EARLY YEARS AND ARMY SERVICE
Adolf Tutschek was born in Ingolstadt on May 16, 1891. He was the son of Karl Tutschek, Chief Medical Officer to the Royal Bavarian Military Academy.
The younger Adolf attended Saint Anna High School in Augsburg until 1910… then joined the Royal Bavarian Cadet School. After graduation in October 1912, he joined in the “Prince Carl of Bavaria” Third Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment as a Fahnenjunker (officer aspirant). He was later commissioned as Leutnant (lieutenant).
Tutschek started his field service in the First World War with Prussian Fusilier Regiment Number 40 in the Vosges. He was soon transferred back to the Bavarian Third Infantry Regiment (from March 1915 on part of the Bavarian Eleventh Division). Tutschek first served as a second battalion’s adjutant, then as a company leader in France, Galicia, Poland, and Serbia. In May 1915 (during the early stages of the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive in the East), he was wounded in the foot by shrapnel from a hand grenade.
On August 10, 1915, Tutschek led two companies of Bavarian infantry in an assault on a Russian stronghold near Petryłów. Under his leadership, the Bavarians held out against repeated counterattacks. Tutschek’s valor in this fight was rewarded on February 25, 1916 by the award of the Bavarian Military Order of Max Joseph. His kingdom’s highest military order rewarded Tutschek with a lifetime patent of nobility, signified by inserting the phrase “Ritter von” into his name. It also paid a lifetime pension.
In early 1916, Tutschek was promoted to Oberleutnant. He was seriously wounded by poison gas during the Battle of Verdun in March of that year. Upon his recovery, Tutschek made a request for pilot training.
AERIAL SERVICE
In July 1916, Ritter von Tutschek attended flight school at Schleissheim with Fliegerersatz-Abteilung 1 (Replacement Detachment 1). Three months later, he returned to the front… flying initially with Flieger-Abteilung 6b (Flier Detachment 6b), an artillery spotting unit.
Tutschek was then posted to fly single-seat fighters with Jagdstaffel 2 (Fighter Squadron 2) in January 1917. Over the next three months, he flew 140 combat sorties, made seven victory claims, and three confirmed kills. On March 6, 1917, Tutschek earned his first triumph over the Airco DH.2 of Lieutenant Maxmillian Mare-Montembault of Number 32 Squadron RFC (an ace who was shot down and captured).
On April 28th, Tutschek assumed command of Prussian Jagdstaffel 12 based at Epinoy upon the death of its commander. One of its pilots was future ace and commanding officer of Jagdstaffel 52, Paul Billik.
Ritter von Tutschek’s appointment was unusual, because he was a Bavarian leading a Prussian raised Jagdstaffel. On April 30th, Tutschek allayed any Prussian suspicion of Bavarians by sprinting to his airplane through falling bombs during a raid on their home airfield… and he led a night flight in pursuit of the bombers! Tutschek shot down one of the raiders, a Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2b of Number 57 Squadron RFC… thus scoring a victory on his first flight with his new command. The personal aircraft color scheme of Ritter von Tutschek was ink black overall with a white propeller spinner and a square white background for the Maltese cross tail markings.
In May 1917, Tutschek was credited with shooting down a trio of Sopwith Pups of Number 3 Naval Squadron RNAS. However, his May 11th victim recovered from an apparently uncontrollable spin and returned to base… despite being shot through the mouth!
On May 20th, Tutschek scored his tenth victory in a long duel with a SPAD of Number 23 Squadron RFC that crashed in flames. Six days later, he went on leave for exactly one month.
Returning to the fight on June 26th, Tutschek attacked two Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters, though the return fire damaged his Albatros, forcing him to land. In combat against Nieuport Scouts of the Number 60 Squadron RFC three days later, his engine was again damaged, and he force-landed near Cantin.
For the month of July 1917, Tutschek scored eleven victories. On the 15th, he downed one of Captain Billy Bishop’s Number 60 Squadron comrades (Lieutenant GAH Parkes) for victory number sixteen. On the 28th during a morning sortie, he shot down the English seven-victory ace Flight Sub-Lieutenant E. D. Crundall of Naval 8 Squadron RNAS (who survived). In the afternoon, Tutschek claimed another ace: Number 40 Squadron’s Captain John Henry Tudhope (who had ten kills… and returned to base with damage).
On July 11th, Tutschek was awarded the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. Just under a month later (August 3rd) and credited with twenty-one kills, he was awarded Germany’s premier decoration for valor, the Pour le Mérite.
Just after victory number twenty-three on August 11, 1917, Tutschek was severely wounded in the shoulder by Flight Lieutenant Charles Dawson Booker of Naval 8 Squadron. If Viktor Schobinger had not intervened and shot down Booker, Ritter von Tutschek might have been killed.
With his lower right shoulder blade shattered, Tutschek took six months to recover and spent the time writing a memoir of his flying experiences, Stürme und Luftsiege (Attacks and Air Victories). His edited letters would also later appear in print.
HIGHER COMMAND… AND DOWNFALL
Returning to active service in February 1918, Hauptmann Adolf Ritter von Tutschek was given command of the new Jagdgeschwader II, consisting of Jagdstaffel 12, 13, 15, and 19. As German air strategy turned towards concentrated air power, he was entrusted with one of the world’s first fighter wings.
Ritter von Tutschek was given the challenge of gearing up and staffing a new organization, but he expressed his dissatisfaction with the progress in his diary. The new unit was short of aircraft, parts, and fuel… and it faced a numerically superior Royal Flying Corps (soon to be known as the Royal Air Force).
One of Tutschek’s prerequisites was a new airplane to fly. He was delighted with his brand-new Fokker Dr.I triplane (first tested on February 17, 1918) and raved about it in his diary:
“..a tremendous machine climbs terrifically.”
Tutschek used it to score the last four victories of his career: February 26th, the first of March (against a balloon), the 6th, and the 10th. However, on the last day of February, he narrowly survived a mid-air collision with Lieutenant Paul Blumenbach (who was also flying another triplane). Both pilots managed to coax their damaged machines to safe landings.
On March 15, 1918, the future ten-victory South African ace Lieutenant Harold Redler of the Royal Flying Corps’s Number 24 Squadron shot down Ritter von Tutschek. The German spun down and out of control in his green triplane (serial number 404/17). There are two versions of what followed:
1. Tutschek still had his wiping cloth tucked through his buttonhole and under his safety harness… as it was his habit to wipe his goggles clean going into battle, it was deduced he had been caught unaware.
2. One of Redler’s bullets creased Tutschek’s head, which caused him to land. Tutschek supposedly waved to his wingmen as they circled, but was later found dead next to his plane. This version of the story was deemed less likely to happen.
Adolf Ritter von Tutschek died near Brancourt-le-Grand in France at the age of only twenty-six… less than one week before Opeation Michael was launched. His tally of twenty-seven victories would amount to just over one quarter of the 104 scored for Jagdstaffel 12.
DECORATIONS AND AWARDS
– Military Order of Max Joseph (February 25, 1916)
– Iron Cross of 1914, First and Second Class
– Knight’s Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords (July 11, 1917)
– Pour le Mérite (August 3, 1917)
– Military Merit Order, Third Class with Crown and Swords (Bavaria)