Photo: author's collection

HISTORY

Anthony Fokker greatly valued the input he received from frontline pilots during the war, and of course the

leading German ace of one of these. Here he is pictured during his visit to the Fokker factory at Schwerin-Görries

in late May or early June 1917.

Ersatz Abteilung 6 on 10. June 1915 for observer´s

training. This course was rather short, as he

was posted to Feldflieger-Abteilung 69 on the

Eastern front as an observer just eleven days

later. His next posting as an observer took him

to Brieftauben-Abteilung Ostende, back on the

Western front, following in the footsteps of some

of his former comrades from FA 69.

While he greatly enjoyed his time up in the air, he

soon decided that occupying the back seat of an

aeroplane was not totally to his liking. He longed

to be really in control of the “winged horses”, and

the only place where he could accomplish this

was in the pilot´s seat. Pilot training was the next

logical step for him, and before long he was given

unofficial flight training at his unit.

During his time at the Brieftauben-Abteilung, he

Photo: author's collection

Early military career

As a young cavalry officer, he was posted to the

front with his regiment soon after the outbreak

of hostilities. Serving initially on the Eastern

Front, he was quickly transferred to Belgium.

But the initial war of movement turned into

trench warfare within months, and the cavalry

officer found this kind of warfare not to be to his

liking. He was actively looking for a change. And,

like many other soldiers serving in his branch

of the military, he keenly eyed the fast-moving

new weapons above their heads that were now

carrying out the reconnaissance missions that

were previously the task of the cavalry. He longed

to joined one of the new flying units.

His application for transfer to the “Fliegertruppe”

was approved, and he found himself at Flieger

had a chance to meet a certain Leutnant Oswald

Boelcke on 1 October 1915. At the time, Boelcke

had been credited with four aerial victories and

was already quite a bit of a celebrity, both at

the front as well as in the homeland. Meeting

this accomplished young flyer left a lasting

impression on Manfred, and the two would meet

again in the future.

But before that meeting would come about, he

was obliged to undergo formal pilot training

in order to fulfill his dream. On November 15,

1915, he began pilot training at Flieger-ErsatzAbteilung 6 at Döberitz, and he passed his exams

on Christmas Day.

His first posting as a pilot brought him to

Kampfstaffel 8 of Kagohl 2 on 16. March 1916. The

unit was then stationed at Mont, near Verdun,

and he would initially fly various types of aircraft

there, initially mostly two-seaters. But soon after

his arrival at the unit, a few Fokker Eindecker

single-seaters were taken on charge. This was

then a fairly new type of aircraft which was in

short supply, and von Richthofen was more than

happy to fly one of these. Unfortunately, on an

early flight the Oberursel engine failed, and the

precious fighter was destroyed in the resulting

crash. Luckily, the pilot escaped without severe

injury.

To make matters worse, his unit was transferred

– so it was back to the Eastern Front for him on

28 June, and there he would find himself piloting

two-seaters again. Instead of carrying out fighter

vs. fighter combat, his duty in the east consisted

mostly of dropping bombs on Russian soldiers

who were positioned roughly 30 Kilometers to the

east of his airfield at Kowel (now Kovel/Ukraine).

By his own accounts, he greatly enjoyed observing

the effects caused by his bombs on the Russian

soldiers below, as well as peppering them with

his machine gun during the odd strafing run.

While the transfer to the East may have seemed

as a deal-breaker for his career as a fighter pilot

Needless to say that the first available example of the Fokker Triplane was made available to Manfred von Richthofen. Here Fokker F.I 102/17 is seen soon after arrival

at Jasta 11 during the last days of August 1917, with Anthony Fokker himself in the cockpit. MvR is seen third from right.

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INFO Eduard

May 2023