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Name: Max Immelmann
Orden Pour le Mérite (Blue Max)
Military Order of St. Henry
Knight's Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern
Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class
Max Immelmann

Country: Germany
Rank: Oberleutnant
Unit: FA62
Victories: 17
Born: 21 September 1890
Place of Birth: Dresden, Germany
Killed In Action: 18 June 1916 Killed In Action
Place of Death: Near Lens, France
Cemetery: Dresden, Germany
 
Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke were awarded the Orden Pour le Mérite on 12 January 1916. Later that year, Immelmann was killed in a dogfight with seven British aircraft. His death, like that of many other aces, was controversial. While the British credited the pilot of an F.E.2b with his loss, the Germans proclaimed that the synchronized machine gun on Immelmann's Fokker E.III malfunctioned and he shot his own propellor off. However, after examining the wreckage, Anthony Fokker concluded that Immelmann's aircraft was brought down by German anti-aircraft fire.
The Immelmann Turn


With the introduction of aircraft armed with forward firing machine guns, the "Eagle of Lille" laid the foundation for single seat fighter tactics in World War I. Today, Max Immelmann is best remembered for the "Immelmann turn," a half-loop followed by a half-roll.
 
Victories
Date Time Unit Aircraft Opponent Location
1 01 Aug 1915 0615 FA 62   B.E.2c (2003)  
2 09 Sep 1915 FA 62   Biplane  
3 21 Sep 1915 1000 FA 62   B.E.2c (2004)  
4 10 Oct 1915 1500 FA 62   B.E.2c (2033)  
5 26 Oct 1915 1005 FA 62   Vickers F.B.5 (5464)  
6 07 Nov 1915 1545 FA 62   B.E.2c (1715)  
7 15 Dec 1915 a.m. FA 62   Morane Parasol (5087)  
8 12 Jan 1916 0830 FA 62   Vickers F.B.5 (5460)  
9 02 Mar 1916 a.m. FA 62   Morane BB (5137)  
10 13 Mar 1916 1255 FA 62   Bristol Scout C (4678)  
11 13 Mar 1916 1740 FA 62   B.E.2c (4197)  
12 29 Mar 1916 1100 FA 62   F.E.2b (6352)  
13 30 Mar 1916 1115 FA 62   B.E.2c (4116)  
14 23 Apr 1916 0945 FA 62   Vickers F.B.5 (5079)  
15 16 May 1916 1800 FA 62   Bristol Scout C (5301)  
16 18 Jun 1916 1700 FA 62   F.E.2b (6940)  
17 18 Jun 1916 2145 FA 62   F.E.2b (4909)  
 
Books
Under the Guns of the German AcesReview
by Norman Franks and Hal Giblin, Grub Street, London, 1997
 
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