There isn't much on D.VII's in Jasta 30, and only a couple photos in Bruno Schmäling's wonderful Jasta 30 book. He has promised that more photos and info, found after publication, would be included with his Jasta 23b book, when it is published. I haven't heard much recently about when this long-awaited book will be available.
Anyway, there are 4 D.VII profiles in the Jasta 30 book. Three of them show the upper cowling panels removed, and the profiles show the engines as BMW - manifold straight across the top, both sets of sparkplugs run along the left side of the engine. They also show the upright air pump, associated with the Mercedes D.IIIa engine. The profiles could just be representations, since so little seems to be known about these machines.
The photo (p. 122 of Jasta 30) of Hans-Georg von der Marwitz watching his D.VII being worked on, shown from front left, doesn't show enough engine detail to be sure. On page 124 is the photo of August Hartmann's "moi Hexle". The top of the manifold could be solid all the way across, or possibly a water-jacketed Mercedes. The same photo appears in the D.VII Anthology, Vol. 2, page 39.
Does anyone have better information, better copies of these or other photos, or better eyes than I do? What is the chance that at least some of these, apparently Albatros-built, D.VII's, had the BMW IIIa engine?
Rich
