Max Immelmann killed 100 years ago today

[Ritter von Fear]

Hello All,

I'm surprised this has not been mentioned tonight.

I remember 20 years ago today, being a World War I obsessed 16 year old and recalling the 80 year anniversary of Max Immelmann's death. Now 20 years on, its now 100 years.

I am sure that drop of 2,00 feet seemed an eternity at the time but that was 100 years ago. The world has changed so much.

What is our today, will be 100 years for others, just as it was for Max.

['14-'18aviationcollector]

Hi, thank you very much for letting us know. It is amazing that this anniversary has not been mentioned anywhere else.


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[Willi Von Klugerman]

Regards to a brave airman,like many of his compatriots from either side of the trenches.The world moves on but the legacy of those in arms should be brought with it,for us and towards the future.Blue skies!

[Duck Rogers]

Was Max killed by bullets, or was it an accidental death? (synch mech failure like the legend says)

[R Gannon]

I have to say this, when it comes to the heroic deaths of German hero's like Immelmann.

Never in the field of human conflict, have so many hero's been killed actually in combat with the enemy, with attested facts that the enemy were actually shooting at them, but we are supposed to be believe they were undefeated except by fate!

The moral in this perception goes back to 14 Jan 16, on the occasion of Boelcke's #8th which saw him awarded the OPleM, he downed an 8 Sqn BE (4087) but in the process had his fuel tanks, and indeed his own overcoat, shot through, and he had to make a forced landing, as related in a letter to his brother, but the German authorities simply reported that the FTL was on account that he ran out of fuel (see Knight of Germany by Werner page 144 in my Arno copy). I would say that this revisionism is the downside of the cult of the hero which can't bring itself to admit their hero's could be defeated in fair combat with the enemy and leads to all manner of fanciful undefeated except by fate excuses for the deaths in combat of attested German hero's.

The hard truth is Immelmann on 18 Jun 16 was being fired upon by the 25 Sqn crew of 2Lt GR McCubbin & Cpl J Waller, who had no idea as to the identity of the pilot of the Fokker eindeker which under their fire fell away OOC and was later reported to have crashed by British AA. But Immelmann had survived a near structural failure in combat on 31 May 16 (with 23 Sqn), which I suspect became the basis for the official German undefeated except by fate version of his death in combat on 18 June.

Cheers Russ

[josef scott]

The image on the left is of Immelmann's forced landing on May 27 1916 when he shot off his own prop. (photo is property of Oliver Wulff)

The right image is of his crash remains form Jun 18. Again, the prop has broken on a straight line directly in front of the gun muzzle.

[Graeme]

Right where Waller's bullets hit it.

Graeme

[josef scott]

Exactly

...

[Askania]

Duck Rogers

The British legend says McCubbin and Waller. The most plausible explanation and closest to the truth says mechanical failure. Do not always believe the British propaganda team that by a few sherry pickings tries to prove a point, or tries to postulate a general narrative.

“The German crash investigation team found that the failure of Immelmann´s gun-gear had caused the loss of one propeller blade which had resulted in maneuvers that overstressed the airframe. Note the straight break on the left hand propeller blade, exactly in line with the machine-gun muzzle, and the flattened steel tube longerons on the rear fuselage, showing evidence of bending that gives credence to the German findings.”
Alex Imrie

“Immelmann lost his life by silly chance. All that is written in the papers about a fight in the air, etc. is rot. A bit of his propeller flew off; the jarring tore the bracing wires connecting up with the fuselage, and then that broke away.”
Oswald Boelcke


Askania

[Askania]

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