German pilot ejecting himself from his burning Albatross plane after being shot down over enemy lines.

Today 106 years ago, on September 23, 1917, German flying ace Werner Voss was killed in a dogfight against 8 British pilots, aged 20. Voss has been credited with 48 aerial kills, ranking him the joint 4th most successful German pilot in the First World War, and joint 13th overall.

Werner Voss (Voß) was born on April 13, 1897 in Krefelt to a Christian mother and a Jewish father. As a child, Voss developed a passion for machinery and vehicles, joining the motorcyclist Ersatz Eskadron 2 in April 1914, despite being underaged.

Upon the outbreak of the First World War, Voss spent August and September 1914 as a civilian volunteer driver for the German military, before joining the 11th Hussar Regiment on November 16, 1914, aged 17.

Voss soon saw combat on the Eastern Front where he was promoted to Gefreiter and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. However, Voss soon submitted a transfer request for the German Air Service, which was granted on August 1, 1915.

Voss was a natural born pilot and graduated from flight school on February 12, 1916, but was initially withheld from frontline duty in order to be a flight instructor, the very youngest in Germany.

On November 21, 1916, Voss joined the Jagdstaffel 2 and scored his first two kills 5 days later on November 26, earning him the Iron Cross 1st Class. After scoring his 25th kill on April 6, 1917, Voss was awarded the Pour le Mérite.

During this time, Voss became a close friend and rival of fellow flying ace Manfred von Richthofen - the Red Baron. Upon the Red Baron's request, Voss was transferred to the Jagdgeschwader - the Red Baron's Flying Circus.

By September 11, 1917, Voss had raised his killing tally to 47, second only to the Red Baron among German pilots. Voss would score his final, 48th kill on September 23, 1917, though headed back into the skies for another patrol in the afternoon.

It was during this patrol on September 23, 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, which would prove fatal for Werner Voss.

Flying over Poelcappelle, Voss became isolated from his squadron and got engaged in a dogfight with 6 British pilots of the renowned 'B' Flight 56 Squadron, led by none other than British flying aces James McCudden, Keith Muspratt and Arthur Rys-Davids.

The 6 British pilots initiated a chase for Voss, who was soon surrounded from the top, below, and both sides. However, Voss' first priority wasn't to escape the trap, rather he spun around and fired at the British planes, hitting one of them and putting it out of action.

Voss zig-zagged among his multiple attackers for several minutes without being hit, whilst putting several bullets of his own into nearly all the British planes.

After around 8 minutes of dogfight, Voss' luck ran out. While engaging McCudden head-on, Voss' plane was struck by enfilade fire from another British plane, forcing him to stop zig-zagging.

It was at this moment that Rhys-Davids approached Voss from below and raked his aircraft with machine-gun bullets. Although gliding downwards for a bit, Voss' plane soon plummeted downwards, nose down, before crashing on the ground.

McCudden remarked: "I saw him go into a fairly steep dive and so I continued to watch, and then saw the tri-plane hit the ground and disappear into a thousand fragments, for it seemed to me that it literally went into powder."

The following day, a British patrol found the crash site, finding Werner Voss dead with three bullet wounds. He was buried by the British in the nearby 'Plum Farm', although the exact location of his grave site has since been lost.

Aged just 20 at the time of his death, Werner Voss has been credited with 48 aerial kills, ranking him the joint 4th most successful German pilot in the First World War together with Josef Jacobs, and the 13th most successful pilot overall.

British pilot James McCudden, playing a central role in his death, later stated: "His flying is wonderful, his courage magnificent and in my opinion he was the bravest German airman whom it has been my privilege to see."

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