Wreckage of Albatros D.V found

[charles]

Friends,

I have found where ‘my’ Albatros D.V crashed, but I need your help to learn more.

If you have followed various earlier threads, there were just 900 Albatros D.V’s made (not the Va) and the remains of the one at The Aero Conservancy was painted black or black and green at least around the undercarriage and the rudder, which limits the possibilities, and very likely crashed in Belgium behind Belgian lines and shot down by a Belgian, which further limits the possibilities, so I narrowed the possible victims to Adolf Techow and Andreas Triebswetter (doesn’t meet all characteristics) and Techow is the most likely.

Techow’s plane crashed October 22, 1917, at a farm closest to Dixmude called Ferme De Ceuninck, according to the Belgian Aviation Militaire report of an engagement with Belgian aircrew Lallemand and Cornelius kindly found in the records of the Brussels Army Museum and copied to me by Marco Fernandez-Sommerau of The Aerodrome.

Thanks to Mike O’Neal of The Aerodrome, I now have a copy of British trench map 20 NW4 that identifies this farm as “Ceinck Farm” just to the west of Dixmude (behind Belgian lines); its from the IWM collection.
You can see some of the pieces of the wreckage at The Aero Conservancy web site http://www.aeroconservancy.com and follow the partial restoration of the wreckage on The Aerodrome forum’s aircraft section or just by following this link to it :

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/index.ph...wtopic=15063&hl

And at the link below I found photos of the very same farm called “Ferme De Coninck” in a photo labeled, “Ferme De Coninck Caeskerke avril 1916.” The place is shelled into oblivion.

http://users.skynet.be/fonck/henri2.html

Sooo… I need two types of help from you, dear colleagues.

Firstly, I need additional war-time maps and photos of the Dixmude (Diksmuide) and Caeskerke (Kaaskerke) area, as detailed as possible, especially any references to Ceinck Farm (Ferme De Ceuninck or Ferme De Ceinck on French or Belgian maps). The Naval and Military Press puts out 4 CD-Roms, including the IWM trench maps and a new CD-Rom of the German’s maps of the trenches. I don’t have these and can’t afford to invest $200 in them because everything I have is going into the Conservancy – if anyone else does have them and can find any maps with reference to this area or, even better, the farm, it would be incredibly helpful if you shared them with me and, if you can’t do that, tell me where to find them.

Secondly, I need present-day maps and photos of the area to ascertain if the farm is still there and any information you can provide which would help me contact the present owners in order to seek permission to visit.

I don’t expect to find a wing sticking out of the ground, but I would like to try and put together some history to the overall event. And, of course, my 'holy grail' in this is to find a photo of the wreckage, if at all possible, or of Techow with the aircraft beforehand.

Maybe my friend Marco will come with me.

Charley Gosse
The Aero Conservancy
http://www.aeroconservancy.com