The Brilliant Werner Voss
An Ace with 48 Victories.
The Hussars
With 48 victories Werner Voss is ranked fourth in the list of German aces; and from the outset of his career he proved to be a ‘born pilot’. He was awarded the Pour le Merite and yet his achievements tend to be overlooked. The future ace was barely 18 when his unit, the Krefeld Hussars was mobilised for war. Instead of the expected move to the Eastern Front they were sent to the area of Alsace Lorraine.
It proved to be one of the last instances of cavalry involvement in modern warfare. The major battles were in the north and the Alsace front became relatively unimportant by comparison. Like his contemporaries Voss saw no future for cavalry and it seemed appropriate to transfer to the flying service. It was a path that Manfred Richtofen followed eight months earlier. Their paths were destined to cross and re-cross many times.
Air Service
It was August 1915 before Voss was accepted and he took to this new element with sure judgment and steady hands. He gained his wings in record time, but instead of the expected move to a combat unit he became an instructor. Months passed before his combat orders came through and it was to a bomber and not a fighter unit.
It was May 1916 and a time of a build-up in the Air Service to counter the expected British offensive on the Somme. In his Aviatik 2-seater Voss flew and fought through the protracted Battle of the Somme. By the time he was given a spell of leave he was the last survivor of the original pilots of his unit.
First Successes
During that summer Oswald Boelcke was given the task of organising two elite fighter units; made up of the best pilots in the air service. These were Jasta 2 and Jasta 3 with Boelcke commanding Jasta 2. After a conversion course on Halberstadts Voss was commissioned 2nd lieutenant in September 1916 and in October he was assigned to Jasta 3. The unit operated with the Halberstadt DII, and during his tenure with Jasta 3 Voss scored 2 victories.
On the day that Voss flew his first patrol with Jasta 3 the great Boelcke died in a collision with Lt. Boehme. Lt. Kirmaier succeeded him but such was the toll that he survived for only three weeks and his place was taken by Captain Walz. These events created vacancies in Jasta 2 and Voss was requisitioned to fill one of them.
Richtofen Squadron
On arrival he was assigned to Manfred Richtofen’s flight and carried out several patrols as top cover, but Richtofen’s rigid tactics were not to Voss’s liking. It was a period when he had no opportunity to add to his score of 2.
In January 1917 Richtofen was given a Jagdstaffel of his own and with his departure Voss’s career took off dramatically. Despite the bad weather of January and February he raised his tally to 12. A feature of his combats was the ratio of scouts to 2-seaters; as a former 2-seater pilot he sympathised with their near-helpless situation in a dogfight. Voss felt it worthier to confront an enemy scout in a more equal contest.
Read the continuing Werner Voss story in the Flying Hussar.
Werner Voss
|
Aviatik C4
|
What do you think about this article?
More in History
Latest Articles