, 1915

There wasn't much doing around now with flying in the bad weather. The more I could do sports. After we discovered some splendid rowing boats I'm rowing often, be it alone in a stylish single sculler or be it with Eckstein in a double two-seater. That makes fun and is healthy for the lazy corpse.
Also I could prove my swimming skills again on yesterday. Before our Casino flows a channel which is about 25 meters large and 2 1/2 meters deep. The legend says there are fishes in the water, that's why half of the population always stands there fishing. Until now I didn't see that one of them ever catched something. Before our Casino is sort of a ramp where the barges are getting unloaded. Yesterday afternoon after lunch, I stood in front of the door together with v. Teubern as I saw how a French boy of about 15 years climbs over the railing for fishing, but then hopping into the water. I ran there to see what he is doing down there but he wasn't visible anymore. Because I could not assume he's doing diving tests I hadn't much to think - header, and in I was! That happened so quickly that Teubern only saw my legs vanishing without knowing what really happened.

I came back to the surface, but still I was alone. Then I saw air bubbles not far from me, and underneath it a bubbling guy. I swam there, dove under, grabbed him and came back up. In the meantime Teubern and the driver were at the place too. Teubern believed I will bubble away too and was ready to jump after me. But I called him to receive me at a nearby barge. I took the boy around his neck and swam to the barge where Teubern pulled the boy out. I then climbed after.

In the meantime the other gentlemen of us had arrived, plus a bigger audience. The first thing that the rescued one got was a good spanking which he received from Hauptmann Ritter and Teubern. He was so stunned about it that he didn't say a word but went away, intimidated, to be received by his mother who came running, thanking us in a great tirade. Also the rest of the population gave me ovations. I must have looked very funny because I jumped in in full dress, now looking quite crestfallen.

PS: A letter from the families Delplace and Dutercq has just arrived to thank the "sauveur du jeune Albert agé de 14 ans" (savior of the 14 year young Albert).

The following details could be found about the rescued boy:

Full first name: Albert Clément Germain François 
Last name: Delplace
Day of birth: April 29, 1900
Day of death: April 8, 1919
Name of his father: François Deplace
Name of his mother: Marie Louise Dutercq

This matches the information given by Oswald Boelcke so there are very good chances that this boy was the same Albert Delplace rescued by Boelcke. 

18. September, 1915

Yesterday I was at the parents of the boy, who are very grateful. The boy became dizzy at the steep quay wall, that's why he fell into the water. The people said they would - if they could - get me the French "Legion d'Honeur". That would be fun!

In the past evenings I used to fly to the front with Lieutenant Immelmann to chase the Frenchmen there. Because they mostly appear in numbers of eight to ten we both got a lot of work to do. On Saturday we succeed in getting a wide-bodied British combat aircraft between us, chasing it in a way that it did barely knew where to go. Only through a hurried escape downwards it could escape. But the Frenchmen took offense at this incident. On the other day we are peacefully meeting again for hunt at the front as we notice the great number of opponents. And suddenly the guys get delusions of grandeur as they attack me with a new type of biplane, with a fuselage and very fast. But they apparently were surprised to see that we did not just let them attack but that we on the other hand were happy to have finally found somebody who did not flee from us. After a few fruitless attacks they went back; we not lazy, went after them, each of us took one and forced him to glide.

Since it had already been late we accepted this success and flew home, one beside the other. As I looked around, I saw two more aircraft circling behind the front. Because now the people in the trenches would have maybe believed that we ran away I gave a sign to Immelmann. We wanted to fly a few more circles to show that we were not defeated. But Immelmann misunderstood, starting to attack one of the Frenchmen who did not want to get involved in a fight but preferred to escape instead. In the meantime the other Frenchman wanted to sneak up behind Immelmann. Therefore I had to return and help Immelmann who could not see the second one. As the Frenchman saw me coming he turned towards me. I peppered some on his nose so that the whole thing started to frighten him and he turned away. That was his biggest mistake. In that way I got on his neck, which is what I am striving for. Because I had solid-bitten I was as close as 50 meters and it didn't take much long until I had hit him. I must have hit the pilot deadly. He suddenly threw up both hands and the machine went down vertically. I watched him falling to the ground where he somersaulted several times before he fell 400 meters in front of our trenches. All the people in the trench enjoyed the air fight and it is unobjectionably noticed that the machine had been completely destroyed and both crew members killed. Immelmann saw him falling too and he was very happy about our victory.

M., 23. September, 1915

Suddenly, on Sunday evening I received a telegram, informing me that I had been transferred.  There has been no machine here for me so far so that I've got nothing to do for the time being.

M., 27. September, 1915

I accidentally walk the streets and see the latest dispatch. Look there, my name is mentionned in the daily report.

It happened on the third day since I've been here. Because my machines weren't there yet, the Captain temporarily entrusted me a Fokker and I had to be ready to start during the day from 9 o'clock on, because the other pilots had been ordered to protect the Emperor from bombing raids, who had breakfast at the castle. Since I wanted to test fly my machine once more, I started already at 3/4 9 o'clock. I am maybe 3-4 minutes in the air as I see explosion spots and soon later I see not just one but three to four enemy aircraft flying into the direction of M.. I immediately seek to gain the altitude of the enemy aircraft but that always takes a certain time. In the meantime the opponents were over M., unloading their bombs over the station. Luckily they hit nothing. After they dropped their bombs they flew (it had been more in the meatime, I counted a total of ten) back home again.
 
I now gained about the altitude of the enemy aircraft and closed up to them. Then one of the fuselage biplanes, who apparently had the mission to protect the other aircraft, saw me and attacked me from above. But upwards one can shoot only badly, if not at all. I exchanged a few shots with the opponend and evaded then. That satisfied the Frenchman who flew away with the other.
 
I immediately hooked up to the group again. Because I was faster, I soon managed to close up and get the lowest flying opponent in shooting range. I didn't shoot immediately to avoid catching the attention of the other aircraft. Only as I was as close as 100 meters I started to fire. Then the other one got the wind up and he tried to escape.  But I hooked on to him, slamming well aimed shots into him from behind. My worries were only the other who heard my shooting, coming to help their comrade. So I had to hurry up. I noticed that I was successful as the Frenchman finally entered a dive to escape in that way. At last we both came down from 2500 to 1200 meters. I always shot in his back as good as I could. But in the meantime two of his comrades had been there, sending me "friendly greetings". That's not fun and for me the unpleasant fact got added that I flew around without a map in a completely new region where I didn't know anymore where I was. Because my opponend descended even more and with his pals coming closer I assumed to be behind the ennemy lines. I stopped the fight and soon I was alone again due to my speed, and as a result because the French left me alone then. Now I had to find the way back.

So I flew straight to the North and soon I came to the region again that I knew already from my time at the war academy in M.. As I returned I only knew what I described; I could only tell about a fight, not about a victory. By the help of a map I noticed that I had been in the region of P.à.M.. Then in the afternoon the reports arrived from the front. The infanterie guards saw at elevation ... a biplane "flapping" down. The artillerie reported more specifically: The biplane that I shot at lay behind an enemy wire obstacle, the pilot was either dead or wounded and pulled into the nearby trench. After that, our artillerie shot at the aircraft and destroyed it. I now rhyme it together that way: I wounded the pilot badly in the fight who then tried to reach the soil in a dive and if possible behind the own lines. Shortly before the landing he then lost either conscience or control of the aircraft and "flapped" down, hence he crashed. That was number four!

17. October, 1915

Shot down a French Voisin-biplane very close to P., yesterday, October 16.

R., 2. November, 1915

On the 30. October there was an attack of our troops made near T. All enemy reconnaissance had to be stopped, which was very hard to achieve on that day. Ceiling 1500 meters, broken on several places. Frenchmen were always riding around behind the front at 1400 meters. Attacked two of them through the clouds. The first one escaped. To the second one I could approach unseen up to 100 meters. That fellow evaded, but it didn't help cause I was much faster. Fired 500 rounds until he fell. Closed up to 3-5 meters. He didn't want to fall. Plulled my ship hard to the left in the moment as the collision became imminent. The opponent tilted to the right. Didn't see him anymore. Got into dizziness myself. Had been chased by two Farmans and was only 1000 meters behind enemy lines. Artillerie fired. All too high. Came back home without being hit. Enemy aircraft fell behind enemy lines. The wreckage laying only 200 meters from our lines is well visible, especially a wing standing upright. My attack had been a bit naughty but on this day it was of great military value: Frenchmen did not come that close to our front anymore.

D., 12. Dezember, 1915

I'm back now in good old D.. Everything is the same in the city. The Captain was very happy to welcome me in good bode and to give me the Rescue Medal on yesterday, which had just arrived by chance. 

D., 31. December, 1915

Celebrated Christmas very nice and snuggy. In the Holy Night first there was a ceremony for the ground personnel in a decorated aircraft shed. The personnel had been loaded with gifts. For each man, the "Inspektion der Fliegertruppen" (IdFlieg) had send a parcel full of all sort of things. Also two gentlemen who were on leave in Cologne and Hamburg went to a lot of trouble. In the evening, we Officers had a little opening of Christmas gifts too. At the same time the decorations had been awarded. For me there had been a very nice silver cup, along with other little things. This cup with the inscription "To the Victor in Air Battle" had been donated by the "Chef des Feldflugwesens" (Chief of the Field Aviation Department = Thomsen). Immelmann received the same.  

The day before yesterday I had to deal with a very tough man who fought bravely. But nevertheless, I had been superior, forcing him into the defense. Now he tried to escape me by flying turns. Also he tried several times to get on my weak side. He wasn't successful with that, but I too wasn't successful in wounding the pilot deadly. My only success was it to push the aircraft deeper and deeper. We had started at 2800 meters and in a short time I had him down to 1000. All the time we circled wildly around each other. Because I had previously shot already at two others, I only had a few rounds left. That was the other one's luck! After all, he couldn't defend anymore because I had deadly wounded his observer. For me it would have been quite safe now to take him down but at about 800 meters but I ran out of rounds. In that way none could tackle the other. But then another Fokker (Immelmann) comes to the help and the fighting starts again. I participate in the attack to confuse the Englishman as much as possible. We are successfully pushing him down to 100 meters. We are already waiting for him to land but he flies to and fro like a madman, we always behind. Through my apporaches, I wanted to keep him from flying on, but then my engine stopped and I had to land. I just see how the opponent vanishes behind the next line of trees, think he's going to land there, am happy, arm myself with a flare pistol (I had nothing else) and ride on a nag over to take the fellow prisoner. But cake! He had flown on. I ask around everywhere, give phone calls, but nothing specific can be found out. In the evening then the report comes in, saying that the Englishman in fact flew at the height of 100 meters accross our trenches and back home. Snappy of the guy! He's hard to beat when it comes to that. Immelmann couldn't shoot anymore cause of a jam of his gun.

8. January, 1916

Early in the morning of January 5 I pursuied two Englishmen. Got them near H.-L. and attacked the closest one. Apparently the other one has not seen me. At all events he roared on. The fight was quite short. I attacked him. He defend himself. I hit, he didn't. He went quite down during the fight. Finally he started to wink, and proceeded to land. I kept close to his skin so that he would not escape again. He landed close to H.; the machine breaking up. I saw the pilot jumping out and collapsing next to it. I landed quickly in the vincity and found the machine already surrounded by locals from the nearby hole-and-corner town. I addressed both of the Englishmen. They had been wounded, the observer severely, the pilot slightly. The latter spoke German and I talked with him while the other one got carried away. He felt very sad for having crashed. I shot up his wing twisting controls. Yesterday I visited the observer at the field hospital (the pilot had already been carried away) and gave him English books and photographs of his aircraft. He was very happy about it. He knew my name well.

In the afternoon of January 5 I flew along the front again but everything was quiet. I landed and drove to the city with the other for lunch because the sky was clouding over again. Now imagine my bad luck! I was just inside as an enemy squadron of ten aircraft arrived. I rushed outside to the place where the enemy just dumped his bombs. All mechanics were at the shelters. I screamed like crazy; at last one came out. I had to take an 80hp machine because Immelmann (who was staying at the place) had taken already my 160hp machine. But with the 80hp machine I had trouble reaching the enemies. One enemy aircraft hung a bit off the squadron. Another Fokker was already after it, whom I then helped because I couldn't get the other anyway. As the Englishman saw both of us turning around him, the whole thing went too far for him and he landed quickly near V., the two of us beside. The Englishman was alone in his ship, had his fat bombs still on board, was wounded himself and landed only because he was afraid of us.

15. January, 1916

Now the events happened so quickly that I couldn't cope up with writing.
In the evening of January 11th we had a little party where I stood longer as usual. I really didn't feel for getting up early but the weather was good so I went to the field and got up in the air around 0900 to fly to Lille and lay in wait. In the beginning I had no luck at all, and I flew over one hour but saw nothing. At last I spotted explosion dots near Ypres. I flew far enough to see the sea but I didn't find the aircraft anymore. On the way back I found two Englishmen crossing the lines West of Lille. I closed up on the first one. Unfortunately he did not appreciate that but turned immediately and flew back. I got him right at the front. Here we were greeting each other with our machine guns where after he preferred to go down quickly. I let him go to possibly oversalt the second one of the couple his reconnaissance on our side. Thanks to my fast machine I gradually approached him who flew  to the East, North of Lille. As I was still about 400-500m away from him he had apparently seen enough because he flew (or he wanted to fly) again to the West. There I got him! Totally calm, I followed him until I was close enough. The Englishman seemingly knew the game too because he let me approach without shooting. Only as I started to shoot, he shot too. I flew straight behind him and I could aim well especially because my opponent flew straight ahead. He changed his ammunition drums twice. Suddenly, after not a long time, the enemy machine went down, seemingly crashing. I knew it: The pilot must have been hit. At about 800m the machine straightened up again for a short time and then it went down almost straight. It rushed into the garden in the village of M, north-east of S. Because the terrain had been very bad there I flew to the Fliegerabteilung... in Lille. I reported my fight by phone and to my astonishment, what do I hear? Immelmann shot down an Englishman near P. at the same time. There I laughed out loudly.

The biggest surprise happened in the evening. We were just at dinner as I had been called to the phone. At the other end was the adjutant of the Feldflugchef who congratulated me for the Pour-le-Mérite. I thought he was just kidding but he informed me that our Majesty had awarded us the order by telegraph. My astonishment and my joy both were big. I went inside, said nothing, but send Hauptmann R. to the phone who proclaimed the news officially on his return. First there was general astonishment, then big joy. Still the same evening several congratulations came in and on the other day, January 13, I couldn't do anything but receiving congratulations. The people were crazy of joy! An older Excellency didn't want to let me go. He released me again only after I promised to visit him. From everywhere congratulations had been send by telephone and telegraph. The King of Bavaria, who accidentally was at the Crown Prince of Bavaria in Lille, invited us for dinner on January 14. But now the funniest thing happened. On January 14, (well yesterday), early in the morning was flying weather. So I start at 0900 to look after my clientele. Because clouds came near Lille I transferred my hunting grounds south of Arras. I barely flew for one hour as I spotted explosion dots near P. While I flew there, the Englishman seemingly noticed me too because he flew back. But I catched up with him soon. As he saw that I came close to his skin he suddenly made a turn towards me and he attacked me. Now my most difficult fight started. The Englishman always tried to get into my back, and so did I in reverse. That way we funnily rushed around each other. But because I had taken my experiences from December the 18th into account, as I had emptied all of my rounds, I now shot only when I got him well in my sights. So it happened that we flew around each other for minutes, me not shooting. This turning could be all one to me anyway because we were over our territory. I said to myself that for once he must fly straight home anyway. While we flew he then tried to get closer to his lines which wasn't that far. On this occasion it happened that I really got him. I shot up his engine. I noticed that he was heading towards his lines in a shallow glide after that attack, pulling an oily trail of smoke behind him. I had to prevent this! He'd come already very low in his glide. So I had to attack him once more, despite his dead engine. I catched up with him as he was about 100-200m from our trenches and I shot at him with both of my machine guns from close range (now I didn't need to save on ammunition anymore). In the moment as I got very close we were over our trenches. I then turned and flew back. I couldn't see anymore where the other aircraft was because I had to see to get away. I flew back and because I was low on fuel I landed near the village of F. Here I got welcomed well by the Divisionary Corps where I got the good news about the Englishman. The enemy machine went down near the British positions immediately after I turned to fly back. The distance between the trenches is only a hundred meters on that place. One of the crew, apparently it was the pilot, jumped out of the half destroyed machine, running into the British trenches. He apparently escaped despite our infantry shot at him, so he was lucky. Our artillery took the enemy machine under fire. Among the first shells fired was a direct hit that set the machine ablaze immediately. The one of the crew, apparently the observer who was either dead or badly wounded, burned with it. Of the machine only the skeleton remained.

Because my mechanics came very late and because I had to be at the King of Bavaria by half past five I drove in the Division car to D. and from there I immediately continued to Lille. The King and the Crown Prince both talked very long with me. They had been especially happy that I took down yet another one. As we had been home again there came the dark side of the medal. Everybody congratulated, everywhere one got invited and everywhere they asked the same. Soon I will have to carry a printed questionnaire with me (Oswald Boelcke felt very annoyed by the people who asked too many questions which gave him the reason for establishing sort of a FAQ that he handled out to his questioners. You can read that FAQ here!) I was especially happy about my number nine because it was such a quick answer to my Pour-le-Mérite.

I'm here in S. since March 11th. Because the front near Verdun moved forward we had been too far behind. One did not see the enemy aircraft at the front anymore. The reports came in too late so that I was never there in time. Therefore I asked for permission to setup a new airfield close to the front. Here I chose a nice meadow. I'm totally independent, got a personal car and a truck, one Unteroffizier and fifteen men. We are close enough to the front to spot every appearing enemy flyer. In the first days of my arrival I had been much on demand. March 12 had been very nice flying weather. There had been good work to be done. I started at 1100 to chase two French Farman double-deckers from "Mort-Homme". As I arrived, there had been already four of them. I was waiting for a favorable opportunity until two of them came over our front. I attacked the first one immediately. Both Frenchmen had been as thick as thieves; but I did not let the one I attacked go anymore and continued to fly after him while the second Frenchman tried to stay behind me. That was the real cat and mouse game! The one I attacked wriggled like an eel to escape. After all, we were down to five hundred meters. I got hold of that one well from behind, flew very close, wondered why he didn't fly turns anymore and wanted to finish him off as my guns failed. In the heat of the battle I had pressed the button too hard which was now jamming. Because now the second Frenchman attacked myself I ran away immediately. The last fight happened above our lines. My research as well as the reports from the front resulted in the conclusion that the Frenchman had gotten his share nevertheless. He barely reached the other side of the river Maas in a glide where he went down - some saying he landed, some saying he crashed. I believe the first, only that he did no correct landing but that his machine broke up on landing. I then got the news from Leutnant R. that the aircraft as well as a car that wanted to come for help had been both shot in flames. And from Leutnant B, Jägerregiment..., I got the details: After the landing, one of the crew jumped out of the machine, ran to the nearby village and came back with a stretcher to drag away the other one. The whole thing seems to have happened this way: I wounded the pilot badly who was barely able to get down. He got taken away before our artillery destroyed the aircraft.

There had been much flying activities again on the other day, the 13th. Early in the morning I just arrived as a German had been attacked by a French "avion de chase" (fighter aircraft) above Fort Douaumont. I went after the latter and chased him away - it was a real pleasure to see him running. In the afternoon around one o'clock I saw a French squadron flying over the front near "Mort-Homme" into the direction of D. I picked one of them, diving down on him. It was a Voisin double-decker, hanging off a bit on the right. Because I had been high above him I closed up quickly and fired efficiently at him before he could get aware of the situation. He turned immediately to fly back to the front. Again I attacked fiercely. Then he toppled over to the right and vanished under my wing. I believed he will fall, heaved to again to keep an eye on him and see to my astonishment that the opponent straightens up again. Again I approach him and see something very strange. The observer had climbed out of the machine, sitting on the left wing, keeping himself on the struts, looking frightened at me waving his hand. The whole image looked rather miserable and for a moment I hesitated to shoot at him. He was completely defenseless. I had shot up the controls of the aircraft and the machine went down. To regain control the observer climbed out, sitting down on the wing to restore the balance. I fired some more shots at the pilot to get him completely down. Then I got disturbed by a second Frenchman who came to help his comrade. Because I had only a few rounds left and because I was already above the trenches I flew away quickly. After my leave the enemy machine continued to glide for short distance but in the end it crashed from low altitude nevertheless. It lays before one of our field guards, east of the village of M.. One can see it clearly from our front.

Now we really over salted the fun of the French. On March 14 I got yet another "avion de chasse" who really hurried to get out of my range. I escorted him for a while, playing the music to it with the machine gun. He went down behind Fort M., as reported by the Jäger.

Last night I had been invited at the Crown Prince for dinner. It was very nice and comfortable. The Crown Prince doesn't attach importance to the etiquette. He's very natural. He "grilled" me well, as he said himself. We talked a long time and as he left he told me that he will keep his fingers crossed for me to complete the dozen soon.

Numbers twelve and thirteen came very soon one after the other. Because there was flying weather almost daily, there was always work. On March 19 at noon I flew in the region of D. where I wanted to intercept two Farmans that drove around behind their front. Then, around 1/4 1 O'clock, I noticed on the Western side of the river Maas explosion dots going up North. I just arrived as the enemy machine flew back over it's lines. I believed already he escaped as I see him suddenly turning, flying towards a German double-decker. But that didn't agree with him at all because I got him from above. As soon as he spotted mem, he wanted to escape in a spiraling glide, trying to shoot at me. But if one is that swollen of fear, flying a turn at the same time, one never hits anything. I for my part was waiting for the most advantageous moments, placing well aimed shots. That way I came very close. Suddenly I see how the opponent is looping the loop. Soon after that a wing breaks off and the whole machine dissolves into atoms. Because we had southern wind the fight brought us close to our lines so the machine fell into our trenches. The crew - an officer and an airman first class - had both been dead. I hit the pilot multiple times so his death was instant. The infantry send back several items from the crashed aircraft, including a photo camera and a machine gun. The pictures had been developed. They show our artillery positions.

This morning I started at 0950 because a Farman double-decker had been under fire of our balloon defense artillery above Côte de .... The opponent flew back and forth in the line of Ch... and Ch... . At about 10 past 10 I had out climbed an enemy double-decker, as well as a second one, a Farman that flew above the back of M.. As the Farman approached our positions again I was heading towards him to attack. Also the balloon defense artillery shot at the two approaching aircraft. I took the shots for direction indicators because they did not came any close to the Frenchmen. The moment one of the Farman turned South I took the opportunity to dive onto the one that flew lower. He saw me coming and tried to get away of the attack in steep turns. Because the opponent flew very smart I could shoot only very late. At an altitude of about 500-600m I opened fire at the opponent who still tried to reach the protection of his own lines by flying gliding turns. Because I had approached the Chaussee M.-Ch. to a distance of 200m I cancelled the attack. The opponent gave full throttle again (the oily cloud was well visible) and continued to fly in South-East direction. For this failure I got rewarded two hours later. At 11 O'clock in the morning I saw west of O. a German double-decker fighting with a Farman double-decker. I jumped onto the Farman whom I got from behind while another Fokker dove onto him from above, heaving to then. In the meantime I had come very close to the Farman, who seemingly didn't see me come (distance below 80m) and I opened fire. Because I dove in from above, pressing hard, I catched up with the enemy machine within seconds. In the moment I wanted to pull my machine up above the opponent I saw him explode. I still got the black could of smoke into my face. That was no fight but a banging down in the shortest of time. The scene was just beautiful as the enemy machine broke up just before me, bursting into flames and going down like a huge torch.

The rumors about my head- throat- arm- belly- leg- etc. shots will now hopefully die down. The people will now maybe believe that I feel perfectly well, stopping to ask about me with skeptical looks in their faces.

Thursday morning at nine I had barely arrived in S. as two Frenchmen showed up (the first time since four weeks). I drove to the field immediately and pursued them but came too late. I only witnessed how a German double-decker shot one of them down. The other one escaped. I then flew to the East front of Verdun where I arrived just in time for a new racket. There were three Frenchmen coming over the front where they got attacked by a Fokker who got in trouble, being forced to retrieve. I came to the rescue, picked one and twisted him round. Thereafter the whole party flew back home. But I didn't let my client go and stuck with him. He wriggled like an eel and flew very skillful. I got him three times from behind and one time from slanted front so that the machine finally did a steep turn, rolling in a way that it flew wheels up for a while. Then it turned over a wing and went down. After the reports of ... Reserve Division the aircraft was rolling twice before it fell straight into the wood terrain South-West of B, That was number 14.

In the evening of May 1st I saw an enemy double-decker above "Côte du Poivre". I started immediately and found him still at an altitude of about 500m. Apparently he had not seen me. I attacked him from above high and welcomed him with the our machine gun fire. He did a quick turn and - imagine the freshness - fires again. But he didn't do that much long. I put him the screws well on. The operation was point-blank. He turned and wriggled a few more times then he was finished and overturned where after I flew home, satisfied. The whole thing took 2 minutes at the most.

On May 17 I had a good day. One of our artillery aircraft that wanted to photograph near Verdun asked me for escort. I met the other one above the "Côte de..." and escorted him at high altitude. He could work very calmly and returned soon, unscathed. On the way back I noticed explosion dots near Douaumont so I flew there for a closer inspection. Apart of myself there were still four or five other German double-deckers, but I also saw some French fighter aircraft on the other side. I kept in the background for a while, observing the opponents. Then I see how a Nieuwport becomes fresh, attacking one of our double-deckers. I dive there immediately, close up to a short distance and believe in my certain success. But I arrived at high speed and overshot him. He now ran away and I followed. I came to a good shot a few times but I had a skillful enemy before me who flew brilliantly (the fear might have helped with it). I still escorted him for a while but he did not appreciate that. Because his war companions came to his rescue in the meantime, trying to shoot my jacket full, I pulled back behind our lines to await the opponent there. One who flew higher than me came over too and attacked. We did a few funny turns where after he cleared off. Because the enemy was higher I didn't come to a good shot but I insisted on following him a bit. By all of these jokes I went down from my nice altitude of 4000m to the half of it. The same happened to our double-deckers.

But look there - I can't believe my very eyes - there appear eight enemy twin-engine Caudrons, lined up at at an altitude of 4000m. They flew on the front of Maas-Douaumont in pairs of two. What a nasty thing! I now needed to climb back to that altitude so I hang on to a couple and try to get closer. But I couldn't reach them because they flew very high, never taking the trouble to get down to me. They turned already back after they arrived at our observation balloons anyway. That way about 10-20min passed. As the opponents were back at the front I was almost at the same height, now trying to give them some from below. But the gentlemen treated me with contempt, flying back home unconcerned. Then I notice two more Caudrons arriving above "Côte de...". To my happiness they were lower than I. I flew there but in the meantime they were already over the Maas. I'd liked to shower one of them nevertheless as I noticed a Nieuwport and yet another Caudron diving onto me from high above the positions. I took on the more dangerous opponent and fly straight towards the Nieuwport. We banged at each other, slid over each other, but none of us it the other. I only wanted to defend myself anyway. When one flies against the other the speeds sum up so one never hits something. Because I was lower I couldn't do anything else if I did not want to loose altitude. I turned back immediately and banged briefly behind the other. Then the other Cauldron arrived, doing the same with me, but he did it worse than the Nieuwport. I followed him immediately, wanting to give him a bad name. But there was another Fokker coming to my rescue and getting in first. That one dove onto the Cauldron. Unfortunately we were already above the French lines so the Cauldron switched off immediately (the engines), trying to escape (in a dive). The other Fokker went already after him. This had been noticed by the Nieuwport who came to help his pressed comrade; this I noticed and came to help the other Fokker. Now the following funny situation had been setup: Below was the running Cauldron, behind him was a Fokker, behind that one was a Nieuwport and behind that one was me. That was a funny shooting! Finally the Fokker let the Caudron go and the Nieuwport let the Fokker go too because he felt bored by that shooting. I emptied my last rounds too and flew back home. The whole comedy lasted for about one hour. I had worked hard but without a noticeable success. But at least the other Fokker (later identified as Althaus') and I dominated the battle field.

On May 18 came number 16. I flew late in the afternoon and found the region of Verdun polluted by our double-deckers so I found myself completely redundant therefore I went on travel. I wanted to see the Champagne again so I flew to A. and back again. In the whole region there was the deepest of  peace on earth as well as in the air. I only saw one aircraft near A. from far away. But then on my way back I had the luck to see two explosion dots south-east of M. and soon after that I find a twin-engine Caudron close to me. The Frenchman hadn't seen me at all. He flew already back home, not suspecting a thing. I closed up more and more without shooting because he did not show a sign of wanting to escape nor attack. I started a well aimed permanent shooting as I was as close as fifty meters, seeing the two of the crew clearly inside of the machine. The opponent rolled immediately, trying to evade downwards but it was too late now. I was too close and I could shoot him at ease. After about five hundred rounds I saw the left engine smoking badly, exploding in glaring flame soon after. The machine spun, broke and catched fire. Like a stone it fell down into the second French position where it continued to burn.

On May 20 I went hunting in the Champagne again where I got a Farman north of B.. I attacked him behind his lines but he dove down immediately. But I tried to get him nevertheless because nothing was there as far as the eye could see. I stuck on his tail shooting at him but he didn't want to fall. The Farman pilots are well protected by the engine placed in the rear. One can kill their observer, one can shoot up their engine, fuel tanks and everything, but if they are already on the other side they will always come down in a glide. But in this case I believe to have wounded the pilot too because the machine made the typical uncontrolled movements in longitudinal direction. Anyway, the fight had been carried too far behind the front so I flew home.
On the other day I finally had visible success. At noon I flew on both sides of the Maas barrier. On the other side flew two French fighter aircraft at high altitude which I could not reach. I wanted already to return and descended in a glide above "Mort-Homme" as I spotted two Caudrons below that I had not noticed before. I approached the two of them but they ran away. I came as close as 200m to one of them and started to shoot straight on as I see one of the Nieuwports diving onto me. I wanted to teach that one a lesson! I let the Caudrons go and flew away to the North. The Nieuwport followed me, believing I had not noticed him. I kept an eye on him until he had closed up to 200m. Then I quickly threw my machine around, heading on to him. He took a big shock, throwing his machine around to escape to the South. But through my attack I won about one hundred meters so that I could pump his ship full with lead from a distance of one hundred to one hundred and fifty meters. He didn't make it hard work for me anyway because flew straight on. Also I had ammunition on board that made it possible to trace the shooting path. Soon the opponent started to stagger but I couldn't follow him long enough to see him hitting the ground. Only in the evening I learned from the "Stabsoffizier der Flieger" (Air Force Staff Officer) that the infantry at "Mort-Homme" had already reported the aircraft being crashed. In the evening I went on hunt again without having set a particular destination. After about two hours of flying time and several unsuccessful attempts I became successful in the end. I flew north of "Bois de..." as I saw a Frenchman flying over it. I simulated that I was flying away and look there, the Frenchman fell for it, coming over to our front. Now I dove down to him with incredible speed (I was much higher than him). He turned back immediately but couldn't escape anymore. I got him close behind his lines. Still now he's so careless to fly straight on, me closely behind. I start to hammer him with well aimed permanent fire. I continue to hammer until that machine catches fire too. I the middle of the shooting I see the opponent explode, collapsing and going down. On the way down he also looses a wing. In that way I got numbers 17 and 18 on a single day.

 O.B. Main Page - Entry Page - Introduction - Preface
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Copyright©  by Gaston Graf, 1998-2005
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