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Originally Posted by Dan_San_Abbott
RAGIII:
In Alex Imrie's book, "GERMAN FIGHTER UNITS JUNE 1917-1918", pages 12 and 13, Panorama photo of Lechelle Airfield. In the caption on page 13 he dates the photo on 26 March 1918.
I rechecked my translation in "Jagd in Flandern Himmel"and it states operations were flown and victories scored in the afternoon of March 26th. So I now have no doubts about that date. The shadows indicate the photos were taken in the mid afternoon, 2 or 3 o'clock.
Ltn.Richard Wenzl arrived at Jasta 11 from Jasta 31 on 27 March 1918. (See  The Jasta Pilots, page 296.
Blue skies,
Dan-San |
Dan, I have no disagreement with the 26th March being the date of the first series of LeChelle photos.
I have confirmed the March 27th transfer date of Wenzl in at least one other source(in addition to the jasta pilots). My question is does this date necessarily coincide with "Arrival" at Jasta 11?
That being said, even if Wenzl
arrived on the 27th I find it highly doubtful he had an aircraft personalized for him on the same day of arrival! (Wenzl used the B&W Bands in his previous assignment).This in addition to the totally completed cross changes mentioned earlier makes me believe there had to be more than a 1 day separation in the 2 series of LeChelle photos. I EVEN believe the all RED triplane in the second series may be 477/17, just not that it is the same all red triplane as the first series of photos.( Especially if you insist the lineup photos with changed markings happened the next day). The cross change had begun on only one aircraft in the Jasta 11 portion of the lineup/ panoramic view,477/17(disputed). It seems logical that this being MvRs Regular aircraft it would be painted overall red at the same time.(after the photos) After a few days to a week(Early April) I can see this being in the lineup with Wenzls tripe. As you say no evidence puts 425/17 at Lechelle other than Ed Ferkos claim of being able to read the serial # in the negative. But I also believe STRONG evidence shows 477/17 to be painted the same as 127/17 and 152/17 on the day of the LeChelle photos ( Panoramic View day). JMHO,
RAGIII