authentic fabric ???, you decide

Elliptio · 1 February 2006, 06:48 PM

FYI,

Item # 6600316329

Link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Great-Fokker-D-A...QQcmdZViewItem

Taz · 2 February 2006, 02:07 PM

Elliptio- You need a Fokker D.VII expert, which I definitely am not. OAW put OAW D.3 on the rudders of their Albatros D.IIIs, but do not know if they put Fok D.7 on their Fokker D.VII rudders or horizontal stabilizers. May 26 seems kind of early for an OAW D.VII, also. The fuselages were marked Fok D.VII, not D.7, as far as I know. Plus the letter size is too small to be from the fuselage side. Would have had to be from another location.

Taz
Terry Phillips

Cigogne · 2 February 2006, 07:59 PM

May 26, 1918 is a little early for a Fokker D.VII. Some had arrived, but they were somewhat of a rarity. Would be interesting to look up when the first D.VII went down on the other side.

Westerman · 6 February 2006, 12:56 AM

Description states plane was downed in MARCH 1918. Too early to have been a D.VII. I'm guessing it may be from a Fokker D.III, which Paul Leaman, on page 73 of his book "Fokker Aircraft of World War One" says was still being used in Spring 1918. Lettering is only 1" tall or less.

Anyone know where such small lettering was used on Fokker aircraft?

Anyone know how many Fokker D.IIIs were shot down in March 1918?

ONEALM · 6 February 2006, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Anyone know how many Fokker D.IIIs were shot down in March 1918?

All of 'em....

If Fok D.III's were still being used, it had better have been at the JastaSchules !

Taz · 6 February 2006, 12:53 PM

Mike- You are right. The old thin winged Fokkers were banned from the front in Dec 1916 for structural weakness, so there is no chance of it being an early Fokker D.I-V. Jasta 10 did not receive their first D.VIIs until very late April, early May 1918, forget the exact date, so the D.VII does not match up with the rest of the artifacts. Even Rodney knew better than that.

Taz
Terry Phillips

Westerman · 7 February 2006, 03:50 PM

On page 320 Vol. 3, No. 3 of Over the Front, shows picture of

Hans Heinrich Marwede's crashed upsidedown O.A.W. built D.VII. On the lower area of the rudder is small lettering that appears identical to the piece of fabric shown in above auction. I can't read all of it as it is very tiny.

Photo source is (National Archives SC 27495)

Anyone here have any close up, left side, rudder pictures of O.A.W. built Fokker D.VIIs?

Cliff · 7 February 2006, 07:32 PM

O.A.W. Fokker D 7s were marked on their rudders like the fabric, except Anthology 2 says there should be a period between the 'D' and the '7'.
It might have flaked off, there is a white patch of exposed fabric between.

Cliff

Westerman · 7 February 2006, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cliff

O.A.W. Fokker D 7s were marked on their rudders like the fabric, except Anthology 2 says there should be a period between the 'D' and the '7'.
It might have flaked off, there is a white patch of exposed fabric between.

Cliff

Cliff

I enlarged the image and there is a large area where second period should be that is bare. Here is enlargement.

Westerman · 9 February 2006, 03:57 PM

Here is transcript of letter that 2nd Lt Oliver Grosvenor sent home along with german fabric souvenir.

--

May 26, 1918.

Dear Mother

Well I have not
written you for a long time
and I expect you are worrying
about it. I did send you however
a card giving my new address.
Well I have been rotten unlucky
and through no fault of my own
have been transfered to the
graves Registration Service.
Will be incharge of an advance
Unit at the front will receive
all the shells and things
with out the satisfaction
of replying. It can't be helped
however as they will not let
me out of it.

I have been on the
front for three months
and have been on three
different sectors, the last

begin page 2

of which is probably one
of the hottest on the whole
front. I was pretty lucky
and did not get a scratch.
It was a lot of fun though
we were shelled all the
time - even more at night
than in the day time.
Everything from 77's up to
210s. A 210 hit just
10 yards from the cellar
where we slept and we thought
sure it was coming in.
It isn't so bad though after
you get used to it. As a
rule you can stay under
cover if the shells are too
close. One day some shell
splinters dropped into a kettle
of "????" the cook was
making for dinner. He

begin page 3

kicked so hard that we
had to move the kitchen. Not
until a sshell had taken the
corner off the kitchen. They
took part of the roof off the house
we slept in too. someone
stole all my toilet articles so
I had to buy some French things.
Have had but one carton
of cigarrettes since Christmas.
I cant't understand why they took
me out of the artillery which I
know something about and put
me on this job which an officer
fresh from the states could handle
while an artilleryman from
the states knows nothing. If
I have to I will join the "tanks"
to get out of this. Am
sending a piece of a german
plane that I saw shot down
and which landed near us.
That was in March. Am

begin page 4

also sending a picture
I found in my pocket. It
is one of some I had taken
last fall for my identification
card. Hope you and Mary
are getting along fine.
Please remember me to
Charlie and to the Campbells.
Good bye.
Your son
Oliver Grosvenor
2 Lieut F.A.
Graves Reg. Service
Unit 302,

OK
Oliver Grosvenor
2 Lieut

--

Here is copy of Oliver Grosvenor's transfer papers from artillery to the Graves Reg Unit.