Eduard Pulpe

Lieutenant Eduard Martynovich Pulpe (22 June 1880 – 2 August 1916) was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories. He was a schoolteacher engaged in post-graduate study in France when World War I broke out. As he already held a civil pilot's license, he volunteered to serve in French military aviation. His 1915 aerial victories were among the first ever recorded. After running his score to four, he managed to return home to Russia in May 1916. He was assigned to the 10th Aviatsionniy Otryad Istrebitlei (Fighter Aviation Detachment). After becoming an ace on 1 July 1916, he was killed in action a month later. On 2 August 1916, Eduard Pulpe ultimately lost a nearly hour-long air battle against three enemy aircraft.

Biography

Eduard Martynovich Pulpe was born into a farming family on 22 June 1880, at Riga, Latvia; at that time, Latvia was part of the Russian Empire. Although his earlier education is unknown, he was one of the few that gained entry to college in Russia, attending the University of Moscow. He graduated in 1908, and returned to Riga to become a teacher. Pulpe moved to France in 1912 with the dual aims of furthering his education and learning to fly. After obtaining his civilian pilot's brevet no. 1571 on 19 December 1913, he volunteered for the French air service at the outbreak of war, despite being 34 years old. Pulpe fell under the guns of Erwin Böhme and his gunner to begin Böhme's victory string. Witnesses on the ground watched Pulpe fight three German fighters for almost an hour before the Russian ace's bullet-riddled aircraft fell spinning to 1,000 feet altitude, recovering briefly, then plunging to earth because its left aileron was ruined. The impact imbedded the aero engine in the earth on the banks of the Styr River near Rogistche. The dying ace, when pulled from the wreckage, could only gasp, "Water". Then he expired from the bullet through the left side of his back. as well as a French award of a palm for his previously awarded Croix de guerre. An unmailed letter in Pulpe's effects read: "...I have only one desire—that is the victory over our everlasting enemy. I will die like anyone else. My thoughts will always be about you, my Motherland, Russia and my cradle, Latvia."

Citations and references

Cited sources Allen Durkota; Thomas Darcey; Victor Kulikov. The Imperial Russian Air Service: Famous Pilots and Aircraft and World War I. Flying Machines Press, 1995. , 9780963711021. Norman Franks; Russell Guest; Gregory Alegi. Above the War Fronts: The British Two-seater Bomber Pilot and Observer Aces, the British Two-seater Fighter Observer Aces, and the Belgian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Fighter Aces, 1914–1918: Volume 4 of Fighting Airmen of WWI Series: Volume 4 of Air Aces of WWI. Grub Street, 1997.. Norman Franks. Nieuport Aces of World War I. Osprey Publishing, 2000.. Norman Franks; Hal Giblin. Under the Guns of the Kaiser's Aces: Bohme, Muller, Von Tutschek and Wolff: The Complete Record of Their Victories and Victims. Grub Street, 2003. ,