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Adolf, Ritter von Tutschek (16 May 1891 - 15 March 1918) Pour le Merite, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross, Military Order of Max Joseph[1], was a professional soldier turned aviator who became a leading fighter ace with 27 victories.[2] As German air strategy turned towards concentrated air power, he was entrusted with one of the world's first fighter wings.[3]
[edit] Early lifeAdolf von Tutschek was born in Ingolstadt, into the noble surroundings of the Bavarian court. He was the son of court physician Karl Tutschek. He attended Saint Anna High School in Augsburg until 1910. After graduation, he joined in the "Prince Charles of Bavaria" 3rd Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment as a Fahnenjager, or officer candidate. In 1912, he was commissioned as Leutnant. Von Tutschek's regiment moved immediately into battle when World War I broke. He commanded a company in France, Belgium, Galicia, Russia, and Serbia. In May 1915 in Gorlice, Poland, he was wounded in the foot by shrapnel.[4] On 25 July, he volunteered to lead an assault against a Russian stronghold near Petrilow. He and his men took it and held it against 17 days of counterattacks. On 25 February 1916, he was awarded the Military Order of Max Joseph for this feat;[1][5] although he won it in ground action, he was one of only ten pilots to receive it. This award knighted him, entitling him to add the honorific "Ritter" in his name.[6] In early 1916, he was promoted to Oberleutnant. In March 1916, he was seriously wounded by poison gas during the Battle of Verdun. Upon his recovery, he requested pilot training.[2] [edit] Aerial serviceHe attended flight school near Munich. In October 1916 he returned to the front flying initially with FA 6b, an artillery spotting unit. He began flying with Jagdstaffel 2 on 25 January 1917. Over the next three months, he flew 140 combat sorties, made seven victory claims and had three confirmed.[6] His very first triumph, on 6 March 1917, was over the DH-2 of 6-kill ace Lt. Maximillian Mare-Montembault of No. 32 Squadron.[2] On 28 April, he assumed command of Prussian Jasta 12[7] upon the death of its commander.[6][8] One of the pilots there was future Jasta 52 commanding officer and ace Paul Billik.[9] Von Tutschek allayed the Prussian suspicion of Bavarians by sprinting to his airplane through falling bombs; he led the squadron into the air into a night pursuit of the bombers. He shot down one of the raiders, a FE-2b of 18 Squadron, thus scoring a victory on his very first flight with his new squadron.[6] His personal aircraft color scheme was ink black overall with a white propeller spinner and a square white background for the Maltese cross tail markings.[6][10] On 11 May, he shot down Sub Lt. Broad of 3 Naval Squadron, RNAS, the Sopwith Pup spinning uncontrollably and Broad shot through the mouth. Broad, however, recovered control of his Pup, landing at base and being hospitalised.[11] Von Tutschek scored his tenth victory on the 20th, a long duel with a SPAD of No. 23 Squadron that crashed in flames.[12] He scored 11 victories in July. On the 15th, he downed one of Captain Billy Bishop's 60 Squadron's comrades for victory number 16. On the 28th, he shot down English 7-kill ace Captain E.D.Crundall of Naval 8 Squadron(who survived), on a morning sortie. In the afternoon, he forced down another ace, 40 Squadron's Captain John Tudhope,[2] . On 11 July, he was awarded the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern.[13] On 3 August 1917, after 21 victories,[2] he was awarded Germany's premier decoration for valor, the Pour le Merite.[14] On 11 August 1917, after victory 23, Tutschek was severely wounded in in the shoulder by Flt Lt Charles Dawson Booker of RNAS Naval 8 Squadron.[2][6] If Victor Schobinger had not intervened and shot Booker down, Tutschek would probably have been killed.[12] Tutschek took six months to recover and spent the time writing a memoir of his flying experiences, Sturme and Luftsiege (Attack and Air Victories).[2] His edited letters would also appear in print at a later date.[15] [edit] Higher command and downfallReturning to active service, Hauptmann von Tutshek was given command of the new Jagdgeschwader 2, consisting of Jastas 12, 13, 15, and 19 on 2 February.[3][16] He was pitched into the challenge of gearing up and staffing a new organization; he expressed his dissatisfaction with progress in his diary. The new unit was short of aircraft, parts, and fuel and faced a numerically superior Royal Air Force.[13] One of his prerequisites was a new airplane to fly. He was delighted with his brand new Fokker Dr.I triplane. He first test flew it on 17 February 1918, and raved about it in his diary "..a tremendous machine climbs terrifically." He flew it to the last four victories of his career, on 26 February, and 1, 6, and 10 March. On the last day of February, he narrowly survived a mid-air collision with one of his pilots flying another triplane. Both pilots managed to coax their damaged machines to safe landings.[13] On 15 March, South African 10-kill ace Lt H.B. Redler of No.24 Squadron shot down von Tutschek.[2][17] The German spun down in his green triplane (S.No.404/17) out of control. There are two versions of what followed. One version of his death states when found he still had his wiping cloth tucked through his buttonhole and under his safety harness; as it was his habit to wipe his goggles clean going into battle, it was deduced he had been caught unaware.[13] A second version, less likely, claimed that one of Redler's bullets creased Tutschek's head and that the wound caused him to land. He supposedly waved to his wingmen as they circled, but was later found dead next to his plane.[18] His tally of 27 victories (24 with Jasta 12 or JG 2) would amount to a quarter of his parent Jasta 12's 104 victories.[2] [edit] Inline citations
[edit] References
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