} '' Leutnant'' Max Ritter von Mulzer was a German World War I flying ace credited with ten aerial victories.The Aerodrome website http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/mulzer.php Retrieved on 19 April 2010. He was the first Bavarian fighter ace, first Bavarian ace recipient of the Pour le Merite, and first Bavarian knighted for his exploits.

Biography

Early life

Max Mulzer was born on 9 July 1893 in the Kingdom of Bavaria in the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

Military service

Mulzer graduated from cadet training with the Royal Bavarian Cadet Corps on 10 July 1914, and was commissioned in the 8th Cavalry Regiment on 13 December 1914. He transferred to aviation on 20 August 1915. He was posted to FA 4 on 13 December, but soon joined Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann in FFA 62. Indeed, Mulzer and Immelmann often flew together, and were referred to, respectively, as "Bavarian Max" and "Saxon Max" to differentiate them. "Bavarian Max"'s first victory, on 13 March 1916, went unconfirmed, but he had three confirmed victories between 30 March and 31 May. When FA 62 shipped out for service in Russia, Mulzer transferred to KEK Nord in June 1916 and tallied three more wins during the month, with the second one occurring during the dogfight during which his friend Immelmann was killed. Mulzer had the honor of carrying Immelmann's decorations on the black velvet ''Ordenkissen'' cushion in the funeral procession. Afterwards, he then had a fleeting assignment to FFA 32, and went on to KEK 'B'. He scored twice for them, on 8 and 22 July; the eight victories were enough at that time to earn him the

Blue Max Blue Max is an informal name of ''Pour le Mérite'', a German military decoration from 1740 until the end of World War I. Blue Max may also refer to: * Blue Max (video game), ''Blue Max'' (video game) (1983) and its sequel ''Blue Max 2001'' * Blue ...

. He also received the

Military Order of Max Joseph The Military Order of Max Joseph (german: Militär-Max-Joseph-Orden) was the highest military order of the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded on 1 January 1806 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, the first king of Bavaria. The order came in t ...

and thus earned a lifetime pension and became a non-hereditary knight entitled to be addressed by the honorific " Ritter von". He moved on to FA 32, and scored twice more. On 26 September, the day after Kurt Wintgens died, Mulzer had a new airplane to test fly. Apparently prompted by news of his old comrade's death, Mulzer remarked, "Immelmann is dead. Parschau is dead, Wintgens is dead. Now I am next in line." Then he took off from the Valenciennes airfield on a test flight, side-slipped his

Albatros D.I The Albatros D.I was a German fighter aircraft used during World War I. Although its operational career was short, it was the first of the Albatros D types which equipped the bulk of the German and Austrian fighter squadrons (''Jagdstaffeln'') fo ...

into a hard bank, lost control, and crashed to his death.

References

;General sources * ''Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps 1914 - 1918'' Norman L. R. Franks, et al. Grub Street, 1993. , . * ''Early German Aces of World War I.'' Greg VanWyngarden, Harry Dempsey. Osprey Publishing, 2006. , .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mulzer, Max Ritter Von 1893 births 1916 deaths Knights of the Military Order of Max Joseph Military personnel from the Kingdom of Bavaria Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in France German World War I flying aces Military personnel of Bavaria People from Oberallgäu German military personnel killed in World War I Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class)