German pilot Mario Scherff

Hi Friends

I need information about German pilot Mario Scherff, flying in (Dardanelos? ) with observer Kemal Ataturk.
Kemal Atartuk after the war is president of Turquia.
died in 1938.
I have a good photo Scherff and Kemal Ataturk.
Scherff born in Buenos Aires ,Argentina at 1890.

[Rick]

Olivero,

No help here, I'm afraid. In fact, that's a completely new name to me. Do you have any more information on him? Like his unit, date(s) of service, anything?? R.

[rammjaeger]

Dear Olivero,

Mario (Mauricio) Scherff was flying in 1913 for the Turks against Bulgaria in the Balkan War. I don´t think his observer was Kemal Atatürk. The observer was named Kemal Bey and a German source reported it was the later famous Kemal Atatürk. Nevertheless a Turkish researcher questioned that when I asked for this claim. Maybe he (Tamerlane?) can add his knowledge here again. Mario Scherff trained pilots in WWI and had a severly accident, survived and lived in Leipzig in Saxony after WWI.

VBR
Rammjaeger

Dear Olivero,

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic was never Mario Scherff's observer. Scherff, in his memoirs published in "Das Buch der deutschen Fluggeschichte" by Peter Supf, claims his observer Yuzbasi (Captain) Kemal was the same person as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. However, this is completely false. Scherff flew observation and aerial bomb dropping missions around Edirne in Thrace. The event he describes in his memoirs takes place at this location, which is far away from Dardanelles. At the time Scherff was performing these flights, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk held the rank of Binbasi (Major) and he was the operations officer of the Ottoman corps stationed at Gallipoli (Dardaneles).

There is a photo of Scherff and his observer Yuzbasi Kemal published in Supf's book. If you compare it closely with photos of Binbasi Musatafa Kemal, you will notice that there is no resemblance. If you have another photo of Scherff and Kemal, I would like to see it.

By the way, if any forum members have a detailed biography of the German pilot Mario Scherff, I would greatly appreciate receiving it.

Best wishes to all,

Bülent
yilmazer@tr.net
Ankara - Turkey