Manfred Von Richthofen's shoulder straps

[redintheskies]

we were talking about the shoulder STRAPS, not BOARDS. lol but anyways...

[GMU]

Originally Posted by Ginger.

I like dogs more than I do shoulder boards.

I couldn't agree more!

Prefer dogs to boards, straps, or whatever....


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[farcwarts]

I like dogs also, even have one. But the question that started this thread is still unanswered. I have looked closely at the photo of MVR posted on this thread where he is sitting with his father and what I am seeing is the oddly shaped capital letter A with the crown above it, and the retaining button above that. I see no evidence of two pips. There may be one small pip between the crown and the retaining button but I think that is just the contour of the shoulder strap and not a pip. Besides, he was a captain so having only one pip would have made no sense. In the picture where he is playing with his dog (regardless of whatever happened to the dog) I was able to find a clear photo of him in a book and that photo shows a strap that has only two pips for captain and nothing else on the strap, no wing and prop, no capital A either. So, it appears at least to me that just like he wore several different hats in different photos (one with a red band, one with a black band, one the formal officer stiff version, one the crusher with chin strap), it is more than likely that he had multiple uniforms and coats with various shoulder straps. Does anyone have any additional information? How would an officer's rank be identified if their shoulder strap only carried the emblem of their branch, such as the Hussars in this case?