Captured Types

[Brendan Cowan]

Hi Folks,

I'm starting to put together a page on aircraft that were either captured by Australian Forces including the Australian Flying Corps or claimed as War Trophies by the Australian Government.

You can see the beginnings of it here:

http://www.adf-serials.com.au/afccaptured.htm

I'd be interested on any further information and/or photos that we can add.

Cheers

BC

Attached Image

[Michael Louey]

Hi Brendan,

Someone asked about this a long time ago on Aussie Modeller and I did some looking around but don't know where I have saved the document. I guess you did a search of the AWM site for some of the listed planes however a bit of poking around reveals a few more -

DFW CV
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/H02541/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/H02813/

Albatros DIII and LVG CII
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/B02840/
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/B02943/

LVG C VI
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10846.001

Albatros DIII
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P00730.018
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P01184.023

Albatros Va
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/A01394/

LVG CII
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/B03565/

Fokker DVII and Junkers
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/J01239/


I'm sure a bit more searching would find more.

Cheers

Michael

This post has been edited by Michael Louey on Sep 10 2013, 05:28 PM

[Brendan Cowan]

Thanks Michael,

I'll incorporate all of those into the page.

I had a few of those down in notes, but hadn't seen the photographic evidence before.'


Cheers


BC

[Michael Louey]

Hi Brendan,

The photo from the Melbourne Exhibition Buildings reminded me of an article from the old Air Enthusiast Quarterly so I had a rummage around the collection.

Air Enthusiast Nbr 47 has an article by Colin Owers - Australia's First Museum. It is a deeply researched narrative of the aircraft returned from WW1 as War Prizes and Exhibits. There is some information on AFC aircraft and a lot on German War Prizes and potential War Prizes.

The following aircraft have histories written about them and were collected by the AWRS (Australian War Record Section) which was collecting trophies for a museum to be setup by Canberra.
Halberstadt CL.II 15342/17 (Already in ADF serials)
Albatros DVa 5390/17 (Already in ADF serials)
LVG C.VI 7243/18 (Already in ADF serials)
Pfalz D.IIIa G/5Bde/13 (In ADF Serials - but with a different serial. The article mentions the mix up in the id of this plane)
Hannover CL.II 13199/17.
There are photos of all these aircraft.

There is then a list of 70 aircraft 'reserved' for bringing back to Australia. They then worked out that shipping costs would be too high after 35 planes had been sent by 2ASD (2 Aircraft Salvage Depot in France) to the UK (The list is in the article).

A final list of 14 captured German Aircraft is listed as arriving in Australia.

The list is as follows:
Albatros C.1b (Probably 4908/18 based on the 2ASD list)
Albatros D.Va 5390/17
DFW C.V 5390/17
DFW C.V (Captured by Australian Light Horse - No id)
Fokker DVII 8371/18
Fokker E.V 140/18
Halberstadt CL II (8284/17)
Halberstadt C.V 6867/18
Hannover CL.II 13199/17
LVG C.VI 7243/18
LVG C.V 3163/17
Pfalz D.IIIa 8284/17
Pfalz D.XII 2600/18
Rumpler biplane

The DFW C.V (Captured by the Light Horse) and the LVG C.V were shipped from the Middle East.

There follows a lot of detail about the subsequent history of this collection. Best to just read the article.

Cheers

Michael

This post has been edited by Michael Louey on Sep 13 2013, 12:38 PM

[Brendan Cowan]

Many thanks Michael,

I'll have to dig through my Archives/Bungalow to see whether I have that volume.

I do recall reading something along those lines many moons ago.

A few anomalies that I spotted in the list:

- Two aircraft are quoted with the serial 5390/17
- Is the correct serial for the Halberstadt CL.II 15342/17 or 1534/17? I have seen it as both in different places.
- Fokker 8371/18 you have it as a DVV - Did you mean D.VII?


This does give me a lot of very useful leads.
Cheers

BC

[Michael Louey]

No problems Brendan.

I've just cleaned up the original post for some mistakes after re rereading the article.

The article does have the same serial for the 2 aircraft - maybe a typo. There is mention of a DFW D.V in the 2ASD list of 35 aircraft which may be the same plane.

The Halberstadt serial is specified in the list of 14 captured aircraft which arrived in Australia. The earlier article of this plane does mention the serials 15342/17 and the British Serial G/5Bde/16. There is some mention of confusion in the numbering of this plane.

The Fokker DVII is a typo, now fixed. It was interesting the article describes contemporary reports of this plane being flown in Australia at least twice.

Finally there is mention of a Junkers wing being shipped over to Australia. Maybe this is the item shown in the earlier AWM image.

If you need a copy of the article, give me a call.

Cheers

Michael

[mikemirk]

Regarding Albatros D.III 636/17, we have part of it's wing fabric and cross on display at AHM of WA at Bull Creek, have attached a photo.

Mike.

Attached Image

[Brendan Cowan]

Thanks Mike(s)

I'll get back to adding some more of this info to the pages soon.

Cheers


BC

[mikemirk]

Brendan,
Regarding the fate of 636/17, it actually was sent to the Khedive of Egypt in Cairo and was never sent on to England, also it's the Aviation Heritage Museum of W.A. not History.
Cheers,
Mike. :ph34r:

This post has been edited by mikemirk on Oct 29 2013, 11:48 AM