Another Richthofen this time the real McCoy?

5 February 2005, 12:58 PM

Hello Darren and thank you for the contribution. Great photo and I am glad to see it! Unfortunately, I have no idea what Voss' signature is supposed to look like so I am hoping there are other Forumites out there to carry this discussion forward. Any others out there who can comment????

History Fan

5 February 2005, 01:15 PM

Hi History fan,

I just realized that it may be possible to obtain Voss' service records if they still exist. There we may find his signature on his personal paperwork from the war. This would give us a clear indication of what an authentic autograph should look like. Does anyone have an idea where the Prussian Army records are maintained?

regards,

Darren

5 February 2005, 03:06 PM

That sounds like it might do the trick. I am not sure of how to get ahold of Voss' service records and I wonder if they still exist or are accessible. I know AMY is a Boelcke girl and has helped me on him before. Perhaps she has some information on Voss as well. Anything out there AMY? History Fan

5 February 2005, 03:32 PM

Hi again,

After a search on Google I found this little bit of information:

http://www.hotboards.com/plus/plus.mirage?who=militariaonline&id=10379.586908660 468

It sounds like the provenance needed to authenticate the earlier mentioned photo, though I would still like to see a signature from his personal records to be 100% convinced.

regards,

Darren

Amy · 5 February 2005, 03:34 PM

I've seen two Voss autographs somewhere but couldn't remember where exactly. Then, the light bulb came on when Darren mentioned the service records. There's this little paperback book on Voss titled, "Lt.

Werner Voss" (1962) by Walter A Musciano. In this book there are photos of Voss's service record. His signature isn't to be found in these service records that were published in this book, however, there is another photo of a postcard he signed and presented to Bodenschatz. Pretty much all photos in this book came from the Charles Donald collection. I'm hoping I'll remember where I saw the other Voss sig.

Attached is Voss's postcard presentation to Bodenschatz and signature. I had to re-size it smaller to upload, if anyone wants a larger shot, let me know and I can email it to you.

5 February 2005, 05:42 PM

Well, this thread has turned into the

Werner Voss search committee!! AMY you are a peach and thanks for the shot of the signed postcard. It looks quite a bit like the example from Wingedwarrior, what do you guys think? The two "s's" in Voss are quite distinct. If you would not mind it, could you send me via e-mail the picture that you have? Thanks again! the History Fan
p.s. I'll send you my e-mail via the private link....

5 February 2005, 07:54 PM

I agree History fan. Thanks to Amy's picture, we can now compare the writing of the two (sorry if the enhancements didn't help the clarity!). We can look at the flow of the letters and the distinct 'double s'. We can also analyze some of the letters in Bodenschatz, as they may also give us clues to what we should be looking for in an authentic autograph.

regards,

Darren

6 February 2005, 07:02 AM

Hi Darren-
Thanks for thumbnailing the two photos together. Both "Voss" signatures look very much alike. I keep going back to the "s's" particularly the downstroke on the last "s." I did not compare the "W" in Werner but I think we might be able to do that as well. Were you aware as to whether this collection of material was ever sold? I tried to access the web listing but was unable to pull anything up. Maybe there were some other goodies there as well..... HF

6 February 2005, 07:48 AM

Hi,

I see that the last posting on the forum was in August of last year. The person asked if the photo was still available, but there was no response. Maybe someone here should contact the seller for information (preferably someone who desires to purchase the photo

). His email address is listed on the website.

Who knows, maybe he hasn't sold it yet!

BTW, the "W" in the photo provided by Amy is nearly impossible to make -out, so I didn't enlarge it; I wanted to concentrate on the legible script for examples of Voss' handwriting.)

regards,

Darren

8 February 2005, 07:22 AM

Hello.
I contacted the seller on the Voss autograph and other items listed. The collection did sell as one group last year. The seller had entered all the items on a web link and I believe that link is also listed by another Forumite on another thread (Lt. Guido Schiffer, etc.) HF