Josef Jacobs Albatros DIII

[Hu Rhu]

I am planning to paint/collect planes belonging to particular pilots and I settled on Josef Jacobs as my first. I currently have schemes for his Albatros D.II, Albatros DVa, Fokker Triplane and Fokker DVII. Does anyone know if he flew an Albatros D.III and if so what was the colour scheme?

Also did he fly any other type of aircraft not on the list above? Thanks for your help.

[Flying Helmut]

I have models of his Fokker E.III and Fokker D.II, as well as the well-known Albatros D.II and D.Va and two Fokker Dr.1 and two Fokker D.VII





More photos in the Type-specific Painting Threads.

[Hu Rhu]

Tim,

Thanks for the info. You mentioned two colour schemes for the DVII. I've looked on the painting thread but could only see the Northwind one. Any chance you could point me in the right direction for the other one.

[Flying Helmut]

There are two "Northwind" ones - one has black crosses with white edges, the other (later) one pure white crosses...

[ReducedAirFact]

As an aside, on the "Northwind" description, here's an excerpt from Jasta Colors I (Bruno Schmäling) on the topic:

Several years ago, the theory was forwarded that the personal marking applied to one of Josef Jacobs Fokker Dr.I was the "God of the North Wind (Borealis), which prompted artists to create color profiles presenting a pale face blowing wind. I was very surprised when I first heard about the "God of the north wind" theory. This theory clearly contradicted everything that Josef Jacobs personally told me: He actually used a fire-spitting devil's head as a personal marking. This statement is also backed up by his combat reports. In his combat report dated 9 October 1918 he described the personal emblem on his Fokker Dr.I clearly as "Teufelkopf" (devil's head). Also, in a letter to aviation historian Egon Krüger on 21.06.1968 he explained the marking on his Fokker Dr.I: ... "(I had) at the Triplane in the last month of the war a fire-spitting devil".

The last page of the book even has a reproduction of a painting Jacobs owned with a red-yellow-white color scheme.

The origin story is that after one of the pilots in his unit made a mistake, Jacobs was furious. Someone remarked, "(Jacobs) is spitting fire", and the pilots and ground crew commemorated the remark by painting the fire-spitting devil on Jacobs' plane. Jacobs appreciated the joke and retained the painting and also carried it forward to his Fokker D.VII.

[Hu Rhu]

There are two "Northwind" ones - one has black crosses with white edges, the other (later) one pure white crosses...

Tim,

Thanks very much for that information.

I have also discovered that he flew a Halbersrtadt D.II (possibly painted blue) an Albatros D.III (according to his diary) but never scored a kill in it and a Pfalz D.III (probably painted black).

Daryl,

Thanks for the info on the Northwind/Devil

[malachi]

Be sure to check Jasta Colors pages 61-66 for interviews and profiles done by the author with Jacobs himself. The "God of the north wind" theory was a later artist's interpretation, the image was actually a Teufelskopf (fire-spitting devil's head) with a bit different coloration, which Jacobs also collaborated on for Dr.I 450/17. Also a profile on p. 77.

edit: I see Daryl beat me to it