A 25 year old Saxon on Fokker DVII 5584/18

Soderbaum · 10 December 1999, 03:50 AM

Hi all
I have just reread the Croos & Cockade Great Britain(CCI) Vol 16/1 from 1985 where it is a long article by Harry Van Dorssen and Frits Gerhardsen about aircrafts which were captured by the Dutch during the War.

On 15 Oct. 1918 Fokker DVII 5584/18 were forced to land at Ijzendijke on Zeeland in Holland. The German pilot is described as a 25 Year old Saxon who had taken off from Brugge.

Mostly this pilot is identfied as Flugmaat

Karl Engelfried of MFJ 5, but he scored later in October so if so he was NOT interned. His name is not mentioned in the loss list of this unit...
Do anyone has information regarding how old Engelfried was or other info on him..as was he a Saxon..?

I have another theory, that it could perhaps have been the 11th Victory Ace Lt.dMI Reinhold Poss who was reported Missing/POW this day...??
He was probably the commander of MFJ 5 at that time but he is reported as born 11 September 1897..so the age does not correspond..
Does anyone knews where Poss was borned..?

Has anyone seen any photo of this DVII which was taken over by the Dutch Air Force and become Dutch serial number F227...??

Any sugestion or hints is welcome
Thanks in advance
Gunnar

rammjaeger · 10 December 1999, 06:34 AM

Gunnar,

I have only a first hint for you. I am always hunting for names of Saxon pilots and a while ago I fell also over Engelfrieds name. I was woundering about this name because I had never seen or heard this name in Saxony or in areas with upper saxon dialect before! Than I looked at a telephone CD-Rom. The name Engelfried was very seldom, NOT to find in Saxony BUT in a town or village with the name SACHSEN (=SAXONY) in Franken (today Bavaria)!

IF the man was Engelfried than he was calling himself a Saxon (SACHSE) because he was from the town SACHSEN and NOT from the Kingdom SACHSEN.

He was calling himself a Saxon like I can call myself Dresden-born. I guess the Dutch misunderstood what he was saying OR you are right and POSS was maybe a REAL Saxon but I don´t know his place of birth or citizenship (more important).

VBR

Hannes