Recent from talks
Kurt Wintgens
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Kurt Wintgens
Leutnant Kurt Wintgens (1 August 1894 – 25 September 1916) was a German World War I fighter ace. He was the first fighter pilot to score an aerial victory with a synchronized machine gun. Wintgens was the recipient of the Iron Cross and the Pour le Mérite (Blue Max).
Wintgens was born into a military family in Neustadt in Oberschlesien. His military service commenced when he joined the Telegraphen-Bataillon Nr. 2 in Frankfurt/Oder as a Fahnenjunker (cadet officer) in 1913.
Though still in military school when the war began in 1914, Wintgens was sent to the Eastern Front as a leutnant and won the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. On transferring to the German Air Service, Wintgens flew first as an observer, apparently alternating with telegraph duty. However, in early 1915 he entered pilot training at the Fokker school in Schwerin, where Leutnant Otto Parschau had already been brought in by the Fokker factory to prepare an example of an armed (with a Parabellum MG14 synchronized gun) version of the Fokker A.III single-seat monoplane, with IdFlieg military serial number A.16/15 (the very same "green machine" aircraft that Parschau had flown since the summer of 1914) for front-line trials. Wintgens specifically requested the chance "to fly in the field the smallest and fastest Fokker type with the Garros-installation, which enabled a built-in machine gun to fire through the (arc of the rotating) propeller." With that background he was selected, along with Leutnant Parschau, as one of the first Fokker Eindecker pilots, flying single-seaters that had been assigned to fly alone with various two-seater-equipped field flying detachments, starting with the Bavarian Feldflieger Abteilung 6b, then based near Saarburg.[citation needed]
In the early summer of 1915, the initial deployments of Fokker Eindecker fighter planes began. These were carried out only with single aircraft, with each one attached to established Feldflieger Abteilung two-seat observation aircraft units, each unit normally equipped with six two-seaters apiece.[citation needed]
Wintgens holds a unique pioneering role in the history of aerial combat, being the first fighter pilot to down an enemy aircraft using a synchronized gun. On 1 July 1915, Leutnant Wintgens was flying the last-produced example of the five Fokker M.5K/MG production prototype Eindecker aircraft, with German military serial number E.5/15, and at 18:00 that evening he engaged a Morane-Saulnier Type L "Parasol" two-seater. The French aircraft was most likely from Escadrille M.S.48, and flown by Capitaine Paul du Peuty, with Sous-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, while the Fokker had a forward-firing, synchronized Parabellum MG 14 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 dozens of shots from E.5/15's machine gun fire, with the combat taking place in the Lorraine sector.
Leutnant Wintgens wrote a letter to a friend named "Karl" the next day with the details of the engagement:
Bühl-Saarburg
2 July 1915
Hub AI
Kurt Wintgens AI simulator
(@Kurt Wintgens_simulator)
Kurt Wintgens
Leutnant Kurt Wintgens (1 August 1894 – 25 September 1916) was a German World War I fighter ace. He was the first fighter pilot to score an aerial victory with a synchronized machine gun. Wintgens was the recipient of the Iron Cross and the Pour le Mérite (Blue Max).
Wintgens was born into a military family in Neustadt in Oberschlesien. His military service commenced when he joined the Telegraphen-Bataillon Nr. 2 in Frankfurt/Oder as a Fahnenjunker (cadet officer) in 1913.
Though still in military school when the war began in 1914, Wintgens was sent to the Eastern Front as a leutnant and won the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. On transferring to the German Air Service, Wintgens flew first as an observer, apparently alternating with telegraph duty. However, in early 1915 he entered pilot training at the Fokker school in Schwerin, where Leutnant Otto Parschau had already been brought in by the Fokker factory to prepare an example of an armed (with a Parabellum MG14 synchronized gun) version of the Fokker A.III single-seat monoplane, with IdFlieg military serial number A.16/15 (the very same "green machine" aircraft that Parschau had flown since the summer of 1914) for front-line trials. Wintgens specifically requested the chance "to fly in the field the smallest and fastest Fokker type with the Garros-installation, which enabled a built-in machine gun to fire through the (arc of the rotating) propeller." With that background he was selected, along with Leutnant Parschau, as one of the first Fokker Eindecker pilots, flying single-seaters that had been assigned to fly alone with various two-seater-equipped field flying detachments, starting with the Bavarian Feldflieger Abteilung 6b, then based near Saarburg.[citation needed]
In the early summer of 1915, the initial deployments of Fokker Eindecker fighter planes began. These were carried out only with single aircraft, with each one attached to established Feldflieger Abteilung two-seat observation aircraft units, each unit normally equipped with six two-seaters apiece.[citation needed]
Wintgens holds a unique pioneering role in the history of aerial combat, being the first fighter pilot to down an enemy aircraft using a synchronized gun. On 1 July 1915, Leutnant Wintgens was flying the last-produced example of the five Fokker M.5K/MG production prototype Eindecker aircraft, with German military serial number E.5/15, and at 18:00 that evening he engaged a Morane-Saulnier Type L "Parasol" two-seater. The French aircraft was most likely from Escadrille M.S.48, and flown by Capitaine Paul du Peuty, with Sous-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, while the Fokker had a forward-firing, synchronized Parabellum MG 14 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 dozens of shots from E.5/15's machine gun fire, with the combat taking place in the Lorraine sector.
Leutnant Wintgens wrote a letter to a friend named "Karl" the next day with the details of the engagement:
Bühl-Saarburg
2 July 1915
Recent media