State Library of South Australia

Letter [PRG 1343/7] • Manuscript

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Summary

Letter from Ted to Edie from France 1918 written on the back of a piece of fabric from a wing of a German aeroplane, which was shot down within 100 yards of his dugout. He believed the German plane was that of the Red Baron. Photographic copy. Original only available with the permission of an archivist.

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Physical description

Manuscript
handwritten
0.5 cm

Dates / Publication details

1918

Creator

Birks, John Napier

Subject

Richthofen, Manfred, Freiherr von, 1892-1918
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- France
Soldiers -- South Australia -- Correspondence

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

General notes

On advice from the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the visible paint application on the fabric is very thin and does not match any German aircraft finish that can be readily identified. The lack of any evidence of light blue or dark green with red overpaint suggests strongly that the fabric is not from von Richthoven's aircraft. The AWM holds other examples of items with similar inscriptions that clearly have no connection to the 'Red Baron's Fokker Triplane. There was intense interest in his exploits in France during the First World War and many soldiers possibly brought back similar souvenirs relating to one of Germany's best known fliers.

Digitisation information

Date

23/09/2005

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

2,101 x 3,372 pixels (7.1 MP)

Size

21.29 MB

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