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AIR WARRIOR

Otto Parschau was born on November 11, 1890 in Klausen (now Klutznick, Poland), located in the Allenstein district of East Prussia. He joined the Infanterie-Regiment Number 151 in 1910 and became a commissioned officer the following year. Parschau was trained as a pilot in Johannisthal, Darmstadt, and Hanover. He received his flying license on July 4, 1913. Upon the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Parschau was already serving with the Luftstreitkräfte.

THE GREEN MACHINE

Parschau was assigned the Fokker A.III aircraft bearing both the Fokker factory serial number 216 and the IdFlieg military serial number of A.16/15. This unarmed monoplane had been privately purchased in 1913 and flown by Oberleutnant Waldemar von Buttlar. It was requisitioned by the Fliegertruppe, and von Buttlar was commissioned as an officer in the Imperial German Army at the outbreak of hostilities.

The airplane was painted in a shade of green that was the same as that used by von Buttlar’s previous Marburg-based Jäger Regiment 11. Parschau had served with the same Brieftauben-Abteilung Ostende (BAO) unit in Belgium as Oberleutnant von Buttlar did in November 1914… where the two officers could have first made contact.

As A.16/15 still bore the green color of von Buttlar’s old unit, the aircraft became distinctive as Parschau’s “Green Machine”, right from the start of the conflict. He flew this machine on a roving commission for nearly a year, serving with FFAs 22 and 42 and the afore-mentioned “BAO” unit, which was actually a group of four FFA units operating as one for the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL).

Parschau flew his distinctive machine on the Champagne front in October and November 1914… followed by periods in Flanders and Alsace-Lorraine. Soon, he was posted first to West Prussia, and then to Galicia on the Eastern Front. His travels were marked on the Fokker’s fuselage.

In late May 1915, this airplane was the first one to be fitted with a workable synchronization gear: the Fokker Stangensteuerung synchronizer, along with a Parabellum MG 14 machine gun for its armament. Both Parschau and Leutnant Kurt Wintgens were chosen to fly the prototype of the revolutionary Fokker Eindecker fighter plane with a machine gun synchronized to fire safely through its propeller arc via the use of a gun synchronizer.

THE ACE INSTRUCTOR

Feldflieger Abteilung (Field Flying Company) was the title of the pioneering German field aviation units. The FFAs were organized under the Fliegertruppe… and by October 1916, the Fliegertruppe had evolved into the Luftstreitkräfte, the air service of the Imperial German Army. By contrast, the Imperial German Navy had its own air service, the Marine-Fliegerabteilung.

Because Parschau was recognized as an experienced and proficient pilot, he was selected to go to Feldflieger Abteilung 62 (FFA 62) at Douai as an monoplane instructor. Among his students at FFA 62 were two notable pioneer flying aces: Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke.

Despite his earlier complaints of his Parabellum machine gun jamming, Parschau managed to reel off a string of six aerial victories between October 11, 1915 and July 2, 1916 as part of the Fokker Scourge. On July 3rd, he shot down an enemy observation balloon. By this time, Parschau had transferred to FFA 32, earning his eighth victory on July 9th and the coveted Pour le Mérite the following day. On July 14th, AKN was severed from FFA 32 and Parschau was appointed to its command.

AN HONORABLE DEATH

On July 21, 1916, Otto Parschau was mortally wounded during combat with the Royal Flying Corps over Grévillers. He suffered a glancing bullet wound to the head, possibly from rounds fired by John Oliver Andrews. But the fatal wound was to Parschau’s chest. He retained enough control to land his plane behind German lines.

Parschau was then rushed to a field hospital, but he died on the operating table. He was just twenty-five years old.

In addition to his Blue Max, Parschau also received the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern and the Iron Cross, First Class.