He was the son of Karl von Tutschek, Chief Medical Officer to the Royal Bavarian Military Academy.

The elder Tutschek died when his son was eight years old, sparking a family relocation to Augsburg to live near his mother's relatives.

After graduation in October 1912, he joined in the "Prince Carl of Bavaria" 3rd Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment as a Fahnenjunker (officer aspirant).

In October 1916 he returned to the front flying initially with Flieger-Abteilung 6b (Flier Detachment 6b), an artillery spotting unit.

His first triumph, on 6 March 1917, was over the Airco DH.2 of ace Lt. Maxmillian Mare-Montembault of No 32 Squadron RFC, who was shot down and captured.

On 30 April, von Tutschek allayed any Prussian suspicion of Bavarians by sprinting to his airplane through falling bombs during a raid on their home airfield; he led a flight into the air into a night pursuit of the bombers.

In the afternoon, he claimed another ace, 40 Squadron's Captain John Henry Tudhope (10 victories), who returned to base, damaged.

[13][page needed] On 3 August 1917, after 21 victories,[4] he was awarded Germany's premier decoration for valor, the Pour le Mérite.

[14] On 11 August 1917, after victory 23, von Tutschek was severely wounded in the shoulder by Flt Lt Charles Dawson Booker of Naval 8 Squadron.

[4][6][page needed] If Viktor Schobinger had not intervened and shot Booker down, von Tutschek would probably have been killed.

[12] With his lower right shoulder blade shattered, von Tutschek took six months to recover and spent the time writing a memoir of his flying experiences, Stürme und Luftsiege (Attacks and Air Victories).

The new unit was short of aircraft, parts, and fuel and faced a numerically superior Royal Flying Corps.

[13][page needed] On 15 March 1918, South African future 10-victory ace Lieutenant Harold Redler of the Royal Flying Corps's No.

[13][page needed] A second version, less likely, claimed that one of Redler's bullets creased Tutschek's head and that the wound caused him to land.

Background data was abstracted from Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918, ISBN 978-0-948817-73-1, p. 219; Under the Guns of the Kaiser's Aces: Bohme, Muller, von Tutschek and Wolff: The Complete Records of Their Victories and Victims, ISBN 9781904010029, pp.