Born in Giebichenstein on 19 May 1891, Oswald Boelcke was a schoolmaster’s son who became the first systematic thinker of aerial combat. Commissioned in 1912, he began pilot training in May–June 1914 and qualified as a pilot on 15 August 1914, roughly two weeks after the outbreak of war. Flying first in reconnaissance two-seaters, he transitioned to scouts and, alongside Max Immelmann, became the first pilot awarded the Pour le Mérite in January 1916. By mid-1916 he had distilled his experience into the Dicta Boelcke—a concise code of fighter tactics that instructed pilots to attack from the sun, secure the advantage before firing, and never turn away from a lesser foe. In August 1916 the German High Command authorised the creation of specialised fighter units, Jagdstaffeln, and gave Boelcke command of Jasta 2. He hand-picked his pilots, including a young cavalry officer named Manfred von Richthofen. In six weeks of instruction and combat, Boelcke raised his own score to forty victories. On 28 October 1916, after a minor mid-air collision that damaged the upper wing of his Albatros, he crashed on landing and died instantly. His enemies honoured him by dropping a wreath over his aerodrome with a note that read, “To the memory of Captain Boelcke, our brave and chivalrous opponent.” Jasta 2 was renamed Jasta Boelcke in his memory. The Dicta remain the foundational text of fighter aviation.