Which aces flew the D.I?

Short answer

Oswald Boelcke and Manfred von Richthofen: Boelcke formed and led Jasta 2, and Richthofen was one of the young pilots he chose for it. Boelcke, already Germany's leading ace, used the Albatros to devastating effect. Richthofen scored his first confirmed victory in September 1916.

Published: November 1, 2026 · Updated: November 1, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Albatros D X

The Albatros arrives at the Jagdstaffeln

Germany reorganized its fighters into dedicated Jagdstaffeln starting in August 1916, and Oswald Boelcke, personally chosen to form and lead Jasta 2, received some of the first Albatros fighters. The unit was formed on 10 August 1916 at Bertincourt under Boelcke's command. The D.I is credited with giving real "teeth" to the newly created Jagdstaffeln.

Boelcke, the ace who thought out aerial combat

Boelcke was already famous: he and Max Immelmann had been the first great German fighter pilots aboard the Eindecker, and Boelcke had thought about how to fight in the air more than anyone else. As Germany's leading ace and the intellectual father of fighter tactics, he used the Albatros to devastating effect. On 28 October 1916, while leading his men against British DH.2s, Boelcke's D.II clipped wings with the aircraft of his friend Erwin Böhme in the confusion of combat.

Richthofen and the Jasta 2 model

Among the young pilots Boelcke chose for Jasta 2 was Manfred von Richthofen, who scored his first confirmed victory with the squadron in September 1916 flying the new Albatros. It came on the afternoon of 17 September, when Boelcke led five pilots against British bombers near Marcoing and shot down three. Jasta 2 turned the Albatros, and the tactics built around it, into the model for all German fighter aviation.