Junkers D.1, Kampfgeschwader Sachsenberg, Lativia, late spring, 1919

[Old Man]

      The Junkers D.I was the fruit of pioneering research by Prof. Hugo Junkers. Small-scale production of the type began too late for it to see front-line service in the Great War. During 1919, however, some were employed in Latvia's Courland districts by a freikorps body that came to be known as the 'Iron Division', which fought in turn against Bolsheviks and Latvian and Estonian nationalists.








      That the wing of the Junkers D.I employed a thick airfoil, and was set below the machine's thrust line, is of greater significance to aviation's development than the type's all-metal cantilever construction, for these improvements in generating lift discovered by Prof. Junkers directly influenced a good many subsequent designs. An aeroplane did not have to be a monoplane to benefit from employing a thick airfoil, a monoplane's wing did not have to be cantilever for it to benefit from being positioned below the thrust line, and a cantilever low-wing monoplane did not have to be of all-metal construction. When all-metal cantilever monoplanes with low-set wings did become general during the 1930s, they employed structural methods owing nothing to the Junkers design.





      Prof. Junkers' first attempt to build a low-wing cantilever monoplane completely of metal took to the air at the start of 1916. A complex tube structure clad in thin sheet steel, it was far too heavy to climb or manouver well, though it had a decent turn of speed in level flight. After much research into working duraluminum, Junkers managed to produce by late 1917 a prototype whose performance and weight matched that of contemporary biplane fighters built of wood and linen. Two pilots of the naval Marinefliegerkommando flew this first prototype and spoke well of it.



      During trials of the final prototype D.I early in 1918, however, army pilots of the Luftsteitkraft found the machine deficient in manouverability at altitude, and thought it really suitable only for such specialized low-level work as destruction of tethered observation balloons. Both views owed something to the machine's all-metal construction, with the army pilots recognizing the strength and durability built into the type, and the naval pilots appreciating its imperviousness to damp, which brought quick deterioration to machines of wood and linen on the Flanders coast.



      Still, this prototype made a good enough impression on air service procurement authorities that Junkers received a small but open-ended production contract for the D.I. The first completed example rolled out from the Junkers factory at Dessau in August, and in October several were shipped off to a naval unit in Flanders. There is no evidence that before the Armistice was signed these were flown for anything but evaluation and training well behind the lines, though one was found to be peppered with rifle-caliber bullets when taken in hand by Allied forces in 1919. Junkers continued building to his contract until February of that year, though the machines seem to have remained in the factory yard (there being no air service to deliver them to), and it is unclear whether Junkers received any payment, and if he did, from whom it came.

[Old Man]

      For roughly a dozen Junkers D.Is became part of the aerial strength of a private force of armed German soldiers who came to the Courland late in February 1919 to fight Bolsheviks. This was formed on a nucleus of officers and men from the demobilized 1st Guards Reserve Division, who dubbed themselves 'The Iron Brigade'. Initially, at least, this early freikorps body was not a mere armed gang of political freebooters but a proxy army executing both Allied and German policy. England, France, the United States, and Japan all had forces operating in Russia against the Bolsheviks, and welcomed the assistance on the Baltic coast of a German force which was recruited with encouragement from Gen. Groener, the German Army's current chief of staff.



      The aviation unit of this 'Iron Brigade' was recruited by Lt. Sachsenberg, a distinguished Marinefliegerkommando pilot. He was one of the naval pilots who had test-flown the first prototype of the Junkers D.I late in 1917, and was during January 1919 at Dessau himself, superintending the demobilization of his naval fighter detachment. One way or another, Lt. Sachsenberg received some thirty-odd Junkers all-metal monoplanes, both D.I and Cl.I types (the latter being a modestly larger, two-seat version of the D.I single-seater). With these in hand to serve respectively as a fighter detachment and a close-support detachment, a sufficient number of Rumpler C.IV two-seaters were then obtained, giving 'Kampfgeschwader Sachsenberg'  a reconnaisance detachment as well.



      The situation the soldiers and aircrew of this 'Iron Brigade' were pitched into in the Courland districts of Latvia late in February, 1919, was both extremely complex and quite precarious. The Armistice of November 11, 1918, had required German soldiers stationed on the Baltic coast to remain there. A week after the Armistice, Latvian Nationalists declared an independent Latvia. This was promptly invaded by a force comprising both Latvian and Russian Bolsheviks, which quickly bested Latvian Nationalist militia. While the Bolsheviks were advancing westwards, the Latvian government recruited German soldiers, demobilized from the former occupation force, to form a fresh body of militia. These fared no better against the Bolsheviks than had the Nationalist militia.

      By the time the 'Iron Brigade' arrived in Latvia, most of the country was in Bolshevik hands, including the great port of Riga. The Latvian government, and its Nationalist and German militias, held on only around the smaller but ice-free port of Liepaja, at the extreme southwest of the country. Ethnic Germans predominated here, and had since the days of the Livonian Crusades and the Hanseatic League. There was little love lost between these and Latvian Nationalists, for the Czars had favored the Germans of Latvia to the end, and leaders among the Latvian Germans had before the Armistice proposed the Courland be joined to Prussia.

[Old Man]

      In March the 'Iron Brigade', accompanied by both Nationalist and German militias, struck to the east and north against Bolshevik forces. Lt. Sachsenberg's fliers encountered no aerial opposition, not even on reconnaissance flights over Riga, but their aeroplanes took plenty of enthusiastic fire from the ground while scouting ahead and to the flanks of the advancing columns, and strafing Bolshevik forces caught out on the move or gathered to give battle. As the success of the 'Iron Brigade's' offensive became apparent, newly recruited freikorps bands arrived from Germany, some with their own smaller aerial component, and these additions swelled the 'Iron Brigade' into the 'Iron Division'.

      Emboldened by these developments, in April a body of ethnic German notables at Liepaja declared themselves to be Latvia's government. The Latvian Nationalist leadership was driven to take refuge aboard ship under the protection of England's Royal Navy, which maintained a squadron off the coast. The emergence of this new 'government' of wealthy ethnic Germans at Liepaja made clear by its very existence that the objective of the 'Iron Division' now was not just to defeat Bolshevik forces, but to establish German control over Latvia.



      Towards the end of May the 'Iron Division' and German militia took Riga from the Bolsheviks. Their advance deeper into Latvia was opposed now by Estonian Nationalist militia, along with fresh Latvian Nationalist militia raised and trained in Estonia. Late in June, these defeated the 'Iron Division' decisively at the town of Cesis. The beaten Germans retreated to Riga, and in early July, with Latvian and Estonian militia advancing on their heels to do battle for the place, England and France together forced an armistice on all parties. Under its terms the Latvian Nationalist government was to be restored, and the 'Iron Division' with all its freikorps bands was to leave Riga and return to Germany. While these did depart Riga as ordered, most remained in Latvia, thinly disguised as a nominally Russian unit, the 'West Russian Volunteer Army', which styled itself as part of the forces commanded by the Czarist leader Admiral Kolchak.

      In October this now nominally Russian force of German troops again occupied Riga, but could not hold it long. Latvian Nationalist soldiery drove them out in November, with aid from a Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Vanoc, and from Estonian forces which included armored trains. The routed German freikorps men were driven south into Lithuania, where they suffered a further defeat from Lithuanian soldiers at the railway hub of Radviliskis. After some negotiation conducted under the auspices of England and France, what remained of the various freikorps formations which had fought in Latvia were finally returned to Germany during December.

[Old Man]

      Kampgeschwader Sachsenberg did not participate in the concluding debacle of the Baltic coast freikorps forces. The original 'Iron Division' formation had attached itself to the 'West Russian Volunteer Force' in August, and Lt. Sachsenberg led his airmen back to Germany in September. Gotthard Sachsenberg resigned his commission in the German Navy soon thereafter. He went into business with Prof. Junkers, and headed an organization that helped demobilized soldiers return to civilian life in eastern Germany. Herr Sachsenberg then took up politics, being elected to the Reichstag in 1928 as a member of the German Middle Class Party, a minor party of the petit-bourgeoise. Sachsenberg wrote against German rearmament, and avoided a spell in concentration camp after Hitler came to power only because of the influence his brother wielded, as owner of a major shipyard.



      This model represents a Junkers D.I of Kampfgeschwader Sachsenberg in early summer, when the 'Iron Division' advanced beyond Riga. It is the Roden 1/72 scale kit of the type, in a boxing which purports to be the proper 'short fuselage' version, but I confess I did not check dimensions. Two small alterations were necessary to make this kit a model of a Junkers D.I as flown in Latvia. The cockpit opening must be trimmed away at the front, so it curves up to meet the breeches of the machine guns, and a panel behind the flap at the nose on the port side of the cowling must be cut away, as this was removed in service to improve airflow through the radiator. A 'bulkhead' (actually a cloth panel) should be added to the rear of the cockpit. The kit includes a set of instruments which follows photographs in the early Windsock number on the type, which I discarded in favor of scratching something close to the illustrations in the Wingnutz kit instructions.

      The finish given the Junkers D.I at the factory was a spotty pattern of mauve and pale bruswick green on uppersurfaces, with the undersurfaces done in pale blue. On those operated by Kampfgeschwader Sachsenberg this was thinly sprayed over with a grey-green paint, supplemented with an off-white on the undersides, which altered their appearance considerably, and obscured somewhat the German national markings applied to them during production. I used a wash and some daubings of RAF 'Slate Grey' for the grey-green, and a wash and daubings of a pale buff tone on the undersides. The kit decals depict D.I 5185/18, which was one of the machines shipped to Flanders before the Armistice: I altered this to read D.I 5195/18, to get the serial into a range likely to have fetched up in Latvia.

      The kit went together pretty well, but it is a Roden offering, so there were some odd moments. The cockpit furniture is quite nice, with the seat and stick and rudder bar arrangement first-rate. The engine actually fit to its bearers in the nose, which in my experience is unusual for a Roden kit. The fuselage comes in four pieces (sides and top and bottom) which does preserve the fine corrugate pattern where a dressed seam would be most visible, but the fit of top and bottom pieces to the assembled sides is not too good. A great deal of fettling and test-fitting improved this, but I could not get a seamless fit and in cleaning things up did have to do some damage (hopefully not too apparent) to the corrugation. As the top and bottom pieces seemed a bit too wide, a spreader between the joined side-pieces might well have helped, but I did not think of this in time. The flash protector troughs for the machine guns needed a great deal of thinning to be able to fit into place alongside the motor's rocker arms, and I had to scratch a small panel to set between the machine gun breeches. The kit has many small fittings which require great care to remove intact from the sprues. The decals, as is often the case with Roden, were execrable, managing to be both too thick and terribly fragile. A couple had to be pieced back together on the model. My usual Future setting technique could not pull them down into the corrugation, and a brief experiment with a razor blade did not have good results at all. A final application of Tamiya spray matte got them blended better to the casual eye, at least.


A small personal note. This is the first model I have completed in quite a while. I am looking forward to doing more, and to spending more time on the forum. Once I took a look at my Martin 'El Sonora', I thought it best to get in some practice before piling into that, and this is one I have wanted to do for a while, more from interest in the history than the machine itself. So it was the one that came down off the shelf for starters. I have made some 'El Sonora' practice, and will be have something soon to show.

[Alexis]

WOW ! fantastic job on this one Oldman , love the weathering 


Terri

[lcarroll]

    Great little model O.M. and a very enjoyable write up. The weathering looks the part, given the unstable and very dynamic conditions of it's employment I would imagine the aircraft took a bit of a beating. Nicely done!
Cheers,
Lance

[RAGIII]

The Junkers is a Fantastic representation of a well used machine! I also thank you for the History lesson behind the build!
RAGIII

[Old Man]

WOW ! fantastic job on this one Oldman , love the weathering 


Terri

Thank you, Ma'am! I am glad you like it. It was good practice, everything but rigging had to be done. I was proud of getting all the little bits off the sprues without breaking any.

The distressed finish is an odd note on these. I like the way it came out too.

    Great little model O.M. and a very enjoyable write up. The weathering looks the part, given the unstable and very dynamic conditions of it's employment I would imagine the aircraft took a bit of a beating. Nicely done!
Cheers,
Lance

Thank you, Sir. and thanks for the Imgur tip. It works quite well.

Lt. Sachsenberg wrote to Junkers complimenting him on the rugged nature of these machines, saying all that was needed was a tarp over the motor. They did operate mostly on meadows, it seems, without even tent hangers. Though there were a couple of base airfields, one an old Army airship facility, Vervowde, and the other well to east at Petersfeld.

The Junkers is a Fantastic representation of a well used machine! I also thank you for the History lesson behind the build!
RAGIII

Thank you, Sir.

The double coat of Tamiya spray matte supplies most of that 'lived-in look'.

I was very intrigued by the history behind these. I came on it first researching an export Bulldog of the Latvian air service, finding an Insignia number on the history of their air service, which necessarily included some sketch of the tangled course of their war of independence.

I chose to end the account on Herr Sachsenberg himself, because it was a pleasant surprise to discover the man had come out of a very bad place with humanity and decency intact. Even by their own accounts, the friekorps men by their end bore more resemblance to something out of a Mad Max film than military units. Trying to nail down details of their campaigns can lead to some odd little patches of the internet....

[crouthaj]

What's your source(s) for your write-up on Sachsenberg?

Thanks for posting your model!

Jason

[Old Man]

What's your source(s) for your write-up on Sachsenberg?

Thanks for posting your model!

Jason

At this point I could not trace it all back, Sir. I had a good twenty tabs open, on various aspects of the period, and closed them a couple of days back. Some threads on the old Aerodrome Forum were very helpful, and there was something on the site for a game, Wings of Glory or some such, where people were trying to assemble ideas for post-war scenarios.

Glad you liked the wee beastie....

[dr 1 ace]

The Junkers is a Fantastic representation of a well used machine! I also thank you for the History lesson behind the build!
RAGIII

Agree with my Amigo !1

Ed

[RichieW]

Superbly realistic worn finish make it look like a very heavily used machine.

Great history lesson too, I enjoyed this post immensely.

Richie

[gbrivio]

I initially took this model for the 1/48th Roden kit, you took great care in the build and finishing to a bigger scale standard. Weathering reflects the very well researched story of the "foggy" times of former Russian Empire in 1919. Chapeau (hats off)

...Great history lesson too, I enjoyed this post immensely.

Richie

Ciao
Giuseppe

[Dwaynewilly]

Excellent presentation.  Pretty much encapsulates what drives many of us to the hobby, a passion for history and a fascination for miniatures.  Looking forward to the next lesson professor, carry on.

[Old Man]

The Junkers is a Fantastic representation of a well used machine! I also thank you for the History lesson behind the build!
RAGIII

Agree with my Amigo !1

Ed

Thank you, Sir. Most of the 'lived in' look owes to trying to replicate the look of grey-green paint sprayed over the factory camouflage. Once I had started in on it, I began to think I had used too dark a color, but the result has been fortunate. The original finish under that coat is pretty bright, and has a toy-like look, like spots on a snake of jointed wood for a child to play with.

Superbly realistic worn finish make it look like a very heavily used machine.

Great history lesson too, I enjoyed this post immensely.

Richie

I am glad you liked it, Sir. This was more a case of the history leading to the model --- the Baltic coast in tbis period is fascinating, but the aeroplane on its own does not hold much interest for me. Like 'Luft 46', hypothetical 'Luft 19' ruminations just don't do it. I expect in service over France and Flanders, the predictions of the Luftsteitkraft pilots would have been borne out, and the thing chased from the upper air.

I initially took this model for the 1/48th Roden kit, you took great care in the build and finishing to a bigger scale standard. Weathering reflects the very well researched story of the "foggy" times of former Russian Empire in 1919. Chapeau (hats off)

...Great history lesson too, I enjoyed this post immensely.

Richie

Ciao
Giuseppe

Thank you, Sir. It is a fascinating period, and the Latvian imbroglio intricate even by local standards. The model was not too difficult to build to a decent standard --- I would rate it better than the general Roden run.

Excellent presentation.  Pretty much encapsulates what drives many of us to the hobby, a passion for history and a fascination for miniatures.  Looking forward to the next lesson professor, carry on.

Thank you, Sir. You have expressed it very well. I always try and have a good story to go with a model. Sometimes it is a piece of history which suggests a model (as it was in this case), and other times, a story emerges from researching a model I was already resolved on. It is a large part of the fun for me.