Walter Göttsch

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Walter Göttsch

Walter Göttsch (* 10. June 1896 in Altona ; † 10. April 1918 in Amiens in France ) was a fighter pilot of the German Air Force in the First World War .

Göttsch announced on 1 July 1915 as a volunteer and entered 1916 in the Air Force. After his training, he first came to Fliegerabteilung 33 on the western front in Flanders , then reported as a fighter pilot and was transferred to the Jasta 8 squadron on September 10, 1916 . Göttsch achieved his first aerial victory on November 4, 1916 against a Belgian tethered balloon over Oostvlederen.

Gravestone of Walter Göttsch, Nienstedten Cemetery in Hamburg

Göttsch achieved his fourth aerial victory on January 7, 1917 over an FE2d of the 20th Squadron of the RFC . Its pilot Thomas Mottershead was able to land the aircraft behind its own lines despite severe burns, but succumbed to his injuries and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross . Göttsch shot down two more FE2d on February 1, 1917, but was wounded on February 3 at Wervicq when attacking an FE2d.

After his recovery, he returned to Jasta 8 in April 1917 and scored six more aerial victories until he was shot down by an FE2d himself on June 29, 1917 and had to make an emergency landing. On September 25, 1917 Göttsch was wounded again in a dogfight with a Bristol Fighter . Shortly after his return to the fighter squadron, he suffered another wound in an aerial battle on November 30, 1917. In January 1918 Göttsch returned to the troops and was presumably given command of the Jasta 19 on February 14, 1918.

He won three more aerial victories in his Fokker triplane marked with a swastika . During the German spring offensive in 1918 , he achieved the last aerial victory over a RE8 near Gentelles , approx. 10 km southeast of Amiens . Göttsch crashed after being fatally struck by the machine gun fire of the enemy observer while being shot down.

Walter Göttsch was buried in the Nienstedten cemetery in Hamburg. The grave is near the gatehouse.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Norman Franks et al .: Casualties of the German Air Service 1914–1920. Grub Street, London 1999, p. 49.
  2. ↑ At this point in time, the squadron already received new Siemens-Schuckert D.III single-seaters

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Göttsch, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goettsch, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German fighter pilot in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Altona
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 1918
Place of death at Amiens