Erwin Böhme

Infobox Military Person
name= Erwin Böhme
lived= 29 July 1879 – 29 November 1917|placeofbirth= Holzminden
placeofdeath= Over Zonnebeke


caption=
nickname=
allegiance= German Empire
serviceyears= -1917
rank= Oberleutnant
branch= Luftstreitkräfte
commands=
unit= Jasta 2, 29, Kasta 10
awards= Pour le Mérite

Erwin Böhme (29 July 1879 – 29 November 1917) was a German pilot during World War I. He was born in Holzminden and became a flying ace during the war, credited with 24 victories and awarded the Pour le Mérite.

Prewar Life

Bohme was an athletic youth, participating in many sports. He was a superb ice skater. He was also a champion swimmer; on 30 July 1905, the day after his 26th birthday, he outswam all other entrants in a race across Lake Zurich, covering the three mile distance in 52 minutes, 40 seconds. He was also a great mountain climber; during the three years he lived in Switzerland, he was the only non-Swiss member of the Swiss alpinists' guild.

Tiring of Switzerland, he decided to search for adventure in Africa. He was corresponding with a Swiss African explorer, Dr. David. It was typical of Bohme that he decided to hike from Berne, Switzerland to catch a ship in Genoa, Italy instead of catching a train. This foot journey included a solo traverse of the Matterhorn.

He reached German East Africa, only to discover Dr. David had died, and began working there in 1910. His employer was a German lumber and agricultural company. He helped construct a cable railroad from the Usambara railroad, in what is now Tanzania, up to New Hornow in the Pare Mountains. The cableway was used to ship cedar to the Hubertus lumber mills in Germany, who prepared for use in producing pencils.

In July, 1914, Bohme returned to Europe, intent on skiing and mountaineering in the Swiss Alps. He was greeted by news of the outbreak of war. However, instead of continuing on to neutral Switzerland, he returned to Germany to enter military service.

Flying Service

Bohme had served in the prestigious Prussian military unit, the Potsdam Guards, when younger; it may be that this prior service helped expedite his entry into pilot's training despite his comparatively advanced age of 35. His adventurous and aggressive spirit may have also impressed the recruiters.

He was assigned initially to Doberitz, then to Lindenthal for flight training. He was first in his class to qualify as a pilot. He was then assigned to instructor duty for the next year before being assigned to an active unit.

By May, 1916, however, Bohme was already a veteran of aerial warfare as a member of Kasta 10, which was commanded by Oberleutnant Wilhelm Boelcke. Bohme had flown numerous barrage, or defensive, patrols.

On the 20th, he wangled an aircraft ride to drop in on the director of Hubertus Mills. On this trip, he met the director's eldest daughter. He began a correspondence with her that led to their engagement in November, 1917. The letters would become the basis for a posthumous book, "Briefe eines deutschen Kampffliegers an ein junges Mädchen (Letters of a German Combat Pilot to a Young Girl)", published in 1930.

Bohme scored his first aerial victory shortly afterwards with Kasta 10, while flying an Albatross C.III; it was over a Nieuport 12 fighter on 2 August 1916. The unlucky victim was ace Podoruchik Eduard Pulpe of the Imperial Russian Air Service. Pulpe fell near Rogistche on the Eastern Front.

After this victory, Böhme transferred to Jasta 2, which was under the command of the younger brother of his former commander. Oswald Boelcke, the younger Boelcke, was already a well established ace who was pioneering the tactics and strategy of fighter aviation. Bohme's fate became intertwined with Boelcke's to the point where Bohme is most commonly known through his association with Boelcke. They were reputedly best friends.

Under Boelcke's tutelage and leadership, Bohme throve as a fighter pilot. He scored his first triumph with Jasta 2 on 17 September 1916 and was an ace by 22 October, with five confirmed wins and one probable. Then came the tragedy that would forever link Bohme's name with Boelcke.

During an infantry support mission on 28 October 1916, Böhme's Albatros briefly collided with that of Oswald Boelcke. Boelcke had to serve to avoid a midair collision in a dogfight. The wheels of Bohme's plane barely brushed the fabric of the top wing of Boecke's craft, but it was enough to start the fabric unraveling. Boelcke struggled for control as his plane's control surface shredded. Boelcke crashlanded as the entire upper wing tore loose. Böhme survived the accident, but Boelcke was killed.

After landing, a sorrowing and despairing Bohme was discovered in his quarters with his Luger in his hand. Manfred von Richthofen had to talk him out of suicide.

That same evening, a British flier dropped a wreath stating "To the Memory of Captain Boelcke, our Brave and Chivalrous Opponent. From, the English Royal Flying Corps."

Three days later, Bohme wrote the following letter to his fiance:

"My Dear Miss Annamarie!

Boelcke is no longer among us now. It could not have hit us pilots any harder.

On Saturday afternoon we were sitting on stand-by alert in our aerodrome blockhouse. I had just begun a chess match with Boelcke – it was then, shortly after 4 o'clock during an infantry attack at the front, that we were called. As usual, Boelcke led us. It wasn't long before we were flying over Flers and started an attack on several English aeroplanes, fast single-seaters, which resisted efficiently.

In the following wild turning-flight combat, which allowed us to take shots only in short bursts, we sought to force down our opponent by alternately cutting him off, as we had already done so often with success. Boelcke and I had the one Englishman evenly between us, when another opponent, hunted by our friend Richthofen, cut directly in our path. As fast as lightning, Boelcke and I took evasive action simultaneously, and for one instant our wings obstructed our view of each other – it was then it occurred.

How I am to describe my feelings to you from that instant on, when Boelcke suddenly emerged a few meters on the right from me, his machine ducked, I pulled up hard, however nevertheless we still touched and we both fell towards the earth! It was only a slight touching, but at the enormous speed this still also meant it was an impact. Fate is usually so senseless in its selection: me, only one side of the undercarriage had torn away, him, the outermost piece of the left wing.

After a few hundred meters I got my machine under control again and could now follow Boelcke's, which I could see was only somewhat downwardly inclined in a gentle glide, heading towards our lines. It was only in a cloud layer at lower regions that violent gusts caused his machine to gradually descended more steeply, and I had to watch as he could no longer set it down evenly, and saw it impact beside a battery position. People immediately hurried to his assistance. My attempts to land beside my friend were made impossible because of the shell craters and trenches. Thus I flew rapidly to our field.

The fact that I had missed the landing, they told me of only the other day – I have no recollection of this at all. I was completely distressed, however I still had hope. But as we arrived in the car, they brought the body to us. He died in the blink of an eye at the moment of the crash. Boelcke never wore a crash helmet and did not strap himself in the Albatros either – otherwise he would have even survived the not at all too powerful of an impact.

Now everything is so empty to us. Only little by little does it come fully to our consciousness, that within the gap which our Boelcke leaves, the soul of the total is missing. He was nevertheless in each relationship our leader and master. He had an irresistible influence on all, even on superiors, which had to do purely with his personality, the all naturalness of his being. He could take us everywhere. We never had the feeling that anything could fail if he were there, and almost everything succeeded as well. In these one and a half months he has been with us we have put over 60 hostile aeroplanes out-of-action and made the dominance of the Englishmen shrink from day to day. Now we all must see that his triumphant spirit does not sink in the Staffel.

This afternoon the funeral service was in Cambrai, from where the parents and brothers escorted their hero for burying at the cemetery of honour in Dessau. His parents are magnificent people – courageously accepting the unalterable with all the pain they feel. This gives me some solace as well, but nothing can be taken away from the sorrow over the loss of this extraordinary human being.

For your last letter with the flower greetings I thank you very much. I was very happy about it, but as to the reply, I must still allow some time – the experience of October 28th rests too heavily upon me.

Faithfully yours,Erwin Böhme"

Bohme returned to duty with a vengeance. He would survive another year, month, and day. He shot down two more British planes in November. On the day after Christmas, he severely wounded and downed ace William Hubbard for his eighth score.

Bohme shot down yet another victim on 7 January 1917, for nine. His tenth victory came at a cost. He shot down ace William Curphey, who was flying an obsolete observation plane, on 4 February, but Curphey wounded Bohme in the arm. Bohme hung in long enough after the wounding to down another two-seater 25 minutes later. On 10 February, he nailed his 12th victim. Then there was a gap in his skein of victories.

Bohme would score only once during the summer, on 14 July. Perhaps his wounding, by a bullet in his right hand inflicted by an enemy scout pilot, slowed him up. Perhaps it was his ascension to command of Jasta 2 on 18 August. He did write that his appointment was a surprise, but would be difficult and laborious. He knew that none of the pilots he had known remained in the unit; instead, he would find a collection of rookies with few experienced pilots among them.

On 19 September, he would begin his final string of triumphs. After tallying twice in September and six times in October, he was up to a count of 21.

He scored on both 6 and 20 November 1917. On the 24th, he was awarded the "Pour le Mérite", his nation's highest decoration for bravery.

Death in Action

Then, on 29 November, Bohme took off on his last mission. Bohme had already shot down a Sopwith Camel earlier that afternoon. Now he and his five wingmen spotted a Royal Flying Corps Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 on a photo-reconnaissance mission near Zonnebeke, Belgium. Veteran pilot Captain John Patten should have been preparing for home leave, but had been tapped to fly one more mission. On the back seat of their slow but sturdy photographic reconnaissance plane, Lieutenant Leychester manned the camera and the gun. Let Patten tell the story:

"Suddenly, I heard the clatter of Leycester's machine gun above the roar of the engine. I looked round to see what he was shooting at, and nearly had a heart attack. Slanting down from above, getting nicely into position thirty yards behind my tail, was an Albatros. "I immediately heaved the old A-W round in a split-arse turn, tighter I think than I had ever turned before. I felt a flash of panic as I lost sight of the Hun, but Leycester must have been able to see him all right as he kept on firing. My sudden turn had done the trick. The Albatros overshot and suddenly appeared right in front of me. Because of the relative motion of our two aircraft, he seemed to hang motionless, suspended in mid-air. I could see the pilot's face as he looked back at me. I sent a two-second burst of Vickers (machine gun) fire into him. His aircraft seemed to flutter, then slid out of sight below my starboard wing. I was pretty certain that I had hit his petrol tank. Behind me, Leycester was still blazing away. He was using tracer (incendiary bullets), and it may have been one of his bullets that ignited the petrol pouring from the Hun's ruptured tank. When I caught sight of the Albatros again, it was burning like a torch and side-slipping towards the ground, trailing a streamer of smoke. For an instant I saw the German pilot, looking down over the side of the cockpit. Then the smoke and flames enveloped him."
Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) Erwin Bohme's charred body was recovered from the wreckage, and he was buried with full military honors by the British. Because he had fallen behind their trench-lines, they took the responsibility of interring him in Keerselaarhock Cemetery.

At 38 years of age, Bohme may have been the oldest fighter pilot in the war.

References/External links

* [http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/bohme.php Erwin Böhme page at theaerodrome.com] Accessed 13 September 2008.
* http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/art/31934-b-hme-s-albatros-c-iii.html Accessed 13 September 2008.
* http://www.jastaboelcke.de/aces/erwin_boehme/boehme_bio.htm Accessed 13 September 2008.
* http://usfighter.tripod.com/ww1ace.htm Accessed 13 September 2008.
* http://www.pourlemerite.org/ Accessed 13 September 2008.
* http://www.geocities.com/aw3aw3/dicta.htm Accessed 13 September 2008.

* Greg VanWyngarten, et al. "Jagdstaffel 2 Boelcke". 2007, Osprey Publishing.