Oswald Belke, was one of the first aces of the ethers and trainer of the famous "Red Baron". On January 5, 1916, Belke in the famous Fokker Eindecker I monoplane over the area of the city of Lille in northern France.
Belke then spotted a British two-seat reconnaissance aircraft, carrying Lieutenants William Somerville and Geoffrey Formili. The German ace attacked and soon engaged the British aircraft, which it shot down.
Soon after, Belke flew over the downed aircraft and saw signs of life. The British pilots had not been killed. Then he decided to land next to them and help them. Both Britons were badly wounded, but alive.
Belke ran to their side and pulled them out of the wrecked plane, so they wouldn't burn alive. Somerville spoke fluent German and thanked Belke. The German shook hands with the British and told them that he was very happy that they had not been killed.
But the British were wounded and needed help. So Belke made sure an ambulance rushed to the area and picked them up. The two Britons were indeed taken to the hospital and saved. De Belke visited them in the hospital, even bringing them British newspapers to read.
He also took care of the letters the two British wrote to inform their unit and by extension their families that they were alive. In fact, he delivered the letters himself, flying over the base of the British pilots and ignoring the British fire, he dropped the letters in a sealed envelope.
This story had been forgotten for years. But it came to light again, recently, as the letters were discovered and put up for auction in Britain. The chivalrous Belke was ingloriously killed in 1916 in an air accident when an inexperienced German pilot crashed his plane into his own. When he was killed he had 40 kills and was only 25 years old.
