Max Ritter von Mulzer

Leutnant Max Ritter von Mulzer was a World War I flying ace credited with ten aerial victories. He was the first Bavarian fighter ace, first Bavarian ace recipient of the Pour le Merite, and first Bavarian knighted for his exploits.

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 20 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 Immelmann was killed.

Mulzer 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. He also received the Military Order of Max Joseph and thus became a non-hereditary knight. He moved on to FA 32, and scored twice more. While test flying an Albatros D.I from Flug Park 6 in Valenciennes, he crashed to his death. 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." Shortly thereafter, he sideslipped Albatros D.I s/n 426/16 into a hard bank, lost control, and crashed.