Ltn Joeph Jacobs and the quest for the 2nd DEVIL image

josef scott · 13 April 2009, 01:03 AM

Minor correction: the Fokker E.III would be 100 hp.

Really enjoying this thread and the info/discussion. Thanks very much, van der Laan. Keep it coming!

van der Laan · 13 April 2009, 03:55 AM

You are correct:

looking back on one of his reports he complained:

REPORT
Concerning the capabilities of the Fokker fighter with a 100 hp Gnome

My 100 hp Fokker EIII 608/16 climbs to 2,000 meters in about 15 minutes in good flying weather according to the barogram and to 3,000 meters in about 35 minutes but never exceeds 3,600 meters however (barogram II). In unfavorable weather it climbs to 2,000 meters in about 15 minutes, to 3,000 meters in about 40 minutes but never climbs over 3,500 meters (barogram I)

During an artillery direction flight at feldflieger Abteilung 11 on 19.5.16, I could not reach the altitude of two Aviatik machines despite the greatest effort. Both machines had started about 10 minutes after me and overtook me at about 3.200 meters altitude (barograms II)

Jacobs Lieutenant of Reserves.

baldeagle · 13 April 2009, 07:24 AM

I'll have to check with Andy Parks again to be sure, but I think the Jacobs collection and the other artifacts came from Andy's father, who was the physician, and who served some years in Germany in that capacity, I think in the 1960s when many of the WW1 pilots were still alive. Jim Parks was a WW1 aviation nut like the rest of us, and got to know JJ and many others, and through these friendships acquired the basis of the collection. I have paged through JJ's diary, and even thought I don't speak German the sketches are fascinating.

Incidentally, the Lafayette Foundation fly-in is coming up on May 16 and 17, a good time to visit if you're in the Denver area.

Michael_Dailey · 13 April 2009, 03:10 PM

Hi Van der Lan,

Sorry, I wasn't very definite about which image I was referring to.

I was referring to the second pencil drawing in forum post # 9, not the photograph shown in forum post #4.

jacobs.jpg

There appears to be something that looks like a crown just above the PLM medal, which reminds me of an image of a 50 year anniversary edition of the medal that I saw some time ago. This detail would argue against this particular drawing having been done during the war, unless some sort of attachment like this was worn by PLM pilots at that time.

regards,

MDD

van der Laan · 13 April 2009, 04:58 PM

You could be right, it does not really have the exact shape of this 50th year PLM crown, but its a far cry from an oak leaf or anything else....and the rest of the PLM is really a rough sketch, so a crown may indeed have served as the model for it after the award was handed out some fifty years later.

My point on the artist was not that it was done during the war, but instead that the artist that did the other sketch too, dated it 29-8-21, which I assume means dd/mm/'yy 29-08-21 or 29th day or august in 1921 was somehow around to do the second one. Even if the PLM was done after his reception of the 50th year crown, he seems to have had a long relationship with this artist. I just wonder who it was. It may be a stretch but I got nothing but straws here anyway.

I'm interested in any angles you can provide that may help.

van der Laan · 13 April 2009, 06:12 PM

Hey "BALD"-E

I heard the last time you were out there you flew their Fokker DVIII how was it?

Also remember these:

Its JJ's war diary as you mentioned. The really cool thing about this book when you can't read German is 1) the PLM mounted on the front of it: it's almost worn out. 2) the tons of tiny little BAROGRAPHS backing up each flight entry as to what happened via altitude. These little gems are from a recording altimeter, which was monted somewhere in the plane.

It produced these little slips of altitude reading over time.

After comming back from Denver I set my sites on finding one, and as luck would have it, there was one listed on EBAY.DE that very week. Thankfully it was mis labeled and miscategorized or I would have surely lost it to Achim, Oliver or Udo.

I got it for 75 bucks! When it showed up a the house I assumed it was probably from a Zepplin or some later plane, but it does have a IDFLIEG marker burned in the top of it so who knows.

It's built with a bellows, a wind up mechanism, a pen and a drum on which the small graphs are tightly wrapped and tear off as spent.

The metal guts slide out easily.

...

van der Laan · 13 April 2009, 06:16 PM

Finally, it all packs up into a nicely hand mitred MAPLE box with a small window, and the only thing exposed is a windup key like a Cuckoo clock. Wind it up, set the altitude to ground level and when you flip the switch, it starts ticking ... and slowly the pen starts inking the current altitude.

The box has several ropes with brass clasps needed to suspend it from the aircraft in some protected space, and on the outside there is a window with an early form of acetate plastic over it, again nicely mitred into place and another folder like sleve to hold the tunning info when the bellows needs to be adjusted.

On the whole it's actually quite a little work of art and I found it less than 5 days after returning from the Lafayette Foundation in Denver.

What are the odds

van der Laan · 14 April 2009, 03:53 AM

I’ll be quite busy for the next few days and will be away from my main computers at the house so I’ll not be able to post for a while so I wanted to leave you with something to look at for a whle.

Here is a slightly polluted JJ blowing off a little steam at a party. The caption written by FERKO on the back said “On the occasion of the commander’s birthday” but who was the commander?

Can any one name a few of the folks in the photo ?

YavorD · 14 April 2009, 03:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by van der Laan

You are correct:

looking back on one of his reports he complained:

REPORT
Concerning the capabilities of the Fokker fighter with a 100 hp Gnome

My 100 hp Fokker EIII 608/16 climbs to 2,000 meters in about 15 minutes in good flying weather according to the barogram and to 3,000 meters in about 35 minutes but never exceeds 3,600 meters however (barogram II). In unfavorable weather it climbs to 2,000 meters in about 15 minutes, to 3,000 meters in about 40 minutes but never climbs over 3,500 meters (barogram I)

During an artillery direction flight at feldflieger Abteilung 11 on 19.5.16, I could not reach the altitude of two Aviatik machines despite the greatest effort. Both machines had started about 10 minutes after me and overtook me at about 3.200 meters altitude (barograms II)

Jacobs Lieutenant of Reserves.

608/16 is not within the range of known Fokker E.III serial numbers. 330-389/16 (ordered April 1916) and 627-638/16 were, probably, the last Fokker E.III batches built. The aeroplane mentioned in Jacobs' report is, probably, Fok. E.III 608/15 (from the batch 601-636/15 ordered in November 1915; various sources, e.g. Fokker Aircraft of World War One by Paul Leaman).
Regards,
Yavor

baldeagle · 14 April 2009, 07:21 PM

The barograph thingie is great, always wondered what they looked like, and yes, it was something to see them pasted into the war diary.

I didn't get to try the D.VIII last time, but may get to on the next trip in May. I did get to ride in a WW2 Stuart tank last time, and fire off a round, which was pretty neat anyway.....