Inaccurate projection of WWI air combat

1. The film was not completely clear on whether the observer in the two-seater actually moved for his gun. That was only Stachel's version of the story. I remember Heidermann then remarked that the observer must be either very brave or very stupid, since he was already blind. I think the intended interpretation is that Stachel had lied. What really happened was that Stachel forced the enemy pilot to fly the plane back to the German airfield and then deliberately shot it down. That made sense since Stachel was upset because his earlier kill was not "confirmed". Willi saw what happened but refused to tell on Stachel despite Heidermann's insistence, to protect the "honor" of German airmen.

2. My own impression is that WWI planes seldom exploded in mid air. For example, I have a book on Richthofen that has a table showing all his 80 victories, their locations, the identities of his victims, and what happened to the enemy planes that went down (as described by Richthofen in his reports). There was not one case in which he reported the enemy plane exploding in mid-air. It was far more often that planes went down in flames. It was often said that fire was the airmen's greatest fear.

One could also suggest that - accurate or not - that there were no burning wrecks falling from the sky due to the limited special effects of the time and or the budget of the film.

This movie has some faults but for WWI aviation fans, it's one of the best. The aerial shots are superb.
Not all airmen carried revolvers. This rumor probably started because 'Mick' Mannock supposedly carried one just in case his plane caught on fire. He had an obsessive fear of burning up. When he was shot down on July 26 1918 his plane was on fire and crashed but Mannock's body was found nearby but no gunshot wound was found. Some suggest he may have jumped and tried to survive.
The action in this movie is considerably less exciting when it's not focused on the air combat, but still a great movie.
And not all German piots were aristocrats. In the beginning of the war both British and German pilots were primarily upper classes because flying was still somewhat of a gentleman's sport, and men of wealth could afford flying lessons. The feeling of chivalry that was common in the beginning soon ended as losses mounted and new pilots were needed, from any background. There were several high scoring German aces with commonfolk backgrounds..Fritz Rumey, Paul Baumer, Bruno Loerzer, and several British too.

By WW2 warplanes were generally metal skinned and much heavier but that was not the case in this war. WW1 planes were fabric covered and only the engine contained many heavy and metal parts. They also carried less fuel than later planes. They sometimes broke up, they were quite fragile and were sometimes more like large kites with an engine than what we would today understand as aircraft. But they do not seem to have exploded very often. Ironically because they were fragile, bullets often did less structural damage to them than to the metal planes of WW2. Bullets punched through the fabric and out the other side with doing much damage unless they hit the engine or the person or persons crewing it.

"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."

Perhaps the movie's plot details were inaccurate in some ways, but the aerial combat scenes were very evocative of the real thing. I attended a meeting of the Cross and Cockade Society of World War I Aerial Historians in 1970, during which "The Blue Max" was screened. I happened to end up sitting next to Max Holzem, a pilot in Jasta 16 during the 1914-1918 war. After one of the extended flying scenes I glanced at him, and he had tears in his eyes. Apparently he found it quite moving.