Kulenkampff did not write down the date of this hair-raising event; only that it occurred ‘one fine morning’. Göring made no mention of the incident and there is no reference to it in available FFA 25 records. However, the anecdote is reinforced by Hauptmann Leonhardy’s account, which indicates it took place before his transfer from FFA 25:

‘… I received as a replacement [for one crew that had perished] a two-metre tall Leutnant Kulenkampff-Post from the 15th Uhlan Regiment, who flew with a pilot … Sergeant Gehrke [sic]. Something happened to both of them that perhaps today one would chalk up as a tall tale, but it really took place. The entire engine was shot out of [their aeroplane] by two artillery direct hits while they were over enemy territory. They floated in the air, continually somersaulting with the remainder of the aeroplane back to our side of the lines, and at the last moment they so luckily succeeded in putting the landing gear onto the ground that they came away with only minor abrasions.

‘The crash was observed by one of my aeroplane crews and was considered to be hopeless. I immediately communicated with the frontline sector in question to gain assurance. From there I was informed that both flyers had indeed escaped with their lives, but had gone mad.

‘I immediately drove to just behind the frontlines and luckily determined that their unexpected rescue, above all on the German side, led to their performing the wildest Indian dances one could imagine because they had made it through.’⁶¹

The crew’s temporary delirium is understandable, but it might be expected that such a ‘miracle’ amid the carnage of war would have been reported widely. Neither Göring nor Kulenkampff seems to have suffered any lasting effects from their uncontrolled descent. Leonhardy’s mention of Sergeant Gehrke does not track with FFA 25 flight logs, which state that Göring and Kulenkampff flew together continually in Albatros C.III C 149/16 from 16 May, the day Göring took delivery of the aeroplane from Armee-Flugpark 5, to 23 June,⁶² after which he and Kulenkampff were in the air together only occasionally. During some of their missions, Göring flew Kulenkampff from Stenay to Béthincourt to Cumières and back to Stenay, and they would have come under anti-aircraft fire near Béthincourt, as Kulenkampff wrote. But no records show their aeroplane sustained the terminal damage that Kulenkampff and Leonhardy mentioned. Indeed, Göring and Kulenkampff flew in that Albatros C.III for the last time on 9 July,⁶³ after which Göring was transferred to FAA 203 to realise his wish to fly single-seat fighter aircraft.

Published accounts of Kulenkampff’s and Leonhardy’s versions of the ‘miracle’ flight appeared in Germany during Göring’s lifetime and the mystery of the occurrence is joined by a puzzle: why was Göring so uncharacteristically quiet about having enjoyed such good luck? The incident certainly fit his larger-than-life self perception.