PEEBLES PROFILES
EPISODE VIII: Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann was born on September 21, 1890 in Dresden.
In 1905, he was enrolled in the Dresden Cadet School. He joined the Eisenbahnregiment (Railway Regiment) Number 2 in 1911 as an Ensign in pursuit of a commission. Immelmann left the army in March 1912 to study mechanical engineering in Dresden. He returned to service on the outbreak of war as a reserve officer candidate. He was assigned to Eisenbahnregiment Number 1, but soon transferred to aviation.
When World War I started, Immelmann was called to active service, transferred to the Fliegertruppe (a.k.a. the Luftstreitkräfte) and was sent for pilot training at Johannisthal Air Field in November 1914. He was initially stationed in northern France.
Immelmann served as a pilot with Feldflieger Abteilung (Field Flier Detachment) 10 from February to April 1915, and then in FFA 62 by the summer of 1915. On several occasions, he engaged in combat while flying the L.V.G. two-seaters. On June 3, 1915, Immelmann was shot down by a French pilot, but he managed to land safely behind German lines. Max Immelmann was decorated with the Iron Cross, Second Class for preserving his aircraft.
Two very early examples of the Fokker Eindecker fighters were delivered to the unit: (1) one Fokker M.5K/MG production prototype numbered E.3/15 for Oswald Boelcke’s use, and (2) an E.13/15 for Immelmann in July 1915. It was with the E.13/15 aircraft, armed with the synchronized MG 08 machine gun, that he gained his first confirmed air victory of the war on August 1, 1915 (one fortnight after Leutnant Kurt Wintgens obtained the very first confirmed German aerial victory on July 15, 1915 with his own Fokker M.5K/MG production prototype E.5/15 Eindecker, one of only five built). Wintgens following up with two unconfirmed kills in the first week of July 1915.
Immelmann remarked on his first kill:
“Like a hawk, I dived … and fired my machine gun. For a moment, I believed I would fly right into him. I had fired about 60 shots when my gun jammed. That was awkward, for to clear the jam I needed both hands — I had to fly completely without hands …”
Lieutenant William Reid fought back valiantly, flying with his left hand and firing a pistol with his right. Nonetheless, the 450 bullets fired at him took their effect; Reid suffered four wounds in his left arm, and his airplane’s engine quit, causing a crash landing. The unarmed Immelmann landed nearby, and approached Reid; they shook hands and Immelmann said to the British pilot, “You are my prisoner.” He pulled Reid out of the wreckage and rendered first aid.
Immelmann became one of the first German fighter pilots, quickly building an impressive score of air victories. In September 1915, three more victories followed, and one month later, he became solely responsible for the air defense of the city of Lille. Immelmann became known as “The Eagle of Lille” (Der Adler von Lille).
He flirted with the position of Germany’s leading ace, trading that spot off with Oswald Boelcke, another pioneer ace. Having come second to Boelcke for his sixth victory, he was second to be awarded the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern for this feat. On December 15, 1915, Immelmann shot down his seventh British plane and moved into an unchallenged lead in the competition to be Germany’s leading ace.
Max Immelmann was the first pilot to be awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany’s highest military honor, receiving it on the day of his eighth win (January 12, 1916). The medal became unofficially known as the “Blue Max” in the German Air Service in honor of Immelmann. He and Oswald Boelcke received their medals at the same time from the Kaiser himself!
Boelcke scored again two days later. Immelmann would chase him in the ace race for the next four months, drawing even on March 13, 1916 at eleven apiece, losing the lead six days later, regaining it on Easter Sunday (April 23) 14 to 13, only to lose it again forever as May dawned. It was around this time that Immelmann received a salutary lesson in the improvement of British aircraft.
As the German ace described his attack on two Airco DH.2s:
“The two worked splendidly together … and put eleven shots into my machine. The petrol tank, the struts on the fuselage, the undercarriage and the propeller were hit … It was not a nice business.”
On the last day of May 1916, Immelmann, Max von Mulzer, and another German pilot attacked a formation of seven British aircraft. Immelmann was flying a two-gun Fokker E.IV, and when he opened fire, the synchronizing gear malfunctioned. A stream of bullets cut off the tip of a propeller blade. The thrashing of the unbalanced air screw nearly shook the aircraft’s Oberursel engine loose from its mounts before he could cut the ignition and glide to a dead-stick landing.
In the late afternoon of June 18, 1916, Immelmann led a flight of four Fokker E.III Eindeckers in search of a flight of eight F.E.2b reconnaissance aircraft of Number 25 Squadron Royal Flying Corps over Sallaumines in northern France. The British flight had just crossed the lines near Arras, with the intent of photographing German infantry and artillery positions within the area, when Immelmann’s flight intercepted them. After a long-running fight, scattering the participants over an area of some thirty square miles, Immelmann brought down one of the enemy aircraft, wounding both the pilot and observer. This was his 16th victory claim, though it was to go unconfirmed.
At 9:45 P.M., Immelmann in a Fokker E.III, serial 246/16 encountered Number 25 Squadron again, this time near the village of Lens. Immediately, he got off a burst which hit RFC Lt. J.R.B. Savage, pilot of FE.2b pusher serial 4909, mortally wounding him. This was his 17th victory claim, though Max Mulzer was later credited with the victory. The crew of the second aircraft he closed on was piloted by Second Lieutenant G.R. McCubbin with Corporal J. H. Waller as gunner/observer, and was credited by the British with shooting Immelmann down. On the German side, many had seen Immelmann as invincible and could not conceive the notion that he had fallen to enemy fire. Meanwhile, British authorities awarded McCubbin the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Service Medal and sergeant’s stripes for Waller.
The German Air Service at the time claimed the loss was due to (friendly) anti-aircraft fire. Others, including Immelmann’s brother, believed his aircraft’s gun synchronization (designed to enable his machine gun to fire between the whirling propeller blades without damaging them) had malfunctioned with catastrophic results. This is not unreasonable, as early versions of such gears frequently malfunctioned in this way. Indeed, this had already happened to Immelmann twice before, while testing two- and three-machine gun installations, although on each occasion, he had been able to land safely.
McCubbin, in a 1935 interview, claimed that immediately after Immelmann shot down McCubbin’s squadron mate, the German ace began an Immelmann turn, McCubbin and Waller swooped down from a greater altitude and opened fire, and the pioneer German ace fell out of the sky. Waller also pointed out later that the British bullets could have hit Immelmann’s propeller.
Damage to the propeller resulting in the loss of one blade could have been the primary cause of the structural failure evident in accounts of the crash of his aircraft. The resultant vibration of an engine at full throttle spinning half a propeller could have shaken the fragile craft to pieces. At 2,000 meters, the tail was seen to break away from the rest of Immelmann’s Fokker, the wings detached or folded, and what remained of the fuselage fell straight down, carrying the 25-year-old Oberleutnant to his death. His body was recovered from the twisted wreckage by the German Sixth Army, lying smashed and lifeless over what was left of the surprisingly intact Oberursel engine (sometimes cited as under it), but was only identified because he had his initials embroidered on his handkerchief.
Immelmann was given a state funeral and buried in his home of Dresden. His body was later exhumed, however, and cremated in the Dresden-Tolkewitz Crematorium. Immelmann, along with Max Ritter von Mulzer, scored all of his victories flying only different types of Eindeckers, becoming one of the most successful pilots in the type. He was just 25 years old.
A famous air maneuver bears his name: the “Immelmann turn” (also frequently spelled “Immelman” in literature and media). It was a half loop followed by a half roll on top, used to rapidly reverse the direction of flight.
During World War I, an “Immelmann turn” was actually a sharp rudder turn off a vertical zoom climb (almost to a full stall) or modified chandelle followed by a steep dive.
Immelmann may very well have originated this maneuver, or at least used it in combat. Its authenticity remains a question…