A less sombre reaction to Holck’s death – and perhaps to aerial combat in general by an eager young combatant of the time – appeared in Kulenkampff’s letter of 1 May:

‘Aerial combat is the most gratifying experience in all of flying. It is simply grand to be in a good machine, to dive down onto [an enemy] and send him down, and then climb again and …leisurely go back to photographing and observing. Nevertheless, now the French again have a splendid new [Nieuport fighter aircraft], which makes many difficulties for us, and with which lately they attack us very keenly … Some of my new acquaintances from other units here have fallen [in combat recently]; for example, yesterday Holck …was shot down.’⁴⁸

Much documentation pertaining to Hermann Göring’s service in World War I survived the devastation of World War II due to special efforts by members of the Third Reich Luftwaffe’s historical branch who wanted to assure that their leader’s place in history would be secured. Some of those materials were lost in the chaos that accompanied the German empire’s collapse in November 1918; but, fortunately, historians have some generally reliable anecdotal material, such as Caspar Kulenkampff’s correspondence, to fill in some of the blank spots. In his letter of 7 May, Kulenkampff referred to FFA 25’s change of command when he wrote: ‘Now, Herr Ziegler, Rittmeister from the 12th Pferdejäger [mounted rifles], leads the Abteilung.’⁴⁹ He did not mention when or where Hauptmann Leonhardy reported to his next assignment to command an entire bomber wing.⁵⁰ But he did mention that, on 28 May, Ziegler was succeeded by Hauptmann Heinrich Claes, a pre-war observer who went on to command a unit of Kampfgeschwader 2.⁵¹

Caspar Kulenkampff’s correspondence also left impressions of his admiration for Hermann Göring. In letters he wrote home in May, Kulenkampff referred to his pilot as ‘the Kanone [Big Gun] Göring, really a devil of a fellow, with whom I have already made some … [of] the most interesting flights’,⁵² and rejoiced: ‘For the time being I will fly with Göring, which promises to be very interesting.’⁵³ Then, on 23 May, he wrote: ‘Göring is a daredevil of the wickedest kind. Recently, when he was over the lines, he began to spiral down and shoot wildly at the trenches below. Another time we just about forced down a tethered observation balloon with machine-gun fire. With the AEG and two observers [aboard] one evening we reported [artillery hits] for 136 batteries.’⁵⁴

Following Göring’s forced landing with the new AEG G.III, that aeroplane had to be sent by rail to Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung 1 at Adlershof in suburban Berlin for repair and testing.⁵⁵ Göring would have preferred to ‘graduate’ to a single-seat fighter aeroplane, but had to return to flying the earlier model AEG G.II, as well as a new Albatros C.III [serial number C 149/16], which offered ‘incremental improvements’⁵⁶ over earlier B- and C-type aircraft from that manufacturer.

During all of his flights in the last half of May and well into June, Göring was accompanied by Kulenkampff. Often they had an exhausting work schedule, as Kulenkampff indicated in his letter of 5 June: ‘Yesterday I made four combat flights with Göring …It was splendid, although in the evening one’s rickety legs can move only with difficulty. Unfortunately, soon Göring is going on leave due to his heart.’

There is no indication in Hermann Göring’s military records that he suffered from any heart-related illness, which makes Kulenkampff’s reference an odd one. When Göring finally went on leave, almost two weeks later and then for only four days, his reported destination was Berlin.⁵⁷ Most likely, he visited his best friend, Bruno Loerzer, who was in a hospital in the Cöpenick section of Berlin for treatment of his shoulder wound, and was discharged on 20 June.⁵⁸ Loerzer, who had been promoted to Oberleutnant on 18 April 1916,⁵⁹ was subsequently pronounced fit to fly and again assigned to a single-seat fighter at FFA 25 – much to the envy of his friend Göring.