June 27 1918, Morcourt–The First World War brought many new innovations to military technology, most designed to be more deadly than their predecessors. One of the rare purely defensive technologies that saw first use on the battlefield during the war was the parachute. Although developed and even used from moving planes before the war, they were only used by balloon observers for the first few years of the war. Bailing out of a distressed plane was difficult at best, parachutes were heavy, and there was some concern (especially by the Allies) that pilots would rather bail out than attempt to save their plane. In 1918, the Germans, who desperately wanted to maintain their supply of skilled pilots, first gave them parachutes in 1918.
The parachutes saw their first successful use on June 27, when Lt. Helmut Steinbrecher’s gas tank was hit by an British fighter above Allied lines near Amiens. He was able to steer his craft back towards German lines and descend in altitude before the fire spread, and then he put his craft into a dive and jumped out with his parachute. The jump was by no means perfect; he ended up head down for a good proportion of the fall. Nevertheless, he survived and returned to active service.
Two days later, Ernst Udet, Germany’s top living ace, would also successfully bail out of a plane and return to flying later that day. Not all parachute users were so lucky, however; around a third of those who attempted to use them were killed, typically because the parachute became tangled or did not completely clear the plane before deploying. Among such casualties was Erich Löwenhardt, Germany’s #3 ace during the war, killed in the aftermath of a mid-air collision with another German pilot (who successfully used his parachute).
Charles Nunguesser, full stop! Whatta guy, he was the epitome of the dashing WW1 flying ace. Despite breaking every bone in his body, he still found time to nail Mata Hari on the regular and told her fake news to share with her German spymasters. After the war, he raced cars and played himself in stunt-filled silent movies. He went missing at the age of 35 when attempting to cross the Atlantic. For a long time it was thought that he crashed into the ocean, but recently they’ve started considering that he made it to North America and landed in rural Canada; making him the first to cross and not Lindbergh. I love him. Nunguesser pilot flying ace cute histiry dudes
Charles Nunguesser, full stop! Whatta guy, he was the epitome of the dashing WW1 flying ace. Despite breaking every bone in his body, he still found time to nail Mata Hari on the regular and told her fake news to share with her German spymasters. After the war, he raced cars and played himself in stunt-filled silent movies. He went missing at the age of 35 when attempting to cross the Atlantic. For a long time it was thought that he crashed into the ocean, but recently they’ve started considering that he made it to North America and landed in rural Canada; making him the first to cross and not Lindbergh. I love him. Nunguesser pilot flying ace cute histiry dudes
