AA38909 Fokker D. VII (OAW) - Ltn. Wilhelm Leusch

For an aircraft which was only photographed during the very final weeks of the Great War, it’s interesting to note just how much detail the Jasta 19 artist managed to incorporate into his beautiful design on this Fokker D.VII fighter. 

The immaculately painted dragon was an identical copy of the image carried on an advert for the Unterberg & Helme Company, a firm famous for the design and production of world leading engine ignition systems at that time, but why was it replicated so perfectly when Germany was clearly losing the war remains something of a mystery? 

Although Wilhelm Leusch joined the Luftstreitkräfte in October 1914, he was initially posted to fly artillery spotting missions over the Western Front, and it wouldn’t be until after joining Royal Prussian Jasta 19 in April 1917 that he started scoring aerial victories.

Promoted to command the unit in October 1918 following the death of the previous commander, Leusch wouldn’t increase his victory tally of 5 enemy aircraft destroyed, as the Allies had such overwhelming superiority at that time, despite the unrivalled fighting credentials of the Fokker D.VII. 

By the end of the war, this distinctively presented Fokker was pictured under French control, although it isn’t known whether this was the result of a combat engagement, of if Leusch had flown it there as part of the armistice terms, like so many other surviving Fokker D.VIIs.