Manfred und Kurt Wollf. (picture source: Die Erinnerungen der Mutter des roten Kampffliegers Kunigunde Freifrau von Richthofen. Im Verlag Ullstein - Berlin, 1937.) Unsere beide erfolgreichsten Flieger Rittmeister Frhr. v. Richthofen u. Leutnant Voss. (Sanke 554) (picture source: Under the guns of the Red Baron, Norman Franks, Hal Giblin and Nigel McCrery) Something to smile about. Kurt Wolff, Constantin Krefft, MvR in his leather jacket. (picture source: The Red Baron, a history in pictures, Norman Franks, 2016, Pen & Sword Books) MvR meeting with fellow pilots. On his right is Leutnant Kurt Wolff. (picture source: The Red Baron, a photographic album of the first world war's greatest ace, Manfred von Richthofen, Terry C Treadwell, Pen and Sword Books, 2021)
Lt. Wolff killed
Event ID: 429
15 September 1917
Source ID: 16
“Three days later, on 15 September, Rittmeister von Richthofen receives a telegram in Schweidnitz, his Silesian home town. It was from his fighter squadron and read:
‘First Lieutenant Wolff killed in air combat north of Wervicq.’
After Dostler, now Wolff! How close this loss was to Richthofen’s heart can be seen from the obituary he had published in two Memel newspapers, the home of Wolff, in the Kreuzzeitung and in the Militärwochenblatt.
“On 15 September 1917, the Royal Prussian First Lieutenant Kurt Wollf, Knight of the Order Pour le mérite, died a hero’s death for his fatherland after a fierce air battle.
It is with deep sorrow that the squadron and with it the entire air force stand at the all-too-early grave of a leader who was tried and tested in chivalrous combat and who led his valiant flock from victory to victory. He sacrificed his young life not in forced defence, but in self-chosen ruthless attack.
With his friendly nature and quiet modesty, he was one of our dearest and best comrades. He will live on in the history of the squadron for all time as a model of soldierly youth, as an example that only the most capable set.”
It had affected him deeply. The ‘delicate little flower’, who was a berserker in battle, had given his life and a man full of cheerfulness, kindness and nameless modesty had been extinguished.”
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