Kasta 23: Photos, people, planes and questions

[Chris Vidal]

Hello,

these pictures were taken by my great-grandfather Ernst E. Fastenrath during 1916/17. Originally they were taken on glass, but I had them printed on paper some years before and finally scanned them this morning. But first some notes about my great-grandfather (all taken from his autobiography written in the 1950s):

Because of his experience after having constructed and briefly flown his own aeroplane in 1913, he was posted as an aircraft-mechanic to the Kampfgeschwader 4 at Le Chatelet. He stayed with that unit, which moved in that time to an unknown airfield at the Champagne and later to Vendune until summer of 1918.

At the KG4 he became crew-chief of a two-seater fighter, which was mainly flown by the crew Lt. Schröder (pilot, "many years") / Lt. (Lothar) von Richthofen (observer/gunner, "a long time") until both volunteered to single-seat fighters. He also was responsible for resurrecting pranged airplanes (called “Brüche”), due to his experience with his own “Flugapparat” three years before. However, his “own” pilot Schröder always took good care of his plane and my great-grandfather seldomly had to carry out larger repairs on the fighter.
Early 1917 the unit became a Bombergeschwader converting to A.E.G.-twin-engied bombers. Someday during the fall of 1917 the field was attacked by allied fighters and he had to jump into a trench, resulting in a complicated fracture. After recovering, he left service in July 1918, later regretting not having stayed with his comrades until the end of the war soon after.

In the early 1930s he started building gliders in the cellar of his factory with a group of local glider-pilots until they were being shut down by the nazis, starting gliding again after WW2, using an ex-RAF Auster AOP. In 1958 he received the “Diploma Otto Lilienthal” for his earnings (?) over the years. Following his death in the 1960s the Fliegergruppe Plettenberg-Herscheid carries out a commemorative fly-in every two years until today.


Well, back to the pictures.

The first one shows my great-grandfather (left) and his assistant (second mechanic) August Speichert.
The aircraft is believed to be a D.F.W. C.V.

[Chris Vidal]

The second one seems to have been taken at the unkown airfield at the Champagne, because he mentioned living and working in tents.
I think the planes in this picture are Rumpler C.Is, bearing the Kasta´s 23 on the fuselage.

[Chris Vidal]

The third picture shows an mechanic working on the cylinder heads of an engine. The original photo was taken on a 6x4 cm piece of glass, so I can´t read the name on the plate in the foreground. .
What kind of plane is that?

[Chris Vidal]

The next one could be taken early at Le Chatelet. My great-grandfather mentions large "Eisenhallen" (iron-hangars?) at Le Chatelet, so maybe the photo was taken there.

(Note the dog. I´ve seen a similar one, while looking for Kasta23 at the archive files here. It´s a wild guess, but could it be the same dog? Jasta 2 signed photo)

[Chris Vidal]

The last one – well, it´s obviously an aerial view of an unknown, intact, but deserted village. I do not know whether the photo was taken by him, or how he took possession of it. It is taken on a different format of glass, he used to work with.

[Chris Vidal]

There must have been more photos (taking pictures was his dearest hobby from growing up until his death), but I think these were finally lost, when his widow moved out of their house in the 1970s.


However, I hope you enjoy the ones surviving. Any comments on the photos are highly appreciated.

[Regulus]

Chris,

You have made my day ! As I try to do research on the Kagohl units, I have to say that this is really great stuff ! Never seen anything of the kind ever !
Thanks for sharing these with us !

Best from Johan

[Regulus]

Photo 3 : LVG for certain but the type, CV ?

Best from Johan

[Regulus]

These are the airfields I know of that were used by Kagohl IV

Perhaps anyone can add to this ?

May 1916 : Le Chatelet
5 July 1916 : Mercy le Bas
1916 : Essigny le Grand
September—October 1916 : Kasta 20 at Razgrad, Bulgaria
End of October 1916—November 1916 : Kasta 20 at Hudowa, Macedonia
4 August 1917 : Kruishoutem aerodrome

June 1918 : Danizy
August 1918 : Mont d’Aurigny

31st May 1917 Kasta 23 - 4th Army joined Kagohl 4 again as an official part on the 24th August 1917 at Kruishoutem.

BTW Photo 2 is to me a Rumpler CIII type.

Best from Johan

[Dan_San_Abbott]

ChrisVidal:
The third aircraft is a LVG C.V. The engine is a Benz BzIV.
Blue skies,
Dan-San