Choice of aces in "Under the Guns..." series?

[Reinout]

Dear Forumites,

Having recently finished reading the final book in the N.Franks and H.Giblin "Under the Guns of the..." series, I could not help but wonder why certain aces starred in the books. Of course, MvR deserved his own book, but the other two books showed very little of a red line, so my question is: why were these aces selected? The other ones were: Immelmann, LvR, Werner Voss, Hermann Goering, Erwin Bohme, Max Ritter von Muller, Kurt Wolff and Adolf Ritter von Tutschek. It all seems so haphazard, without any connection. If MvR, LvR and Wolff signified a Jasta 11 connection, why were Allmenroder and Schafer left out? Why not the top 10 German aces? Why only one early ace?

I have a feeling it has partly to do with the victims of these aces being almost exclusively from the British Commonwealth instead of the French or Belgians, meaning researching their biographies is easier. I have some more ideas, but I'd like to hear your opinions first!

Kind regards,

Reinout


Edit: corrected silly errors...

[Gregvan]

Hello Reinout,

Yes, I've wondered about the choices myself.

I would imagine a few were chosen because of the amount of information available on their victories. There are detailed letters from von Tutschek and Erwin Böhme that have been translated into English and that provide a good deal of information on some of their victories. The more you know about a particular victory from the German side, the easier it is to narrow down the possible identity of the opponents. Many of Göring's combat reports and flight log entries have also survived and have been translated, as well. I'm sure name recognition had something to do with it also.

You're right about less information being available about French opponents, I'm sure. Also, some of the top aces like Udet, Berthold, and Löwenhardt scored the majority of their victories rather late in the war; with the increased scope and pace of the aerial war that occurred in the Allied offensives of late 1918, it gets more and more difficult to pick out exactly who so-and-so shot down in those hectic, large-scale combats. This is the case with some of Lothar von R's final combats, as evidenced in the book.

Just my thoughts.

Greg

[Reinout]

Thank you Greg, I can always count on you!

Name recognition and infamy were possible reasons indeed. I wondered whether the number of phantom victories Franks and Giblin found for Muller, von Tutschek and Goering were a reason for including these aces in their series? Were their reputations already under suspicion?

I hadn't thought about the intensity of air fighting in 1918 influencing the series, but it sounds correct to me: if four Germans shoot down four Americans in September 1918, how are you ever going to match them?

I know that von Tutschek and Immelmann (or his family) published their war accounts and their victories feature prominently in those works. As a matter of fact, quotes from Sturme und Luftsiege by von Tutschek were used in the last book of the series.

Kind regards,

Reinout

[Barrett]

Ref. von Tutschek, Peter Grosz said that vT's sister adored him and kept everything, including his pieces of allied aeroplanes, weapons, etc. She displayed his memorabilia in a room of her apartment suite (I forget where) but in 1945 she allowed some bombed-out folks to stay there. While she was gone THEY DISPOSED OF EVERYTHING to make more room.

Now THAT is a war crime.

Incidentally, Peter's obituaries included the NY Times, 2006.

[mdjzh]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.