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425/17 flown by Rtm. Manfred A. Freiherr von Richthofen, CO of JG 1, Lechelle, France, March 1918

Manfred Albrecht von Richthofen is rightfully

considered the greatest fighter pilot of the First

World War as he knocked eighty enemies down

prior to his death on April 21, 1918. No one knows

what his score might be, if the things went

a different way and he had the opportunity to fly

the Fokker D.VII in combat- a new fighter he liked

very much. On contrary to the general perception,

the Fokker Dr.I was not his typical mount, as he

shot down only 17 out of his 80 victims while flying

the Dreidecker for the short period of March and

April 1918. He was assigned to the Luftstreitkräfte

on his own request in 1915 after his service with

a cavalry unit. He became an observer but when

he met Oswald Boelcke, the impr fighter ace

charisma made him to request pilot training. On

completion of that, he became pilot of observer

aircraft, but after another meeting with Boelcke

he joined the ranks of the newly formed Jasta

2. In January 1917, von Richthofen was awarded

the highly coveted Pour le Mérite and was

subsequently made CO of Jasta 11. In June 1917, he

received orders to form Jagdgeschwader 1 from

Jasta 4, 6, 10 and 11 units. He led this “wing” until

his death on April 21, 1918. Von Richthofen had his

aircraft painted red from January 1917 when he

led Jasta 11 and flew the Albatros D.III. He carried

this practice over to the Fokker Dr.I which he flew

as JG 1 Commanding Officer.

564/17; Lt. Werner Steinhäuser, Jasta 11, Avesnes-le-Sec, France, February, 1918

Werner Steinhäuser was born on June 29, 1893.

As a wartime pilot he first served with FA(A) 261

where he achieved his first kill, when he shot

down an observing balloon on August 20, 1917.

Four months later he was reassigned to Jasta

11, where he started his career by destroying

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another balloon on January 13, 1918, and

gradually increased his count to ten victories. He

was wounded when forced to land on March 17,

1918, but recovered and got back to the action. In

the morning of June 26, 1918, he was shot down in

his Fokker D.VII and killed in combat with French

SPADs from either Spa 124 or Spa 93. Steinhäuser

flew at least two Dreideckers. The first had the

fuselage band red with yellow crosses, on the

other one the colors were reversed as they were

for the horizontal stabilizer and elevator.

INFO Eduard

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