Austria-Hungary Austrian or italian Luftwaffe

[Robert Noss]

Any more informations possible on this one:

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[Robert Noss]

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This writing says: Italienischer Flieger

So - Italian airplane ( or italian pilot ? )

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[Robert Noss]

Another close-up of the pilot:

Kind regards

Robert

[eitze]

Hello Robert,

you have a nice picture of an Italian plane, which was probably forced to land by the Austrians.

It is some type of a Savoia-Pomilio reconnaissance and bomber aircraft built in Italy during WW-1.

Here you see a painting of a SP 3 by Robert C. Karr.

greetings

eitze

[Guest Rick Research]

The soldiers are all Austrians. The fellow up in the plane is wearing trifold ribboned medals.

[Josef Rietveld]

IMHO the Offizierstellvertreter on board is Josef Kiss (hungarian Ittebei ?s Elem?ri Kiss J?zsef; * 26. Januar 1896 Pozsony (Now Slovakia) , ? 24. Mai 1918).

Kiss (19 confirmed victories) was shot down by the Canadian Gerald Birks. He was attached to Flik55J (Fliegerkompanie) called Kaiserstaffel.

Kiss was the ONLY member of the Luftfahrtruppen (air service) who was posthumously promoted to officers rank (Lieutenant).

josef

[eitze]

If it is Josef Kiss, Norman Franks book "Above the War Fronts" states, that he has shot down 3 Savoia-Pomilio planes:

6. kill - 13.07.1917

11. kill - 18.11.1917

15. kill - 07.12.1917

Unfortunately no further info, if one of them was forced to land.

greetings

eitze

[Robert Noss]

Thanks a lot for the infos.

I think it is him, not only the face is recognizable, but also tunic, goggles, medals, collar patches.

And the fact that he has shot down 3 of these planes, I would say that's 98 % !

Good work. Thanks.

Robert

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

I can confirm, without any doubt, that the Austrian pilot on board of the Savoia Pomilio plane is Josef Kiss.

He was stationed at the Pergine Airport (what remains of that place is a few km far from my home, but I'm way too young to have known him...). In Pergine, the memory of that young war hero is still vivid. He was shot down and died over Lamon (province of Belluno), on May, 24th 1918.

Best wishes,

Enzo (Elmar Lang)