Auf der Jagd nach Souvenirs

Red Barons Fokker at Bertangles now being guarded from souvenir hunters

17GW492 Pilots of 3 Squadron AFC based at the airfield at Poulainville stand beside the wreck of Richthofen's machine which is being stripped of bits and piexes...

The remains of 425/17 after being shot down and picked through for souvenirs.

The remains of 425/17 after being shot down and picked through for souvenirs. (picture source: Inside the victories of Manfred von richthofen - Volume 2, James...

17GW491 Two Spandau IMG 08 were fitted to the cowling of the Fokker Triplane. On the Red Baron's last fight one of the weapons had ceased to function and the other was misfiring because of a split firing pin. Lieutenant May would likely have been shot down had the guns been working. Richthofen had released his harness and was working to free the mechanism when a single bullet fired from below fatally wounded him.

17GW494 Two machine guns from Richthofen's aircraft. Left to right: Lieutenant N. Mulroney (pilot); Lieutenant O G Witcomb (observer) and Lieutenant F J Mart (observer) examine the Spandau machine guns of the Red Baron. All three are members of 3 Squadron Australian Flying Corps (AFC).

17GW494 Two machine guns from Richthofen's aircraft. Left to right: Lieutenant N. Mulroney (pilot); Lieutenant O G Witcomb (observer) and Lieutenant F J Mart (o...

The crudely altered Balkenkreuze taken from the right side of Von Richthofen's Fokker Triplane 425/17 which was auctioned in London in 1994. It had been cut from the machine by L/Cpl A E Putman, 32 Battalion, AIF, who later gave it to a doctor who saved his life. Until its sale it had hung on the doctor's wall.

The crudely altered Balkenkreuze taken from the right side of Von Richthofen's Fokker Triplane 425/17 which was auctioned in London in 1994. It had been cut fro...

The Balkenkreuze taken from the left side of the same Fokker Triplane which currently resides in the Royal Canadian Military Institute in Toronto, given to them by Captain Roy Brown. The bare fabric in the centre shows the signature of 209 Squadron pilots in April 1918.

The Balkenkreuze taken from the left side of the same Fokker Triplane which currently resides in the Royal Canadian Military Institute in Toronto, given to them...

The remains of 425/17 being picked clean. Note the Maxim machine guns leaning on the tubular steel airframe.

The remains of 425/17 being picked clean. Note the Maxim machine guns leaning on the tubular steel airframe. (picture source: Inside the victories of Manfred vo...

AFC pilots looking at the wreckage of the Red Baron's Fokker Triplane.

AFC pilots looking at the wreckage of the Red Baron's Fokker Triplane. (picture source: The Red Baron, a photographic album of the first world war's greatest ac...

Le Rhone Engine of the Fokker Dr. I in which MvR died.

Le Rhone Engine of the Fokker Dr. I in which MvR died. (picture source: PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine)

MvR's fur boots.

MvR's fur boots. (picture source: The Illustrated Red Baron - The life and times of Manfred von Richthofen - Peter Kilduff -Cassel & Co - 2000)

MvR's seat, with the alleged bulletholes.

MvR's seat, with the alleged bulletholes. (picture source: The Illustrated Red Baron - The life and times of Manfred von Richthofen - Peter Kilduff -Cassel & Co...

The cat mascot that would survive him.

The cat mascot that would survive him. (picture source: Manfred von Richthofen, The man and the aircraft he flew, David Baker, 1990, Outline Press)