‘”What do you want here?” the commanding officer asked [Göring].

‘“I am Loerzer’s observer!”

‘“Heaven forbid,” the captain exclaimed. “I have more than enough observers. No, I am afraid I have no use for you. Look and see whether the neighbouring unit, FFA 36 in Cunel, can find a use for you.”

‘”Then I am afraid, Herr Hauptmann, I cannot remain here, either,” [said] Loerzer, standing by his comrade. “I must remain together with my observer.”

‘”Well, do as you like!” grumbled the commanding officer…’²⁴

That brash action solved the pair’s immediate concern, but the potentially insubordinate exchange may have put the two newcomers at odds with their new commander, as Loerzer noted later:

‘As the last and newest arriving pilot, I received the oldest machine, one that had been declined by the senior pilots. The peak altitude of this aeroplane was 1,800 metres. I received my baptism under fire with it in the first weeks over Verdun.

‘The French [anti-aircraft] artillery fired very well. Even though we were not shot down, the loud racket of the annoying shots still made a deep impression. Later, in his report, my observer [Göring] gave a vivid description of the event. The sector of the Front on both sides of the Meuse and east of Verdun was entrusted to us. I carried out flights with the most ponderous machine and in such bad weather, while the other aircrews hesitated, and so our reputation in the Abteilung was established within a short time.’²⁵

Loerzer flew Göring on their first combat mission on Thursday, 5 November, just two days after arriving at FFA 25. To prove their worth, they made a familiarisation flight over the unit’s operational area. On this mission, their Aviatik B.II (serial number B36/14), powered by a 120-hp Mercedes engine,²⁶ was unarmed, which allowed Göring to concentrate on using his maps to identify terrain features he would need to know. Moreover, even if he were armed, the observer in a B-type aircraft sat in the front seat, surrounded by a bird cage of bracing wires that would have hampered his efforts to defend the aeroplane; Loerzer, sitting fully exposed in the rear of the Aviatik, was also unarmed. Loerzer and Göring were accompanied by another Aviatik B.II (serial number B35/14), to assist with their initial flight, which was completed without incident.²⁷