The sixteenth has fallen

The sixteenth has fallen. I was therefore at the head of all the fighter pilots. That was the goal I wanted to achieve. I jokingly said that to my friend Lynker a year ago when we were training together and he asked me: ‘What is your goal - what do you want to achieve as an aviator?’ I jokingly said: ‘Well, flying at the top of the fighter pilots must be quite nice!’ Neither I nor anyone else believed that this would become a reality. Only Boelcke is said to have said once - not to me personally, of course, but I was told afterwards - when he was asked: ‘Who has the prospect of becoming a good fighter pilot?’ He is said to have pointed his finger at me and said: ‘That's the man!’ Boelcke and Immelmann had been awarded the Pour le mérite with the Eighth. I had the double. What was going to happen now? I was very excited. Rumour had it that I would get a hunting squadron.