KITS 05/2023

479/17; Lt. August Raben, Jasta 18, Montingen (Montoy-Flanville), France, October 1917

August Raben was born on December 2, 1892.

After the outbreak of War, he first served with the

Feldartillerie Regiment Nr 55. He was transferred to

Luftstreitkräfte on April 18, 1916, and after completion

of pilot training, he was assigned to Kasta 25 in

August 1916. His first fighter unit was Jasta 36,

which he joined on February 17 and after he gained

experience, he was transferred to the newly formed

Jasta 39 to become its CO on August 2. The unit was

then sent to Italy, where Raben achieved his first two

victories on September 26. He was then wounded by

AA fire on November 17. After recovery, he took over

the lead of Jasta 15, part of JG II, on March 14, 1918. It

was just six days prior to the “big swap” with Jasta

18, which ended with Raben as CO of Jasta 18 and out

of the JG II assembly. As the “original” Jasta 18 kept

their colors after becoming Jasta 15, Raben’s unit

had to opt for new ones: red for front of the fuselage

and wings and white for the rest. Raben shot down

two more enemies and continued as a member of

Freikorps after the war. His aircraft always sported

black or white stylized raven for apparent reason, as

rabe is the German word for raven. This Dr.I was no

exception. It is not sure which color were the wing

struts. They lacked the stenciling and seemed to be

of a lighter shade than red surfaces but darker than

white ones. The original white fields surrounding the

older type of the crosses were overpainted with red,

but the white background made the red look a little

bit lighter.

213/17; Lt. Friedrich P. Kempf, Jasta 2, Bavichove, Belgium, February 1918

Friedrich Paul Kempf was born on May 9, 1894,

in Freiburg. He entered military service in 1913,

interrupting his technical studies. In May 1915,

he was transferred from the infantry to the

Luftstreitkräfte and served with bombing unit

Kagohl 4 on both the Western and Balkan Fronts.

In April 1917, he was assigned to Jasta Boelcke

50

INFO Eduard

with which he served his entire career as a fighter

pilot (twice interrupted by stints with Jastaschule

I). Fritz Kempf distinguished himself more with

his two Fokkers Dr.I than with his four kills (BE2e,

Pup and two Camels). His planes were similar in

appearance and carried the taunting inscription

“Kennscht mi noch?” on the medium wing. The

meaning is “Do you remember me?” and these

words were his typical zinger. He asked this way

even people he never met … More to it, he put his

name on the top wing to distinguish his Dr.I from

the others even more. The aircraft depicted here is

the first from two “Kennst mi noch?” ones. Friedrich

Kempf survived both world wars and died in 1966.

May 2023