IWM Kriegsflieger an der Westfront

[Skipman]

IWM Kriegsflieger an der Westfront in 2 parts (8.23) & 9.17)

Aufnahmen aus dem Weltkrieg

Object description

Compilation film of German fliers and planes on the Western Front, 1916-1918.
Full description

Poor quality film of a line of Aviatik CIIs taking off. The pilot and observer of an Aviatik CV (DFW?), with a prominent skull-and-crossbones design on its side, prepare for a sortie and take off. The plane is shown 'in flight'. The observer takes photographs, uses his machine gun to fight off an enemy, and drops a bomb by hand on the enemy below. (The plane 'in flight' resembles a LVG CII.) On the ground a Gotha GII is bombed up and takes off. It flies a bombing mission, hitting oil tanks on the ground which burst into flames. (The plane 'in flight' is an Italian Caproni CIII.) A line of Fokker DVIIs takes off, and engages British DH4s in a dogfight. One of the DH4s is 'shot down' (a model) and burns on the ground. A lorry-mounted German 77mm anti-aircraft gun fires at the British. A French Nieuport burns on the ground as a Fokker DVII taxies past it. Back in the dogfight, the observer bails out of an observation balloon by parachute as the balloon is shot down in flames. A portrait shot of Max Immelmann. Oswald Boelcke with pilots of Jagdstaffel 2. More of the dogfight (mainly fakes). Baron Manfred von Richthofen with the pilots of Jagdgeschwader 1, with his Great Dane 'Moritz', and joking with his father, Major (Freiherr) Albrecht von Richthofen. Von Richthofen prepares for a sortie in his Fokker DrI, putting on his flying clothes while his mechanics check the engine. He briefs his pilots with a map, and then takes off with them. Von Richthofen inspects the wreck of one of the aircraft he has shot down. He talks with an uninjured British pilot he has shot down. At a troop review near Courtrai in August 1917, von Richthofen (his head bandaged after a head wound) shakes hands with Kaiser Wilhelm and General von Hoeppner, commander of the German Army Air Service. Hermann Goering, who replaced von Richthofen as commander of the Jagdgeschwader, is shown by himself, with his pilots, and with his close friend Bruno Loerzer, commander of Jagdstaffel 11. Goering, in his plane's cockpit, removes his flying helmet after a sortie.
Physical description

35mm

Mike