8 July 1916 - Mulzer earns the Blue Max

[Gregvan]

Hi There,
On 8 July 1916 (100 years ago as I type this), No. 4 Sqdn RFC was making an extensive effort to photograph the sector planned for the next phase of the Battle of the Somme - the second line, occupying the ridge from Longueval to Bazentin-le-Petit. One of the 4 Sqdn crews was made up of Lt EC Jowett (Australian) and Corporal R Johnstone in BE2d 5765. This is not that machine, but an earlier BE2c of No. 4 Sqdn.


During their reconnaissance, they were attacked by a Fokker Eindecker flown by Ltn. Max Mulzer of KEK 3, the single-seater contingent of FFA 5b. Mulzer fired 80 - 100 shots during his initial run at the BE, and then pulled up. He watched as the wounded Jowett managed to crash-land it near Miraumont. Both men were captured, but Jowett died the next day.

This was Mulzer's eighth victory, which at the time was the benchmark for the Pour le Mérite. He had been awarded the Royal Hohenzollern House Order, Knight's Cross with Swords just the previous day. His PLM on 8 July 1916 made him the first Bavarian pilot and only the sixth Bavarian soldier, period, to be so honored in WWI.



On 21 August, Mulzer would achieve another 'first' when he became the first Bavarian airman to be awarded Bavaria's highest military order, the Military Max-Joseph Order, Knight's Cross - making him Ritter von Mulzer. Though it was awarded on 21 August it was backdated to 8 July.



Mulzer harbored no illusions about his prospects in spite of his many decorations, however. On 25 September 1916, sitting at the FFA 5b dining table, he said, "Now I should buy a beautiful, broad ribbon for my Max-Joseph Order, because that will ensure that I will have a beautiful Ordenskissen.' Later that same day, he said, "I'm next. Immelmann is dead. Parschau is dead, yesterday Wintgens...now I'm next in line." Indeed he was, dying in the crash of an Albatros D.I the next day.

Also on 8 July 1916, James T B McCudden was posted to return to action in France as an FE2b pilot in No. 20 Sqdn at Clairmarais. He had been in England for seven months, training as a pilot and then as an instructor. He would make his first war flight as a pilot on 10 July. On 7 August he would be posted to No. 29 Sqdn to fly DH2s and really begin his career as a single-seater scout pilot.

My old C & C (USA) Chronology of the air war (Vol 7 No 2, 1966) says that on 8 July 1916, "at Dunkirk seven RNAS aircraft spot for 12-inch naval guns trying to destroy the famed German Tirpitz coastal battery."

[Pips]

Fascinating Greg, many thanks for posting that information.

[sator]

They all didn,t seem to last long, if one thing didn,t get them something else did, a very short-lived lifestyle.

[R Gannon]

The three dimensional view of this fight is that it was an overcast day with 8mm of rain. TSTBF tells us the 4 Sqn crew chased an EA east and then met a Fokker near Miraumont (7km German side). I further have it that the Fokker attacked out of a cloud.

Cheers Russ