Kurt Wintgens

Kurt Wintgens (1 August 1894 - 25 September 1916) was a German 1st World War Flying Ace and receipient of the Iron Cross and the Blue Max.

Background

Wintgens was born in Neustadt.

Involvement in 1st World War

Wintgens' military service commenced when he joined the Telegraphen-Bataillon Nr. 2 in Frankfurt/Oder as a fahnenjunker (cadet officer) in 1913. He was sent to the Eastern Front as a leutnant with his unit and won the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. On transferring to the German Air Service, Wintgens flew first as an observer in August and September 1914. However, this period of service was interrupted by a period back on telegraph duties, until Wintgens returned to the aviation wing in February 1915, becoming a pilot after training at the Fokker school in Schwerin. [van Wyngarden, G. "Early German Aces of World War 1". Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2006. p.11 ISBN 1-84176-997-5]

Wintgens holds a unique pioneering role in the entire history of aerial combat, being the very first fighter pilot to score an aerial victory over an opponent, on July 1, 1915. Leutnant Wintgens was flying the last-produced example of the five Fokker M.5K/MG production prototype Fokker Eindeckers, with German military serial number "E.5/15", [Grosz, Peter M., "Windsock Datafile No. 91, Fokker E.I/II," Albatros Publications, Ltd. 2002. ISBN No. 1-902207-46-7.] and at 1800 that evening, he engaged a Morane Parasol two-seater. The French aircraft was most likely from Escadrille M.S.48, and flown by one Capitaine du Peuty, with Lieutenant de Boutiny as the observer. The French aviators reported that they were engaged by a "Fokker Monoplane" at 1,300 meters over the Fôret de Parroy, near the village of Lunéville. The French aircraft was armed with only a carbine rifle for protection, while the Fokker had a forward-firing, synchronized Parabellum MG14 machine gun. After a few minutes of combat with the Fokker, de Peuty was wounded in the lower right leg. The Eindecker seemed to have been hit by de Boutiny's carbine fire. De Boutiny had exhausted all of his carbine ammunition, leaving his own aircraft defenseless, which gave the Eindecker the advantage, and shortly thereafter the Eindecker likewise wounded de Boutiny in the leg. Despite their injuries, the French aircrew landed their Morane parasol safely, in friendly territory, although their own engine had been hit by E.5/15's machine gun fire, with the actual combat itself taking place in the Lorraine sector. [Sands, Jeffrey, "The Forgotten Ace, Ltn. Kurt Wintgens and his War Letters", Cross & Cockade USA, Summer 1985.]

Wintgens also was one of the very few fighter pilots ever to require prescription eyewear while flying in combat, as he wore "hard-bridge" style pince-nez glasses for vision correction, under his usual pilot's goggles. Later, on June 23, 1916, Wintgens confronted a Nieuport 16, flown by the then-wounded Lafayette Escadrille American pilot Victor Chapman, and shot Chapman down while Wintgens was flying a Halberstadt D.II fighter, for his seventh aerial victory. Shortly afterwards, on 1 July 1916, Wintgens became the fourth German airman to receive the award of the 'Blue Max', after he had completed the required (at the time) eight victories over enemy aircraft. [van Wyngarden, G. p.62]

After downing at least 19 aircraft (with probables and force-downs, as high as 22 aircraft) in air combat, Wintgens was fatally shot down, while flying a Fokker E.III on September 25, 1916, in air combat near Villers-Carbonnel, possibly by French flying ace Alfred Huertaux, for Huertaux's eighth aerial victory. [http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/heurtaux.php] Huertaux was most likely flying one of the early examples of the SPAD S.VII fighter aircraft in the downing of Wintgens.

Notes

References