This Day in Aviation History
June 18th, 1916
First German ace Max Immelmann is killed while flying his Fokker E.III monoplane.
 
At 21:45 hours that same evening, Immelmann in Fokker E.III, serial 246/16 encountered No. 25 Squadron again, this time near the village of Lens. Immediately, he got off a burst which hit RFC Lt. J.R.B Savage, pilot of FE.2b pusher serial 4909, mortally wounding him. This was his 17th victory claim, though Max Mulzer was later credited with the victory. The crew of the second aircraft he closed on was piloted by Second Lieutenant G.R. McCubbin with Corporal J. H. Waller as gunner/observer, and was credited by the British with shooting Immelmann down. On the German side, many had seen Immelmann as invincible and could not conceive the notion that he had fallen to enemy fire. Meanwhile, British authorities awarded McCubbin the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Service Medal and sergeant’s stripes for Waller.
 
The German Air Service at the time claimed the loss was due to (friendly) anti-aircraft fire. Others, including Immelmann’s brother, believed his aircraft’s gun synchronisation (designed to enable his machine gun to fire between the whirling propeller blades without damaging them) had malfunctioned with catastrophic results. This is not in itself unreasonable, as early versions of such gears frequently malfunctioned in this way. Indeed, this had already happened to Immelmann twice before (while testing two- and three-machine gun installations), although on each occasion, he had been able to land safely. McCubbin, in a 1935 interview, claimed that immediately after Immelmann shot down McCubbin’s squadron mate, the German ace began an Immelmann turn, McCubbin and Waller swooped down from a greater altitude and opened fire, and the pioneer German ace fell out of the sky. Waller also pointed out later that the British bullets could have hit Immelmann’s propeller…..
 
Source:
Wikipedia, Max Immelmann: http://gstv.us/1S7ihCF
 
YouTube, The Death of Max Immelmann – Haig’s Final Offensive I THE GREAT WAR – Week 100: http://gstv.us/2rlytKW By The Great War
 
YouTube, Max Immelmann – The Eagle of Lille: http://gstv.us/1S7k4HW
 
This is a fair amount of uncertainty whether Max was shot down by the enemy, by friendly fire or even whether the gun synchronization gear failed. In researching this post, I was taken by surprise when I found out the Immelmann maneuver was different during ww1, than what it is today. Here is a Wiki link that explains those differences:
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immelmann_turn
 
 
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Photo from: http://gstv.us/1S7kcHm
 
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