von Richthofen souvenirs

[Des]

These photos were taken by David Wilson at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, they show some souvenirs taken from Baron von Richthofen's aircraft after it had crashed. Thanks David for sending the photos.

Des.

[Jamo]

And here is a photo of the Aussie infantrymen removing the boots 



From the Heritage Aviation Centre museum at Omaka, Blenheim, New Zealand. Also on display there is the actual fabric cross, cut from the starboard side of his DrI. With it are other items salvaged from the aircraft and his own monogrammed handkerchief, father Albrecht's dress uniform, the trophy awarded to brother Lothar on being credited with downing Albert Ball and two of the trophy cups Manfred had made to mark his victories. One of these is number 11, commissioned after MvR downed Lanoe Hawker.

[lcarroll]

Thanks for these; as an ardent follower of "RB Lore" I really enjoyed seeing the photos. It's very difficult to keep track of what remains, where it is, or does it exist (still) at all...........?
Cheers,
Lance

[GHE]

Thanks for those excellent photos !

I'm very astonished that Omaka shows this moving booty-taking moment*;

*not of the machine but of the body
 

I never thought that so many pieces survived of his plane....

viele Grüße, Gunther

[GHE]

Meine Herren !

A Richthofen story from family history

A relative of mine, now well in her eighties once told me the story of her grandfather and his sister-in-law.

Her Grandfather was master sheperd with the Red Barons uncle Helmut, Freiherr von Richthofen (1870-1924)  at the
Brechelshof estate close to the town of Jauer. Pauline , the sister of his wife, was governess to the Richthofen children.
Pauline , for sure must have known Manfred v. Richthofen, since the estate was close to his .
She was governess to the last owner of Brechelshof estate, Felicie, Freiin von Richthofen (1907-1974)
Brechelshof now is flooded by a post-war levee and lies close to the so-called "Wütenden Neisse" (raging Neisse) and close to
the battle site of the Battle of the Katzbach where Blücher and York fought Napoleon I .

viele Grüße, Gunther

[David]

Thanks for those excellent photos !

I'm very astonished that Omaka shows this moving booty-taking moment*;

*not of the machine but of the body
 

I never thought that so many pieces survived of his plane....

viele Grüße, Gunther

Hi Gunther,

As far as I have been able to work out, all of the crosses are in museums or private collections.  I am also aware of the existence of at least one wing tip, several pieces of ribs, many pieces of fabric, the engine and the items in the AWM collection.  The machine guns are supposed to still exist too, but I have not been able to locate them so far.  A few years ago I followed a lead which was supposed to have been for the tailplane of this triplane, but as with a lot of leads it was not correct.  What I did find though was a very nice piece of four colour lozenge fabric with an original cross on it.  I think it is from a Fokker D.VIII, and the owner is happy for me to study it, so I might be able to determine the type of aeroplane it came from eventually.

Regards,

David.

[Modelnut]

What a contrast between stripping the plane and body to the funeral that followed. Not judging,just an observation.MVR equates to slaying the dragon?

[Squiffy]

Interesting. I recently bought and built an Eduard "Dual Combo", a pair of Dr1 in 1/72 scale. In the booklet/instructions it says that Von Richtofen's Dr1 was destroyed in an air-raid by the RAF, whilst it was housed in the Zeughaus Museum in Berlin during WW2.

I've also seen a photo of the remains of the carcass of the aircraft he was shot down in after it was picked over by souvenir hunters and it doesn't look as if there was much left of it worth putting in a museum.

Assuming what is in the Eduard booklet is true, was the aircraft in Berlin the remains of the one he was shot down in, or was it a completely different aircraft?