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BUILT
1/48
built by Karel Pádár
#8114
Albatros D.III
Oblt. Rudolf Berthold, Jasta 18, Harelbeke, Belgium, September 1917
Shortly after taking command of Jasta 18, Rudolf
Berthold introduced a new livery for the unit’s
aircraft. It consisted of a red nose and blue
fuselage and possibly also of blue on the upper
surfaces of both wings. These were the uniform
colors of the infantry regiment with which
Berthold served before the war. The red and blue
livery was first applied to Berthold’s Albatros D.III,
built in Johannisthal, but during the autumn of 1917
Berthold flew one more Albatros, this one built in
Schneidemühl (O.A.W.). This aircraft carried the
same paint scheme, but it is likely that the upper
surfaces of the lower wing retained the original
camouflage paint. Berthold crashed this aircraft
under unclear circumstances, probably shortly
before suffering a devastating gunshot wound to
his right arm while flying a second Albatros on
October 10, 1917. This injury took him out of combat
for a long time and left his right arm permanently
paralyzed. After the war, Berthold formed his
own Freikorps infantry unit and fought against
the Bolsheviks. These battles proved fatal for him,
however, when he was attacked and lynched by
an angry mob in Hamburg as he retreated from
combat on March 15, 1919.
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INFO Eduard100
April 2024