Out with their lady friends and donkeys

[Tony]

I'm not too clued up on German awards but think this bloke is wearing a Bavarian badge. Is it a pilots badge or a badge that most officers whether desk bound or not would have received for service in the airforce.

Tony

Edited December 17, 2009 by Tony

[Chris Boonzaier]

Some ladies make donkeys look soooo much prettier...... :-)

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

an observer... so not to desk bound...

[Tony]

Some ladies make donkeys look soooo much prettier...... :-)

I think the one on the right is a bloke trying to avoid war service

Just noticed the Observer isn't wearing his EKII ribbon.

Tony

[Chris Boonzaier]

Just noticed the Observer isn't wearing his EKII ribbon.

Tony

I wonder what he has on the right side of the tunic? It looks like a breast badge...

[Tony]

I wonder what he has on the right side of the tunic? It looks like a breast badge...

Yeah I'm not sure if it's a badge or a mark on the photo. I thought there was some kind of badge on his left sleeve too but after the photo arrived I decided it must be just a blemish on the photo.

[Schießplatzmeister]

I think the one on the right is a bloke trying to avoid war service

Just noticed the Observer isn't wearing his EKII ribbon.

Tony

Hello:

No avoiding war service here. This fellow is a highly decorated combat veteran. He is wearing an EKI. The reason his EKII ribbon isn't visible is because it was not possible to wear buttonhole ribbons on this particular type of tunic. The award on his right side looks like an Austrian air force qualification badge of some sort.

The "observer" badge is for obsevation from a two-seater plane. This was a very dangerous job. These Officers usually located and marked enemy targets on a map, or took photos of ground targets. When such a plane was attacked, they also had to utilize whatever rear-facing weapons systems the plane had to keep the enemy plane away (or shoot it down if possible).

I can't tell if the Observer's qualification badge is Bavarian or Prussian due to the resolution of the photo.

Best regards,

"SPM"

[Chris Boonzaier]

I think he means the "bloke" on the right donkey... ;-)

[Deruelle]

Hi,

Your Observer Officer seems to be a Saxon officer ( look the porteppe !)

Christophe

[Naxos]

I think he means the "bloke" on the right donkey... ;-)

That is Corporal Max Klinger on the poor little animal.

[Luke]

Hi Christophe - the portepee seems to be a generic officer's sword portepee strapped onto a bayonet. It may well be Saxon, but could pretty much be any of the other states as well (except Bavarian).

Is that a spot on the photo or does the Observer have a patch on his left arm? Kind of like the one on the Flieger tunic on Kaiser's Bunker.

Luc

[Tony]

Thanks for all the replies, especially the ID of Cpl. Max Klinger

I'll try to have a better look at the photo with a magnifying glass today but due to its quality, I don't think higher resolution scans will help.

Tony

[dond]

I wonder if the old bag in the middle is the chaparone to ensure no unofficial poling occurs..........

[Chris Boonzaier]

I wonder if the old bag in the middle is the chaparone to ensure no unofficial poling occurs..........

May just be a matter of taste... but I found her to be cutest of the lot?

[dond]

Perhaps for you Chris, but by the standards of the day I would say the chubby one on the left is the real catch of that trio. Can probably drop a litter and not miss a beat of house/farm work.

[Tony]

I wonder if they're 3 British POWs who've escaped and have unfortunately come across a couple of German airmen who fancy their chances.

It does look like a badge on the right side of his tunic but the blob on his sleeve appears to be just that.

Tony

[Naxos]

I wonder if they're 3 British POWs who've escaped and have unfortunately come across a couple of German airmen who fancy their chances.

It does look like a badge on the right side of his tunic but the blob on his sleeve appears to be just that.

Tony

A plot for a movie Tony?

[Chip]

The oval on his sleeve appears to be a Feldflieger unit patch. It was not uncommon to see button hole ribbons worn on Blusen. They simply "pretended" there was a button hole and sewed the ribbon on to make it look like there was one. Here being worn by Ldst.Sgt.Otto Plath of the Ldst.Btl.Nr.19, XVII AK (Hessen).

Chip

Edited December 20, 2009 by Chip

[Naxos]

The oval on his sleeve appears to be a Feldflieger unit patch.

Chip

Here is an example

[Chip]

Hardy,

Thanks for showing the issue-type patch. I couldn't find the scan of mine. The officer's patterns tended to be privately made like the one in the photo and this one seems to have the abbreviation "Fl." at the beginning. I can't make out the rest. I have photos with officers both with an "Fl." and also with a winged propellar.

Chip

[Tony]

I'll be away from home for a while so will try to do a good scan of his sleeve when I get back. If I can manage to do a scan in the meantime I will.

The observer badge appears to be the kind with two white squares and two black ones. I don't know if they differed from state to state.

Tony

[Tony]

The best I can do at the moment.

Tony

[jaba1914]

The best I can do at the moment.

Tony

I think it's "Fl.A 2XX". One of the Fliegerabteilungen Artillerie 200-285.

And those were saxon units: FA A 204, 208, 226, 231, 244, 250, 255, 264, 275 and 278.

Sorry but it's impossible to identify this observer.

Regards Alex

[Luke]

Hey it was a patch after all

[Tony]

Wow Alex!

What I thought was a bog standard photo of a couple of Germans with some women(?) has turned out to be something very interesting, even though he can't be ID'd.

Thanks

Tony