Göring, however, was not dismayed by these events. He had set his mind on becoming a single-seat fighter pilot, as had Loerzer. Since his return from Berlin, Göring flew only in the two-seat Albatros C.III [serial number C 149/16] and, most of the time, with Leutnant Caspar Kulenkampff-Post, who shared his zest for aerial combat. However, Kulenkampff’s letter home dated 23 June 1916 is the only record that offers the flavour of his and Göring’s dedication to finding combat opportunities at this time:

‘Göring and I, in addition to our daily flights, still prowl for a few hours [in clouds over the lines]. This morning we photographed [French] positions from an altitude of 800 metres without being fired on. Only in a glide [with the engine turned off] does one hear the tack-tack-tack of the machine gun. But in the photos one sees every dugout and every detail. My health is splendid again, after a few days of not feeling so well. I had an unnerving aerial combat in which the [enemy flyer] was fifty metres away from me when my machine gun jammed, which is an irritating situation, even when the [pilot’s] forward machine gun still functions. Well, Göring resolved the situation by going into a dive from which [the pre-war French stunt flyer Adolphe] Pégoud could have learned something.’⁶

Two weeks passed, during which Kulenkampff was removed from flight status after cutting his hand on a drinking glass during the farewell party for Rittmeister Eduard Ziegler.⁷ On 1 July, Göring flew a reconnaissance mission over Hill 304, an important high ground northwest of Verdun, with FFA 25’s new commanding officer, Hauptmann Heinrich Claes, as his observer.⁸ Five days later, Göring resumed flying with Kulenkampff and then, after a morning flight together on Sunday, 9 July, their partnership ended. There is no record of the administrative process that took place, but, that afternoon, Göring was detached from FFA 25 and assigned to fly a single-seat fighter with Artillerie-Flieger-Abteilung 203. Later that afternoon, Göring took off for a thirteen-minute test flight in a new biplane fighter, a Halberstadt D.II (serial number D 115/16)⁹ and not one of the troubled Fokker Eindeckers. Bruno Loerzer continued to fly his Fokker until, a few days later, he crashed it while landing. He hit his head on the rear end of the aeroplane’s machine-gun breech and complained of headaches for a long time thereafter.¹⁰ Only a sturdy flight helmet saved Loerzer from more serious injury.