Kurt Wolff

[Rittm]

Despite what some may think I do remember being close friends with Kurt Wolff, and I wish I could find more information about him. I have collected copied photos of the members of Jasta 11 and am constantly looking for more. Does anyone know of any books written about Kurt Wolff? I would like to have a book about him even if it is written in German. Help? I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Rittm

The book is called Le Petite Fleur. It was supposedly written in, of all places, France. Good Luck.

There are no books written about Kurt Wolff - though it is sad. I do think that he was a good man - his comrades (I quote the Rittmeister himself) called him "little flower".

You probably know, that he was burried in Memel/ Eastern Perussia.

[Barrett]

Kurt Wolff was born in Pomerania in '95. He was a prewar soldier, commissioned in '15 and shortly transferred to aviation. Flew bombers until joining J.11 in Nov. 16 and, under MvR's leadership, began scoring prodigiously. His first 5 kills came in Mar '17, then he set the German WW I record with 22 in April, averaging one a day for an 11-day period. He scored 6 more by early July, including one while detached to J.29. He was wounded that month, returning to combat in Seept. Though he was an early exponent of the Dr.I, all his victories were in Albatrii. KIA 15 Sept '17 by Camels of Naval 10.
Kurt Wolff was 23 years old.

[Rittm]

Moritz,
I'm to blame for most of the nicknames.
Rittm

[rammjaeger]

Hello Rittmeister,

my tip is Kilduff again. He wrote "The Red Baron Combat Wing: Jagdgeschwader Richthofen in Battle". So I guess you can find also some info about "the delicate flower" there.

[Rittm]

Hello Hannes,
I tried the web address you gave me for Kilduff, but there was no way for me to leave an email. As far as Kurt goes, I have seen little bits and pieces written about him, but nothing like an entire book or chapter of a book devoted to him, which in my opinion is a shame. He was a good guy.

Rittm

May I suggest you get a copy of the latest "Over the Front" from the League of WWI Aviation Historians at www.overthefront.com? There is an excellent article on Kurt in the last issue explaining how the British managed to claim more Triplanes in the air than were actually manufactured...Das Kleines Blümlein (God help my Deutsch!) was "pulling a Voß" at that point, I think, and author Henderson is the first one to put two and two together. S.A.H. Henderson is something of a Wolffmeister, if you will, and will probably be able to help. Contact is "[email protected]"

Glück Auf!

J

[Barrett]

First things first. Joellyn--welcome aboard! Your post reminds me that I compiled a list of the leading Brit pilots with destroyed or captured credits for a variety of German aircraft. Tops among the aces I surveyed (all the biggies) was McElroy with 3 Tripehounds followed by Mannock with 2 and Gilmour with 1 and 1 shared. I suspect the excess (i.e., more claimed than built) is a function of the silly Brit system of OOCs, FTLs, etc. Off the top of my skull, something like 320-350 were built.
Peculiar thing about Pfalz D.III claims: Mannock with 13 and Cobby with 11 prompt speculation about identification/recognition because (aside from Bishop) the leading Albatrii shooters were Barker with 19 followed by Wollett and Collishaw with 13. There had to be confusion as to whether Albatros or Pfalz V-strutters were being potted.

[rammjaeger]

Hi Barrett,

what do you think about the Canadian bomber pilot McLeod´s claims (DDOOC)of (at least) 3 Fokker Dr.I in one battle against JG1 (!)?