Flying with medals

Did pilot's wear their medals when flying? Was Voss wearing his blue max when he was shot down?

In the book of the late Martin O'Connor "Air Aces of the AH Empire 1914-1918" there is a picture of Josef Kiss that wore his medal under the leather flight suit. Someone told me that, when his remains were transferred from Pergine to Rovereto in 1970, the medals were still on his chest.
VBR
Paolo

According to regulations, the Pour leMérite was to be worn with the uniform at all times. The neck band was shortened so that it fit snuggly under the collar and only the medal itself was exposed.

As crazy as it sounds I will have to go with Jim ACE on his discription of tight-assed Prussians and say that even Voss would have worm this medal while flying simply because this was the regulation.

Also you can see numerous photos from that time period of German soldiers in battle with medals on their unifrom.There was no real distinction between parade dress and battle dress.

However in the last known photo of Voss, his Pour leMérite is not visible. He is wearing a sweater over his tunic. You could argue that he has tucked the PlM inside the sweater to prevent it from flopping around while flying. Or you could use it as proof that he did not wear the medal while flying.

Unlike MvR, Voss did not have an elaborately displayed mock funeral an no autospy performed. Most sources say he was (hastily) buried in a mass grave close to where he fell. The grave site was unmarked and has since been lost to the ages.

Tobias Gibson
tgibson@ruhsu.rush.edu
48 Kills

[Barrett]

According to one contemporary source, Voss's body was found still wearing "the Boelcke collar" which has been interpreted as the PlM. Evidently regs did require wearing decorations when on duty, and if so it appears that no less a Prussian than MvR ignored the rules (jammies being more comfortable.)
I've seen a translation of the WW II Wehrmacht paybook which required soldaten to wear their awards & decorations at all times, hence Ritterkreuze and qualification badges sported in infantry combat. Consequently, the allegedly up-tight Teutons actually were "only following orders."
James Mason: "Willy is so fond of that medal that he'll probably wear it to bed."
Ursula Andress: "Won't that be uncomfortable for the girl?" (As if SHE didn't know!)

[PeterL]

Guynemer also seems to have been in the habit.
No Darryl, this is not a referance to nuns.

I have seen pictures and talked to Charles Nungesser's cousin and it seems that Charles always wore his medals in battle. In fact he had them packed in his plane (the White Bird) when he attempted to fly the atlantic a few weeks before Lindburg, only to be lost and never heard from again. The Nungesser family is still in hopes of finding his remains (probably in Nova Scocia) so they not only prove he did in fact cross the Atlantic before Lindy but recover his medals for the family.

Guynemer and Nungesser both wore their medals in combat.I guess it wasn't only the Prussians who were "tight-assed".

[rammjaeger]

Not only tight-assed Prussians flew with their medals. Immelmann - a Non-Prussian - is also visible on a photograph with the Military St. Henry Medal on his tunic before or after a combat flight. The Plm is not visible on this photograph despite of the requirement of the Prussians but it was told Max was identified because of his Plm after his fatal crash.

VBR

Hannes

[Reinout]

Neal O'Connor identifies three men who wore their PlM in combat: Voss, Immelmann (both already discussed) and Allmenröder, whose cross was bent by the impact of his fatal crash. Whether there were any others, I don't know, but I doubt if there were many. As ar as I am concerned, men who wore their PlM's during flights were the exception - despite the rules.

It was however more common to wear the lower disticntions such as Flugzeugführerabzeichen and Eisernen Kreuze.

Kind regards,

Reinout

Nuns????? NUNS???????

DRINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!