Kurt, Willi, Manfred, Erich, and Lothar

[Wilhelm_Reinhard]

I was looking for a photo of Reinhard for my profile, and ran across this one on the warnepieces blogspot site:

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4-Fcr-2OmQA/TzyWAhuQWWI/AAAAAAAAAvM/_Q89sxk9bqA/s1600/Kurt+Wusthoff+and+PLM+holders+1918.jpg

 

I don’t know the credentials of this guy as a historian, but I enjoyed his site, and I’m pretty sure the men in the photo are correctly identified:

 

Left to right: Kurt Wüsthoff, Wilhelm Reinhard, Manfred von Richthofen, Erich Löwenhardt, and Lothar von Richthofen.

 

You’ll notice that the image of Wüsthoff is okay, but the photo becomes more distorted and skewed as you scan from left to right. All the other copies I’ve seen of this photo are the same. If any of you have skill with photoshop or paintshop and want to fix this, it would be a boon to all who like to keep a gallery of WWI aviation heroes  .

 

A few things induced me to post this:

 

The pose: linked arms. Truly, brothers in arms.

 

Their youth: Wüsthoff was only 20 when he earned the Pour le Mérite he is wearing.

 

This American holiday: Veterans’ Day.

 

This sentence at the end of the photo caption on the warnepieces blog: “Their combined victory total was 221.â€

 

If you’ve ever flown a light plane with a light wing-loading on a windy day or when there are cumulous clouds in the sky, add the wind of an open cockpit, the cold and lack of oxygen at altitude...you wonder how they ever did it. It’s just incredible. I know you know all this, but really... Right??

 

I meant to get this posted yesterday, but it’s never a bad time to say “Thank you for your service!â€, and “Salut!†to all brave patriots who have served their country.

 

Wilhelm

[Klaiber]

Hi Wilhelm,

 

That's a great photograph!

 

There is a cropped version of it within Above the Lines, by Norman Franks, et al.  The description is:

 

Leaders within JGI on 21 March 1918, the day the Big German Offensive began on the Somme; L to r: Kurt Wusthoff, Jasta 4 (27), Willi Reinhard, Jasta 6 (20), Manfred von Richthofen , (Cdr JGI), Erich Lowenhardt, Jasta 10 (54) and Lothar von Richthofen, Jasta 11 (40).

 

It's also on page 103 of The Illustrated Red Baron, by Peter Kilduff.  It's also cropped.

 

But here is a photograph (as best as I can do):

 

[Wilhelm_Reinhard]

Thanks, Klaiber! Much better images of the men on the right.