Бірінші дүниежүзілік соғыстағы неміс әуе аспірі Werner Voss

German flying ace in WWI

Werner Voss (Werner Voß; 13 April 1897 – 23 September 1917) was a World War I German flying ace credited with 48 aerial victories. A dyer's son from Krefeld, he was a patriotic young man while still in school. He began his military career in November 1914 as a 17‑year‑old Hussar. After turning to aviation, he proved to be a natural pilot. After flight school and six months in a bomber unit, he joined a newly formed fighter squadron, Jagdstaffel 2 on 21 November 1916. There he befriended Manfred von Richthofen. By 6 April 1917, Voss had scored 24 victories and awarded Germany's highest award, the Pour le Mérite. A month's leave removed Voss from the battlefield during Bloody April; in his absence, Richthofen scored 13 victories. Nevertheless, Richthofen regarded Voss as his only possible rival as top scoring ace of the war. Soon after Voss returned from leave, he was at odds with his squadron commander. He was detailed from his squadron to evaluate new fighter aircraft and became enthusiastic about the Fokker Triplane. After transferring through three temporary squadron commands in two months, Voss was given command of Jagdstaffel 10 on 30 July 1917 at Richthofen's request. By now, his victory total was 34. His last stand came on 23 September 1917, just hours after his 48th victory. Flying a silver blue Fokker Dr.1, he singly fought James McCudden, Keith Muspratt, Harold A. Hamersley, Arthur Rhys Davids, Robert L. Chidlaw Roberts, Geoffrey Hilton Bowman, Reginald Hoidge, and Richard Maybery. After he fell in solo opposition to those eight British aces after a dazzling display of aerobatics and gunnery that put bullets in his every opponent, he was described by his preeminent foe, Victoria Cross winner James McCudden, as "the bravest German airman". The pilot who actually killed Voss, Arthur Rhys Davids, wished he had brought him down alive. The dogfight remains a subject of debate and controversy among aviation historians and interested parties.

Werner Voss was born in Krefeld, Germany, on 13 April 1897. His mother, Johanna Mathilde Pastor Voss, was a pious homemaker who raised her children in the Evangelical Lutheran faith. His father Maxmilian owned a dye factory. Werner was soon followed by two brothers; Maxmilian Jr. was born in 1898, and Otto on 22 April 1901. An unusual feature of the Voss household was the presence of two first cousins, Margaret and Katherine. The elder Vosses longed for daughters, so they virtually (if not formally) adopted their nieces. The two nieces were commonly referred to within the family as "daughters" and "sisters". The Voss family home at 75 Blumenthalstrasse was a comfortable two story house with surrounding grounds. Young Werner was expected to carry on the family trade as he grew into his heritage. However, even before World War I burgeoned, he was already drawn towards patriotic service. When he finished his schooling at Krefeld's Moltke Gymnasium, His parents gave him a 300 cc (18.3 cid) Vee twin Wanderer motorcycle for his 17th birthday. He received his "Certificate of Graduation" as a motorcyclist on 2 August 1914. After Germany entered World War I, he spent August and September 1914 as a civilian volunteer driver for the German military. The Militia Ersatz Eskadron 2 had been set up to feed recruits to Westphalia's 11th Hussar Regiment. On 16 November 1914, Werner Voss became one of those recruits despite still being only 17 years old. On 30 November, the hussar regiment was ordered to combat duty on the Eastern Front. He was the youngest flight instructor in German service.

Lieutenant Verschoyle Phillip Cronyn later described his harrowing return flight. Being the rare targeted pilot to escape Voss's gun fire, he now had to coax home a failing machine destined for the scrapheap. He lost control of it banking for the landing pattern, and finally performed a desperate high speed landing at 18:40 hours, approximately coincidental with the triplane's impact. His Squadron commander, Major Blomfield, led the shaky kneed pilot from his machine to a bench and plied him with medicinal brandy. Cronyn's composure broke. After a fit of weeping, he pulled himself together as McCudden landed, followed by Rhys Davids. The latter exited his machine hyperventilating and stammering. He got his tot of brandy, and uttered an account jumbled by his excitement. With the exception of Muspratt, who had landed at the 1 Squadron aerodrome with a seized engine, the rest of 56 Squadron landed back at Estrée Blanche. Combat reports by the pilots were written and submitted; those from McCudden, Rhys Davids, Bowman, Maybery, Hoidge, and Gardiner still exist. These fragmentary written documents would be supplemented by McCudden's autobiography, written before his death the following year; contradictory written accounts produced by Chidlaw Roberts and Bowman in 1942; and Cronyn's war memoirs of 1976. When corresponding with aviation historian Evan Hadingham in 1967, Cronyn offered, "  movements were purely instinctive, and made on such split second action that no impression was recorded." He offered as example that he was unaware he had spent most of his fight with Voss flying inverted until Muspratt mentioned it in the mess the evening of the fight. The 56 Squadron mess atmosphere that night was muted, with speculation about the identity of their fallen opponent. The names Richthofen, Voss, and Wolff were suggested. Rhys Davids was besieged with congratulations, which he received modestly with a disclaimer of, "If I only could have brought him down alive." A standing toast was drunk to their gallant fallen foe. The following day, 24 September 1917, a British patrol reached the crash site. Documents in Voss' pocket identified him. A military doctor cursorily examined the corpse. He noted three bullet wounds. One ranged slightly upward through the chest cavity from right to left, consistent with Hoidge's angle of fire; it would have killed Voss in less than a minute. The other two gunshot wounds pierced Voss's abdomen from rear to front, coinciding with Rhys Davids's firing angle. Werner Voss was buried like any other dead soldier near Plum Farm, laid in a shell crater without coffin or honors. His grave's location was recorded as Map Sheet 28, coordinates 24. C.8.3. The field grave would subsequently be lost trace of, through the turmoil of ongoing ground fighting. That same day, Aide de Camp Maurice Baring was sent by Major General Hugh Trenchard to gather such military intelligence as he could about the dogfight. Baring interviewed McCudden, Maybery, Hoidge, and Rhys Davids. McCudden laconically reported his observation of the crash location being near Zonnebeke. Maybery insisted he saw two triplanes in the fight, a grey one and a green one, in addition to a green German scout and a rednosed German scout. Hoidge never saw the rednosed Albatros. Rhys Davids said the dogfight began when a red nosed Albatros, a green German scout, and a grey and brown Triplane attacked an SE.5. He also insisted that the triplane mounted four guns, and thought it had a stationary engine instead of a rotary engine. Subsequent accounts of Voss's last stand would partially depend on such "facts" drawn from Baring's inquiries. Rhys Davids, in a letter home written on 25 September mentioning his victory claim, did not know the name of his victim. However, another letter of the 28th mentioned Voss by name. Also, on 28 September, after five days as a nonflying orderly officer, V. P. Cronyn was shipped off to another noncombat post with combat fatigue, a belated casualty. By 5 October, Rhys Davids's letter to his mother boasted of his souvenir rudder and compass salvaged from the triplane wreckage. On 27 October, the same day Rhys Davids died in action, a British intelligence officer finally gained access to the wreckage after it had lain a month in the open. He verified it was a triplane, and noted that its upper surfaces were camouflage green and its bottom surfaces were blue. Second Lieutenant Barfoot Saunt removed some small pieces from the wreck to accompany his report, illustrating technical points. The technical information that was reported gave the British their first insight into the new craft, although Voss had swapped in a French Le Rhone engine.

Leutnants Rüdenberg and Bellen had returned to base, as had the rest of the Jasta 10 pilots. The only one with news was Heldmann, who reported Voss headed toward British lines while pursued by a British SE.5. Timm and Rueser waited anxiously for his return as the sun set. The fact that Voss was missing in action was communicated to wing headquarters; telephone queries were made of all friendly airfields within range. Late that night, a German frontline unit reported seeing six British machines shoot down a lone German aircraft that fell within the British trenches. Heldmann refused to believe Voss was killed in aerial combat; he claimed Voss had to have been shot after crawling from the wreckage. On 24 September, Jasta 10 pilots dropped a note inquiring about Voss attached to a black, white, and red streamer over British lines. By 25 September, two days after the fight, the Niederrheinische Volkszeitung ran a notice of Voss's death. On 7 October 1917, the Krefelder Zeitung ran a page of tributes to Werner Voss, including those from Crown Prince Wilhelm, aviator Anthony Fokker, and Generalleutnant Ernst von Hoeppner. On 11 October 1917, Bellen was invalided from the ranks of Jasta 10. In November, Rüdenberg was released from active duty to pursue his studies at university. Aviation historians such as Douglas Whetton posited these reassignments were retribution for failure to aid Voss in his dogfight.

When the British aces of 56 Squadron learned their fallen foe's identity, they were quick to pay public tribute to him. The leading British pilot he fought that day, James McCudden VC, expressed sincere regret at Voss' death: "His flying was wonderful, his courage magnificent and in my opinion he was the bravest German airman whom it has been my privilege to see fight." In later years, Voss would not be forgotten. Because his grave site was lost, Werner Voss is one of 44,292 German soldiers memorialized in the Langemark German war cemetery, some northeast of Ypres, Belgium. During the Nazi regime, Voss' old school in Krefeld was renamed in his honour, but this was later reversed following the German defeat in World War II. A major thoroughfare in Krefeld is still named for him. He is also commemorated by street names in Stuttgart and in Berlin. Still enduring is the debate as to why Voss chose to fight on against clearly almost impossible odds rather than disengage from the action. However, it is possible that he wanted to close the gap in victories between himself and the Red Baron by shooting down some British aircraft, so he stayed on. Although Voss's apparent refusal to retreat is not mentioned in the contemporary English combat reports, nor in McCudden's autobiography written in June and July 1918, McCudden is credited with the observation that Voss seemingly rejected several opportunities to disengage and withdraw from the tactically grave situation in which he found himself.

Confirmed victories are numbered and listed chronologically. Unconfirmed victories are denoted by "u/c". When two casualties are listed in the Notes column, the first listed is the pilot, the other the aerial observer/gunner. Conflicting claims are denoted by *, although only one counts as a confirmed victory according to either source. Doubled horizontal lines mark changes in squadron assignments. No. Date/timeAircraftFoeResultLocationNotes 1 27 November 1916 @ 09:40 hours Albatros Nieuport 17 serial number A281 from 60 Squadron Shot down Miraumont, France Captain George Alec Parker missing in action 2 27 November 1916 @ 14:15 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2b s/n 4915 from 18 Squadron Shot down in flames South of Bapaume, France Lieutenant F. A. George wounded in action; Air Mechanic 1st Class Oliver Frederick Watts killed in action 3 21 December 1916 @ 11:00 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory B. E.2d s/n 5782 from 7 Squadron Shot down Miraumont, France Lieutenant D. W. Davis WIA; Second Lieutenant William Martin Vernon Cotton KIA 4 1 February 1917 @ 16:00 hours Albatros Airco D. H.2 s/n A2614 from 29 Squadron Shot down Achiet le Petit Captain Albert Peter Vincent Daly WIA, prisoner of war 5 4 February 1917 @ 14:40 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory B. E.2d s/n 5927 from 16 Squadron Shot down Givenchy, France Second Lieutenant Herbert Martin Massey WIA; Second Lieutenant Noel Mark Hodson Vernham KIA 6 10 February 1917 @ 11:15 hours Albatros Airco D. H.2 s/n A2548 from 32 Squadron Damaged Southwest of Serre Captain Leslie Peech Aizlewood returned to base unhurt 7 25 February 1917 @ 14:55 hours Albatros Airco D. H.2 s/n A2557 from 29 Squadron Shot down Arras Saint Sauveur Lieutenant Reginald 9 26 February 1917 @ 16:50 hours Halberstadt Blairville, France Second Lieutenants Edwin Albert Pope and Hubert Alfred Johnson KIA 11 27 February 1917 @ 16:48 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory B. E.2c s/n 7197 from 12 Squadron Shot down West of Arras Captain John McArthur and Private James Whiteford KIA 12 4 March 1917 @ 11:30 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory B. E.2d s/n 6252 from 8 Squadron Shot down in flames South of Berneville, France Sergeant Reginald James Moody and Second Lieutenant Edmund Eric Horn KIA 13 6 March 1917 @ 16:35 hours Albatros Airco D. H.2 s/n 7941 from 32 Squadron Shot down Favreuil, France Captain Herbert Gordon Southon WIA, POW 14 11 March 1917 @ 10:00 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory F. E.2b s/n 7685 from 22 Squadron Shot down Rancourt, France Second Lieutenant Leslie W. Cross and Lieutenant Christopher Neuville, France Second Lieutenant Charles R. Dougal WIA; Second Lieutenant Sydney Harryman POW/WIA/DOW 20 19 March 1917 @ 09:30 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory R. E.8 s/n A4165 from 59 Squadron Shot down Saint Léger, France Captain Eldred Wolferstan 22 24 March 1917 @ 16:45 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory B. E.2d s/n 5769 from 8 Squadron Shot down Boileux Boiry Lieutenant Hugh Norton and Second Lieutenant Reginald Alfred William Tillett KIA 23 1 April 1917 @ 11:45 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory B. E.2c s/n 2561 from 15 Squadron Shot down; aircraft strafed on ground East of Saint Léger, France Captain Arthur Meredith Wynne WIA; u/c 6 April 1917 @ 09:45 hours Albatros Sopwith Pup s/n A6165 from 54 Squadron Forced to land South of Lagnicourt Marcel, France Second Lieutenant Robert M. Foster survived 25 7 May 1917 @ 19:25 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5 s/n A4867 from 56 Squadron Shot down Between Étaing and Lecuse Second Lieutenant Roger Michael Chaworth Musters KIA 26 9 May 1917 @ 14:00 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory B. E.2c s/n 7209 from 52 Squadron Exploded Havrincourt, France Lieutenant Roland Humphrey Coles and Second Lieutenant John Charles Sigismund Day KIA 27 9 May 1917 @ 16:45 hours Albatros Sopwith Pup s/n A6174 from 54 Squadron Shot down Lesdain, France Lieutenant George Copland Temple Hadrill POW 28 9 May 1917 @ 16:50 hours Albatros Royal Aircraft Factory F. E.2b s/n 4991 from 22 Squadron Shot down Le Bosquet Second Lieutenants Charles McKenzie Furlonger and Charles William Lane POW 29 23 May 1917 @ 14:25 hours Albatros D. III Royal Aircraft Factory F. E.2b s/n A5502 from 18 Squadron Shot down North of Havrincourt Second Lieutenant Wilfred Ferguson MacDonald and Lieutenant Frank Charles Shackell KIA 30 26 May 1917 @ 15:45 hours Albatros D. III Sopwith Pup s/n A6168 From 54 Squadron Shot down Southwest of Gouzeaucourt, France Second Lieutenant Mortimer George Cole WIA 31 28 May 1917 @ 14:00 hours Albatros D. III Royal Aircraft Factory F. E.2d s/n A6378 from 25 Squadron Shot down Southeast of Douai, France Captain Aubrey de Selincourt and Lieutenant Henry Cotton POW 32 4 June 1917 @ 07:10 hours Albatros D. III Sopwith Pup s/n B2151 from 54 Squadron Shot down Aubencheul aux Bois, France Captain Reginald George Hewett Pixley KIA 33 5 June 1917 @ 09:30 hours Albatros D. III Royal Aircraft Factory F. E.2b s/n A857 from 22 Squadron Shot down North of Vaucelles Captain Francis Percival Don and Lieutenant Herbert Harris POW 34 6 June 1917 @ 13:10 hours Albatros D. III Nieuport 17 s/n N3204 from 6 Naval Squadron Shot down West of Graincourt lès Havrincourt, France Sub Lieutenant Fabian Pember Reeves of the RNAS KIA 35 10 August 1917 @ 16:25 hours Albatros D. III Spad XIII from Escadrille 31 of the Aéronautique Militaire Shot down South of Diksmuide, Belgium Captain Henri Rousseau MIA 36 15 August 1917 @ 19:10 hours Albatros D. III Royal Aircraft Factory F. E.2b s/n A5152 from 20 Squadron Shot down Zillebeke Lake Second Lieutenant Charles H. Cameron St. Julien Captain Noel William Ward Webb MIA 38 23 August 1917 @ 10:10 hours Albatros D. III Spad VII s/n B3528 from 19 Squadron Crashlanded at 23 Squadron's airfield Southwest of Diksmuide, Belgium Captain Arthur Lionel Gordon Kidd WIA/DOW 39 3 September 1917 @ 09:52 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17 Sopwith Camel s/n 3917 from 45 Squadron Shot down North of Houthem Lieutenant Aubrey Talley Heywood KIA 40* 5 September 1917 @ 14:50 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17 Sopwith Pup s/n B1842 from 46 Squadron Crashlanded trailing blue smoke St. Julien Second Lieutenant Charles Walter Odell unharmed 40* 5 September 1917 @ 15:50 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17Airco DH.5 s/n A9374 from 32 Squadron Crashed into Ypres Canal St. Julien Lieutenant William Edwin Sandys KIA 41 5 September 1917 @ 16:30 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17 Caudron two seater s/n G.6 from Escadrille 53 Shot down Bixschoote Maréchal des logis Jacques Thabaud Desthouilieres and Lieutenant Marcel Mulard KIA 42 6 September 1917 @ 16:35 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17 Royal Aircraft Factory F. E.2d s/n B1895 from 20 Squadron Shot down in flames Saint Julien/Boesinghe Lieutenant John Oscar Pilkington and Air Mechanic 2nd Class Herbert Frederick Matthews KIA 43 10 September 1917 @ 17:50 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17 Sopwith Camel s/n B3927 from 70 Squadron Shot down Between Passendale and Langemarck Second Lieutenant Arthur Jackson Smith Sisley KIA 44 10 September 1917 @ 17:55 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17 Sopwith Camel s/n B3787 from 70 Squadron Shot down Between Passendale and Langemarck 2nd Lt Oliver Charles Pearson MIA 45 10 September 1917 @ 18:15 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17 Spad VII from Escadrille 31 Shot down Paschendaele Westroosebeke Adjutant Jules Tiberghein KIA 46 11 September 1917 @ 10:30 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17 Bristol F.2 Fighter s/n B1105 from 22 Squadron Shot down Langemarck Second Lieutenant R. de Lacey Stedman WIA; Second Lieutenant Harry Edward Jones KIA 47 11 September 1917 @ 16:25 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17 Sopwith Camel B6236 from 45 Squadron Shot down East of Saint Julien Lieutenant Oscar Lennox McMaking KIA 48 23 September 1917 @ 09:30 hours Fokker Triplane s/n 103/17 Airco D. H.4 s/n A7643 from 57 Squadron Shot down in flames Ledegem, Belgium Second Lieutenants Samuel Leslie John Bramley and John Matthew Delacey KIA