NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Oswald Boelcke

Boelcke was born in Giebichenstein, the son of a schoolmaster recently returned from Argentina. His family name was originally spelt Bölcke, but Oswald and his elder brother Wilhelm dispensed with the umlaut and adopted the Latin spelling in place of the German. The pronunciation is the same for both spellings. After leaving school he joined Telegraphen-Bataillon Nr. 3 in Koblenz as a Fahnenjunker (cadet officer). In mid-1914 he transferred to the Fliegertruppe. His flight training took place from May to August at the Halberstädter Fliegerschule, and he was then immediately posted to active duty. The Giebichenstein in StÃ¶ckse, Germany The Giebichenstein in StÃ¶ckse, Germany, is one of the biggest erratic blocks of Northern Germany. ... The umlaut mark (or simply umlaut) and the trema or diaeresis mark (or simply diaeresis) are two diacritics consisting of a pair of dots placed over a letter. ... For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ... Map of the Koblenz region Koblenz (also Coblenz in pre-1926 German spellings; French Coblence) is a city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck (German Corner) and its monument ( Emperor William I on horseback) are situated. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Career as a combat fighter pilot

He was initially posted to Fliegerabteilung 13. He transferred to Fliegerabteilung 62 in April 1915, based at Douai. Boelcke's observer shot down their first enemy aircraft on July 4, 1915. In the same month, Boelcke and Max Immelmann became the first German fighter pilots, being given the two of the five constructed Fokker M.5K/MG production prototypes of the Fokker E.I aircraft, fitted with a synchronized forward-firing Parabellum machine gun. Boelcke won his first aerial combat on 19 August 1915, downed four more enemy aircraft before the end of the year and had four more 'kills' in January 1916. Also in January 1916 he and Immelmann were the first German fliers to be awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military medal. After Immelmann was killed in June 1916, Boelcke became the top German ace. In March 1916 Boelcke was made leader of the newly formed Fliegerabteilung Sivery and led them in action over Verdun. Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Bell tower of Douai, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, 1871. ... is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Max Immelmann Max Immelmann (September 21, 1890 - June 18, 1916) was a German World War I Flying ace. ... Max Immelmann of Feldflieger Abteilung 62 in the cockpit of his Fokker E.I. The Fokker E.I was the first successful fighter aircraft, entering combat with the German Army Air Service in mid-1915 which marked the start of a period known as the Fokker Scourge during which the... is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Order Pour le MÃ©rite, known informally as the Blue Max (German: Blauer Max), was Prussias highest military order until the end of World War I. The award was a blue-enameled Maltese Cross with eagles between the arms, the Prussian royal cypher, and the French legend Pour... Verdun, sometimes also called Verdun-sur-Meuse, is a city in northeast France, in the département of Meuse, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ...

Oswald Boelcke poses in the cockpit of his Fokker E.IV (1916).

The German air force (Luftstreitkräfte) was reorganized in mid-1916 and Boelcke was appointed commander of his hand-picked group of Jagdstaffel Nr. 2, usually called Jasta 2, in September. Among his first selections were Manfred von Richthofen, Erwin Böhme and Hans Reimann. The unit initially flew Fokker D.II and Halberstadt D.II fighters, but really got into its stride with the new Albatros D.I and D.II. Boelcke shot down eleven Royal Flying Corps planes in his first month with Jasta 2. His pilots always flew in disciplined formations, and he repeatedly drilled them in his tactics. Among them were his famed combat rules, called "Boelcke's Dicta", which were the first systematic analysis of air combat and continued to be applicable through World War II. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Fokker E.IV was the final variant of the Fokker Eindecker fighter aircraft that was operated by Germany during the First World War. ... The LuftstreitkrÃ¤fte or Imperial German Army Air Service (Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches), was the over-land air arm of the German military during World War I (1914â€“1918). ... â€œRed Baronâ€ redirects here. ... Erwin BÃ¶hme (July 29, 1879 â€“ November 29, 1917) was a German pilot during World War One. ... The Fokker D.II was a German fighter biplane of World War I. It was a single seat fighter aircraft developed before the Fokker D.I. It was based on the M.17 prototype, a conventionally laid-out aircraft with single-bay, unstaggered wings with a larger fuselage and shorter... The Halberstadt D.II was a biplane fighter aircraft of the Imperial German Army Air Service that served through the period of Allied air superiority in early 1916, but had begun to be superseded in the Jagdstaffeln by the superior Albatros fighters by the autumn of that year. ... The Albatros D I was a German fighter airplane used during World War I. It was designed by Thelen, Schubert and GnÃ¤dig, in an attempt to create an airplane superior to the then-dominant Nieuport 11 (BÃ©bÃ©) and Airco D.H.2. ... Albatros D.II The Albatros D.II was a German fighter airplane used during World War I. It was the successor to the Albatros D.I, designed by Thelen, Schubert and GnÃ¤dig in an attempt to rectify the D.Is poor visibility. ... The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of World War I. // Formed by Royal Warrant on 13 May 1912, the RFC superseded the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers. ... The Dicta Boelcke is a list of fundamental tactics of air combat formulated by the first great German flying ace of the First World War, Oswald Boelcke. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Death in action

Boelcke was killed when his Albatros D.II collided with that of Böhme, a pilot of his own squadron, during a dog fight with DH.2s flown by No. 24 Squadron RFC. It was reported, by a fellow pilot, that Boelcke's plane "fell like a stone, after which I saw him tumble out and then plummet to the deck along with his D.II". By then Boelcke had forty successes to his credit, a record that stood until von Richthofen exceeded it six months later. Böhme survived the collision but subsequently fell into a deep depression and had to be restrained from committing suicide. However, he achieved 24 victories before he was also killed in action in November 1917. Exactly one year, one month and one day after Boelcke's death. Dog fight is a common term used to describe close-range aerial combat between military aircraft. ... The Airco DH.2 was a single-seat biplane pusher aircraft which operated as a fighter during the First World War. ... No. ...

After Boelcke's death, Jasta 2 was renamed in his honor, the only such German fighter squadron to bear that distinction. At the end of the war two years later, only eleven other German aces matched or exceeded his record.

In the modern German Luftwaffe of today, Jagdbombergeschwader 31 bears Boelcke's name. The Deutsche Luftwaffe or (German: air force, literally Air Weapon, pronounced lufft-va-fa, IPA: ) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ...

External links

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Aviation in World War I

Aces · Aircraft of the Entente Powers · Aircraft of the Central Powers · Zeppelins · World War I Aircraft Color Autochrome LumiÃ¨re of a Nieuport Fighter in Aisne, France 1917 Osof the many innovations of World War I, aircraft were first used for reconnaissance purposes and later as fighters and bombers. ... This is a list of World War I flying aces by nationality (Number of victories in parentheses). ... This is a list of military aircraft used by the Entente Powers in World War I. // United Kingdom Fighters & Interceptors AD Scout Airco DH.2 (aka De Havilland DH.2) (1915) Armstrong Whitworth Siskin Bristol F.2 Fighter(April 1917) Morane-Saulnier Type L (1913) (fighter/reconnaissance) Morane-Saulnier Type... // Fighters and Interceptors Albatros D.I (1916) Albatros D.II (1916) Albatros D.III (1916) Albatros D.V Aviatik C.VI Damiler L.6 Fokker D.I Fokker D.II Fokker D.III Fokker D.IV Fokker D.V Fokker D.VI Fokker D.VII (1918) Fokker D.VIII (aka... This is an article about Zeppelin airships. ...

Contents

Career as a combat fighter pilot

Death in action

External links