MAX IMMELMANN (1890-1916)

Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke engaged in a fluctuating contest to be Germany's leading ace. On January 12, 1916, both pilots received the “Blue Max” award from Kaiser Wilhelm II.

- JOSEPH NORONHA

THE FIRST SUSTAINED, CONTROLLED, POWERED FLIGHT OF A fixed-wing aircraft happened on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The enormous military potential of this new device was already apparent. And when the First World War started, in July 1914, it provided the perfect impetus for the rapid military exploitation of the air. Indeed, aviation was one of the most romanticised facets of the War. Air aces were lionised by politicians and press alike, and quickly achieved celebrity status. Though the term “ace” meant different things in different countries, it was generally taken to mean any pilot credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft.

Max Immelmann, known as “The Eagle of Lille”, was one of Germany’s early air aces, credited with 15 (sometimes 17) aerial victories. Together with Oswald Boelcke, he became famous as a daring fighter pilot whom the Allied pilots would rather not mess with. Immelmann was the first to receive the Pour le Mérite (colloquially called the “Blue Max” in his honour) at the same time as Boelcke. And a distinctive combat manoeuvre — a half loop followed by a half roll on top, employed to rapidly reverse the direction of flight - came to be called an “Immelmann turn”. However, more likely, an Immelmann turn was a sharp rudder turn, off a near-vertical zoom climb - a manoeuvre that Immelmann may have originated and used in combat.