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With 45 goals in 101 appearances, Arsenal's £6,000 signing from Norwich proved to be good value.
Of course, that amount of money was worth a lot more in 1935 than it is now but had the Second World War and a nasty knee injury not curtailed his Arsenal career, Kirchen may have gone on to be one of the Club's best goalscoring wingers.
He signed on March 1, 1935 and made himself an instant hero at Highbury by netting a brace away at Tottenham as Arsenal humiliated their rivals with a 6-0 victory, a scoreline which remains the Gunners' biggest winning margin over Spurs. But Kirchen didn't score in six further appearances and the following season he featured just six times.
Kirchen came into his own in the 1936/37 season, scoring 22 times in 32 starts, including a hat-trick against Grimsby. He featured less prominently the following campaign, but still contributed eight goals as Arsenal won the League title.
In the final season before the outbreak of war he added a further nine to his tally.
Kirchen served in the RAF during the war while continuing to represent Arsenal in wartime football, scoring 80 times in 113 appearances. However during that time he sustained a severe knee injury that ended his career.
He later represented England at clay pigeon shooting.
