Rickenbacker's Hannover CL.IIIa

[andron234]

Just having fun shooting down my wife in "her" new Hannover CL.IIIa with my new Rickenbacker Nieuport 28, When I remembered reading about Eddie shooting down a Hannover CL.IIIa for real! Switch to research mode, On the 2nd Oct 1918 Captain Rickenbacker Attachment 163447(Promoted September 1918) was flying with Lt Reed Chambers over the Montfaucon area of France, when they encountered a Hannover CL.IIIa two-seated reconnaissance plane, Now I must admit both pilots were flying Spad XIIIAttachment 163448 (not the Nieuport 28 as in my game) He flew in for the kill (Number 14 of 26), So I thought I would repaint my Hannover CL.IIIa to match the one he shoot down, I thought it would be an easy task as the Hannover CL.IIIa had made a soft landing on the allied side of "No mans land" So it should be sitting in a Museum somewhere, WRONG, It seems two have been destroyed with almost no photographs having been taken, Attachment 163445Attachment 163446 So hit my library, and after a number of books I found a colour plate in "Blandford colour series, Fighters 1914-19" page 24 Attachment 163449Attachment 163450 But I'm not 100% convinced it's the same plane, It should have a white tail fin, like my Mock-up pictureAttachment 163451, when it comes down to it only one person knows Attachment 163452 and it's a bit too late to ask him nowAttachment 163453 RIP Eddie

[Flying Officer Kyte]

I'd rely on the sepia photograph Drew, and paint the tail white if you have not done so.
If you could find other aircraft in that unit, you might discover if it was a common marking.
Rob.

[Dom S]

I'm pretty sure the arrow was a schlasta marking - not sure of the unit offhand, but I found this one too.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...(restored).jpg

http://www.aviastar.org/air/germany/hannover_cl-3.php

http://www.forumbilder.se/images/8f120111207167107.jpg

In general the schlastas didn't go for individual markings like single seater units - more common was to number the aircraft 1 to 6, with any other identifying markings being for the unit, not the individual machine. In this case I'm not sure if it's the same machine or not - one site says it was downed by US machine gunners, and comments the other think it was "Rickenbacker's" or at least credited to him. Most interpretations of it seem to favour the usual Hannover hand painted pseudo lozenge camo on the fuselage rather than the pattern in the Blandford drawing. The rudder's most definitely white though.


[Edit]. Looks like (a) it is the "Rickenbacker" Hannover, but was more likely brought down by ground fire than him, and (b) it was 3892/18, of schlasta 20, and (c) the arrow was indeed the unit's marking - the Schlachtflieger book has a very similar one with 6 on the nose as well as this one. There's a thread on 3892/18's colours on the Aerodrome:

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=53448

[Dom S]

Ha, a belated D'oh! moment here. I've just realised that one of the Wings Of Glory Hannovers (WGF208A, Hager/Weber) is the very machine, so probably not a major repaint job....

http://www.aresgames.eu/wp/wp-conten...ry-WGF208A.jpg

[Franco Lucchini]

And what are the odds SWMBO will play it again if you paint it as such?