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Boelcke, Oswald
(281 words)

Boelcke, Oswald

(May 19, 1891, Giebichenstein, now part of Halle [Saale] – October 28, 1916, near Bapaume, Somme region), German fighter pilot. Initially an officer with a Prussian telegraph battalion, Boelcke became a military pilot in 1914 and was posted to a field flying unit set up for reconnaissance work on the Western Front. Beginning in 1915 he flew a single-seat fighter plane specifically designed to engage enemy aircraft, scoring a total of 40 victories. He developed standard offensive an…

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Schmidt, Wolfgang, “Boelcke, Oswald”, in: Brill’s Digital Library of World War I. Consulted online on 28 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-3786_dlws1_beww1_en_0080>
First published online: 2015



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