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Leutnant d R Paul Strahle by Ivan Berryman.
The distinctive blue and red livery of these two Albatros D.Vs identify them as Jasta 18 machines in Berthold Colours, a reference to their commander at that time, Oblt Rudolf Berthold. The nearest aircraft is that of Leutnant der Reserve Paul Strahle who scored six victories with this unit before taking his aircraft (4594/17) with him to Jasta 57 where he would score a further 8. Each aircraft carried a personal emblem, in the case of Strahle a white axe whilst the similar aircraft of Ltn d R Arthur Rahn displays a diamond pattern. The fuselage crosses on both aircraft were crudely painted over and are still just visible beneath the blue.
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Leutnant d R Viktor Schobinger by Ivan Berryman.
The distinctive black-fuselaged Albatross D.V of Jasta 12s commander taxis out for take off behind the similar machine of Leutnant d R Friedrich Hochstetter at Roucourt, late in 1917. Whilst all of Jasta 12s aircraft possessed black tails, many of them bore their pilots personalised insignia painted large on the fuselage sides. In the case of Hochstetter, it was a stacked shot emblem, whilst others sported castles, diagonal crosses or various geometric shapes. The origin of Schobingers light blue design is unknown, but may have been applied purely for recognition purposes. His final tally was eight victories, while Hochstetter scored just one.
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Kleiner Freund - Zeppelin Staaken R.VI by Ivan Berryman.
With a wingspan of 42.2 metres, the mighty Zeppelin Staaken series of bombers were truly awesome, living up to their name Riesenflugzeug - Giant Aircraft. Unusually for this period, the crew compartment of the R VI was fully enclosed and the bomb load was carried internally. The four engines were mounted in tandem pairs, two pushing and two pulling, which eliminated the need for complex gearing, and the flight engineers sat in cockpits in the engine nacelles. This example is shown limping home, its rear port engine stopped and smoking, escorted by its Little Friend, an Albatros D.V. The painting shows the Staaken bomber is quite badly shot up. There are bullet holes all over the port wings, tailplane and rudder, as well as the engine trailing smoke from a small oil fire in the nacelle, which the engineer is keeping an eye on.
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Aviation Art 
Albatros D.V
