Big Nightmare coming out of the Dark

[Olham]

Al Forbes' paintings may look almost naive compared to others, but no one else

can create such special goose skin athmosphere like him. Just found this one

over at "The Aerodrome".

It is called "Masurian Monster". Does anyone know this big German craft?

 

 

[Hauksbee]

Not too sure of myself here, but it may be a Siemens-Schurkert Reisenflugzeug.It's the nose and canopy that makes me think this.

[Mike Dora]

I think it's the SSW R.VII (serial 7/15), the 5-bay wing is what distinguishes it from the other SSW R-tyoes. It first flew in January 1917, joining Rfa 501 at Vilna on the Eastern Front the following month.

 

The R.VII flew its first combat mission on 15 March 1917 and continued in operational use until Rfa 501 was transferred to the Western Front in the summer. The R.VII remained at Vilna, transferred to the Riesenflugzeug Schulabteilung ("giant aircraft training unit"), with which it was still in service in early 1918.

Edited August 26, 2011 by Mike Dora

[Hauksbee]

It first flew in January 1917, joining Rfa 501 at Vilna on the Eastern Front the following month.

Hence the name "Masurian Monster"...after the Masurian Lakes in northern Poland where the Germans set up to meet the oncoming Russians.

[Olham]

... may be a Siemens-Schurkert ...

Hahaha! A great Freudian slip, mein Freund!

The company name was Siemens-Schuckert. The German word "Schurke" means "rascal".

 

Hence the name "Masurian Monster"...after the Masurian Lakes in northern Poland where the Germans set up to meet the oncoming Russians.

That makes sense. Thank you, guys.

Do you know, what the red fire rain below the craft means?

[RAF_Louvert]

.

 

A very evocative painting, thanks for sharing Olham. And thank you to Hauksbee and Mike Dora for the very complete background information on the aeroplane and it's AO. I live for this kind of WWI aviation history, and in particular when it involves one of the 'forgotten' fronts of the Great War.

 

.

[Olham]

I live for this kind of WWI aviation history, and in particular when it involves one of the 'forgotten' fronts of the Great War.

If F. K. Kurt Jentsch's book "Beim Jagdflug verunglückt?" would have been translated to English,

it would be something for you. He has been started at Fliegerschule Döberitz.

Then he was sent to the Macedonian front, where he first flew one of only two Pfalz Eindeckers,

before they got the (better liked) Fokker Eindecker.

[RAF_Louvert]

.

 

Sounds like that would be a good volume to read along side Heydemarck's "War Flying in Macedonia", (which fortunately was translated into English).

 

.

[Olham]

Oh, thanks for the hint, Lou - that's one I haven't read yet!

[Hauksbee]

...where he first flew one of only two Pfalz Eindeckers, before they got the (better liked) Fokker Eindecker.

The Pfalz must have been damned near lethal to fly if they considered the E.III to be a step up.

[Olham]

Yep, he describes it so, that you get the impression, they were just glad,

when the craft was flying stable. He found the Eindecker "more agile

and easy to handle".

But hey, they didn't know any better craft, did they?

I guess, if they could have seen a Sukhoi Flanker performing a Cobra manoeuvre,

they might have just dropped out?

[Hauksbee]

Yep, he describes it so, that you get the impression, they were just glad, when the craft was flying stable. He found the Eindecker "more agile

and easy to handle".

I can just hear them rejoicing: "Thank God! At last we get something "modern" to fly.

[Olham]

Yeah, like that - they had really hoped all the time to get the "modern" Fokker.

Well, what could they know about the speeding technological revolutions in

the next 4 years.