Erwin Boehme
| Erwin Böhme | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 29 July 1879 Holzminden |
| Died | 29 November 1917 (aged 38) Over Zonnebeke |
| Allegiance | German Empire |
| Service/branch | Luftstreitkräfte |
| Years of service | 1899 - 1900, 1914 - 1917 |
| Rank | Oberleutnant |
| Unit | Jasta 2, 29, Kasta 10 |
| Awards | Pour le Mérite |
Erwin Böhme (29 July 1879 – 29 November 1917), Pour le Mérite, was a German pilot during World War I. He was born in Holzminden, grew into an athletic sportsman and became a flying ace during the war, credited with 24 victories. He was both a close friend and a military subordinate of Oswald Boelcke and was inadvertently responsible for Boelcke's death. Böhme was also both a contemporary of and eventually subordinate to the Red Baron.
Böhme was the second of five sons in his family; he also had a sister. He qualified as an engineer, attending technical college in Dortmund. He reported for national service with the Garde-Jäger Regiment in 1899.
He was an athletic youth, participating in many sports. He was a superb ice skater and a champion swimmer. On 30 July 1905, he outswam all other entrants in a race across Lake Zurich, covering a three-mile distance in 52 minutes, 40 seconds. He was also a great mountain climber, during the three years he lived in Switzerland, he was the only non-Swiss member of the Swiss alpinists' guild.
Tiring of Switzerland he decided to search for adventure in Africa. He was corresponding with a Swiss African explorer, Dr. David. Böhme hiked from Bern, Switzerland to catch a ship in Genoa, Italy. This foot journey included a solo traverse of the Matterhorn.
He reached German East Africa to discover Dr. David had died, and so began work there in 1910 for a German lumber and agricultural company. He helped construct the cable railroad from the Usambara railroad, in modern-day Tanzania, to New Hornow in the Pare Mountains. The cableway was used to ship cedar to the Hubertus lumber mills in Germany, who prepared it for use in producing pencils.
In July 1914, Böhme returned to Europe, intent on skiing and mountaineering in the Swiss Alps. On the outbreak of war, instead of continuing on to neutral Switzerland, he returned to Germany to enter military service.
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