Hans Imelmann

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Hans Imelmann (born May 14, 1897 in Hanover ; † January 23, 1917 near Miraumont , Somme department ) was a successful German fighter pilot in the First World War . He was shot down and killed before he was 20 years old.

When the First World War broke out, Imelmann joined the air force as a volunteer and was trained as a pilot . Oswald Boelcke , who was appointed head of the newly established Jagdstaffel 2 in August 1916 and was allowed to choose the pilots of his squadron himself, saw the 19-year-old Imelmann during his combat training as a monoplane pilot with the Combat Single Seat Command (KEK) Metz at the Metz military airfield -Frescaty and chose the young lieutenant of the reserve for his squadron. Imelmann was the youngest pilot of the Jasta 2. Within less than five weeks, from October 10 to November 9, 1916, Imelmann achieved five aerial victories , several of them in joint missions with his squadron comrade Manfred von Richthofen . He won his sixth and last on December 20, 1916.

On January 23, 1917 there was an aerial battle between Imelmann's Albatros D.III and a British BE2c with Captain JC McMillan (pilot) and Second Lieutenant Hopkins (observer) over the village of Miraumont (northeast of Albert and west of Bapaume ) in northern France . At 2:05 p.m. Imelmann's machine went up in flames after being hit by a machine gun in the fuel tank and crashed. Imelmann was the first German flying ace , was shot down in 1917 in aerial combat and thereby lost his life.

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ Renamed to Jasta 17 on October 23, 1917 .

literature

  • Greg VanWyngarden: Jagdstaffel 2 Boelcke: Von Richthofen's mentor. Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 2007, ISBN 1-84603-203-2 , p. 28
  • Neal W. O'Connor: Aviation Awards of Imperial Germany in World War I and the Men Who Earned Them - Volume V: Aviation Awards of the Eight Thuringian States and the Duchy of Anhalt. Foundation of Aviation World War I, Princeton, New Jersey & Flying Machines Press, Stratford, Connecticut, 1998

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Imelmann, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German fighter pilot in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH May 14, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1917
Place of death near Miraumont, Somme department