Gentlemen of the skies: The German flying ace who shot down British World War I pilots... and risked his life to deliver their letter telling superiors they were alright
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•German ace risked his life to deliver letter from uninjured British airman that told his family he was alright
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•After shooting aircraft down 'gentleman of the sky' flew to where they landed to shake their hands and send them to hospital
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•Archive of letters and photos telling extraordinary story now on sale
By Anna Edwards
PUBLISHED: 11:34, 7 September 2012 | UPDATED: 14:14, 7 September 2012
Sworn as enemies and battling to the death, World War I was so vicious that it was dubbed the 'war to end all wars'.
But it would seem that even the horrors of battle did not stop these combatants being chivalrous to each other.
A letter from a WWI British airman telling his family and superiors that he was alright was bravely dropped over Allied lines by the German Ace who shot him down - risking his life to make sure the letter was delivered.
The astonishing archive - which is now on sale - proves how even when fighting in the air, the combatants were gentlemen of the skies.
Blast! Oswald Boelke takes a picture of Formilli's crashed aircraft in January 1916 after shooting it down
Sorry about that, old bean: The amazing tale of chivalry in the air in the First World War shows just how gentlemanly combatants were, even in the grim battle
Chivalry: German Ace Oswald Boelke risked his life to deliver the letter of the man he shot down
After shooting up the British aircraft in 1916, chivalrous German ace Oswald Boelke followed it down and landed nearby to find two British flyers surrounded by locals and was delighted when he found they were largely unhurt.
Lt William E Somervill and Lt Geoffrey C Formilli were slightly wounded after their 'scrap with a Fokker', as Formilli later modestly described it.
Boelke, who took photos of the smashed aircraft, later wrote about what happened when he approached the Brits.
He said: 'I went straight up to the Englishmen, shook hands with them and told them I was delighted to have brought them down alive.
'I had a long talk with the pilot [Somervill] who spoke German well. When he heard my name he said with a grin "We all know about you!"
'I then saw to it that they were both taken in a car to the hospital where I visited the observer [Formilli] today and brought him some English papers and photos of his wrecked machine...'
Formilli then wrote a letter to Cpt Babington of the Royal Flying Corps that was dropped over British lines by the German pilot despite the British and French trying to shoot him down.
The letter, which has now emerged along with photos that Boelke and made front page news at the time and showed, said: 'Just a line to say that Somervill & I are alright.
'We had a scrap with a Fokker. Willy got a graze on the side of his head & I got one through the shoulder half way through.
'We had most of our controls shot through & had to land & crashed very badly.
'I am in Hospital now & Willy is in Germany. Will you let my people know please, yours G Formilli.
'P.S. It was Boelke who brought us down.'
This letter was later forwarded to Formilli's mother by a soldier who watched it being dropped by the German.
C F Murphy wrote: 'I enclose with great pleasure you son's note which was dropped by a German aeroplane this morning over our lines.
'The German machine very sportingly held on through heavy shell fire from us and the French and was chased by several of our machines and had to run a hot gauntlet on its errand but it escaped alright.'
He added: 'The news has given us all great pleasure and I rejoice to be able to send it to you.'
Dropping a line: The chivalrous German visited the British observer Lt Geoffrey Formilli in hospital, and then incredibly undertook a perilous mission to drop a note from Formilli over his Squadron's HQ to let them know he was alive
Good news: The auction also contains the letter from Formilli's grateful Squadron commander to his parents confirming his survival
The letters and photos are now going up for sale by Mullock's in Ludlow, Shropshire, on September 27.
Richard Westwood-Brookes from the saleroom said: 'This is an extraordinary tale that made headlines at the time.
'Pilots at this time were quite gentlemanly even though they were trying to shoot each other down.
'Not long before this planes were not considered of much use other than for recoinessance.
'When the British pilots were shot down the German ace followed them down and was very friendly and made sure they were looked after.
'He then visited them to give them photos he had taken of their plane. The letters written by Formilli was then dropped over British lines.
'The British on the ground wouldn't have known who was flying the plane, but it beggars belief that it was any other pilot other than Boelke.
'The mission fits in with his chivalrous nature and the responsibility he would have felt to deliver the note.
Caught on camera: A picture of Formilli's aircraft taken by Oswald Boelke in January 1916
'This was a very risky operation because the British and the French were doing their best to shoot him down.
'This wonderful archive including the letter and the pictures are now being sold by the family of Formilli.'
Boelke himself was by far the most important and famous of the German aces of the early years of WWI.
He became a pilot shortly before the outbreak of war, and had the first of his 40 victories in July 1915.
He is also credited with choosing a young unknown pilot to join him in his newly formed Jasta 2 squadron on the Western Front - one Manfred Von Richtofen, the 'Red Baron'.
The lot is expected to fetch £1,000.