landsknechte

Wow. Got home and realized just how odd the settings on the [shared] computer that I use at work actually are. Anyhow, let's try this one on...

#4 Better?

#3

#2

Assuming you're set for 1024 x 768, these ought to work. Let me know if you're working on an itty-bittier monitor, and I'll adjust accordingly.

On a lark, I emailed the Bavarian Hauptstaatsarchiv to see if they had anything on the owner of an ID'ed ribbon bar in my collection. Rather unexpectedly, this letter arrived in the mail: Along with it is a wealth of information. Unfortunately, I can barely make any of it out. My German is bad enough, and then you toss in some Sutterlin, and I'm completely useless: #1 #2 #3 #4 Could anyone be so kind as to help me make heads or tails of this? Thanks, --Chris

For some reason, Adalbert Freiherr von Berchem was a heck of a lot easier to track down. He's the one with the bandage on his head. (Somewhere on my hard drive, I've got a better pic. Still looking.)

Finally, a face to go with the item.

...and now in today's mail, an envelope arrived from Bavaria that makes me a tremendously happy camper:

...and I was happy. It isn't every day that you can find a book written by the original owner of an item in your collection.

In time, I found a lot of rather random information about the man. Found the coat of arms. Found a photo of the son that died commanding a Gebirgsjaeger company. Found out what high school he went to, of all things... He survived both world wars eventually ending up as a Major a.D. in the Luftwaffe, and later went on to publish a book about his time in the 7th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment. With a lot of luck, I was able to track down a copy of that:

Reinhard Kastner was able to provide quite a bit of detail on the history, ultimately providing the final clue that led to the ID. There was a handful of flyers that had the HHOX and the MVO4XmKr, but only one that had Hamburg Hanseatenkreuz. 02.05.1890 in Schalkhausen Leutnant im 7.FAR 27.05.1915 bay. Feldflieger Abteilung 1 kommandiert 03.06.1915 " " " " versetzt 16.03.1916 Oberleutnant 23.01.1917 bay. Flieger Ersatz Abteilung 1 Schlei?heim 30.01.1917 F.T. Kurs Neuruppin kommandiert 17.02.1917 Beobachterkurs Warschau kommandiert 02.03.1917 bay. Fliegerabteilung (A) 295 versetzt 29.07.1917 F?hrer der Fliegerfunkerschule 05.01.1918 F?hrer der bayer. Schutzstaffel 24 11.04.1918 Armee Flug Park 6 versetzt und zum Kofl 6 kommandiert 09.10.1918 bay. Flieger Ersatz Abteilung 1 Schlei?heim versetzt 00.11.1918 zur FAR zur?ckverstzt 12.12.1911 Prinzregent Luitpold Medaille 15.08.1914 bMVO 4b 22.07.1915 Beobachterabzeichen 10.01.1917 bMVO 4 mit Krone 20.11.1914 EK 2 14.03.1916 EK 1 30.04.1918 Hamburger Hanseaten Kreuz 16.07.1918 Hausorden vom Hohenzollern

Just a hair over two years ago, this all started. I bought a ribbon bar from Stogierick that was identifiable through the hard work of Rick Research and a little bit of luck (and a lot of "Googling") on my part. (Here shown with the original Astroturf backdrop for old time's sake.) Meet Freiherr von Berchem:

Heck, if it weren't for the aircraft landing next to it with the big red star, I wouldn't have even guessed Soviet. All I knew at the time was that it certainly stood out from the Cessnas.

Wow! A pirate motif!

Not a lot... There was a very well marked Yak-9 out there that day as well. Personally, I haven't had much luck. The surplus stores around the area are always picked clean of the good stuff when I get there. About all I can find is the occasional old twin-seat trainer aircraft. Someone has got to be cherry-picking for a friend, or something. The commute to my old office had me passing right underneath the approach to the runway for San Jose International Airport. Very close to the airport. Count rivets from your sunroof close. Once in a blue moon, there'd be some odd aircraft coming in, amongst them a MiG-17 and an An-124. The MiG was downright surreal, especially since I was running on a caffeine deficit early in the morning. I felt the An-124 pass overhead. That is one LARGE friggin' aircraft, especially when you're in a Ford Escort.

I've never really been that up on Soviet Aircraft, but now I'm even more confused. I looked up the tail number, and apparently it's a Yak-3U. http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NN...Numbertxt=46463 This is what I was going from when I thought Yak-11:

This was parked at a small private airport I passed on the way in to work this afternoon. It's a YAK-11 variant, right?

A couple more shots.

Just came across this picture of a Bavarian medal that I've never seen before. Anyone familiar with this one?

This one is just plain abstract...

Almost looks like an upsidedown trapezoid bar that the medals are attached to...

Woot.

Do you have a photo of the bar?