Zeppelin Staaken Footage

[EricGoedkoop]

Dunno if anybody spotted this one yet or not:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

[YavorD]

Thank you, MicetrapRecords!
Thank you, Eric!
Very good close-up photography of this giant.
Regards,
Yavor

[Tom L.]

I'm burdened with a dial-up connection, so videos are problematic to the point of being impossible - is this the footage of civilians boarding an R.XV, and then it taking off?

[jamo]

It shows the nacelle, rudders and elevator moving back and forth, and crewmen in the front opening windows and leaning out. It isn't very long but still fascinating to watch. It has R69 on the fuselage. Tom - maybe you could download the clip to your PC and watch it from your own hard drive?
Cheers
James

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by Tom L.

I'm burdened with a dial-up connection, so videos are problematic to the point of being impossible - is this the footage of civilians boarding an R.XV, and then it taking off?

Tom. This is the unique footage of the Staaken R.XIVa (R.69/18) seized by the Inter-Allied Control Commission on the Vienna airfield Aspern in 1919. The machine was on a return flight from the Ukraïne. The machine flew money to the Ukrainian Government (if you want to know which government in Ukraine, you have to study the history books as there were four of them).

It is reported that the machine was taken to Italy as a sort of war payment, but not the merest trace has been found (till now) as far as I know.


Still from the film showing clearly the registration R.69/18.

By the way I have never seen the footage of the Staaken R.XV you described. Can you give a glue were I can find that one ?

Kees

[Tom L.]

Hi there Varese,

The footage I mentioned was, according to my not entirely reliable memory, of a five engined Zeppelin, in irregular polygon camouflage, with a large line of civilians boarding, and then a long shot of the aircraft taking off.
Again, if memory serves, I saw the film in The History Channel's "Four Years of Thunder" program years ago.

At the time I assumed it was an R.XV, and that assumption has stuck with me; I could quite easily be wrong.

edit! BTW, thanks for the description info Jamo and Varese!
I went ahead and tried to watch the video despite my connection; it loaded and played within just a few minutes. Yay 1990's connection!

[Varese2002]

Tom,

It seems doubtful that one of the three Staaken R.XV machines (5-engined) which were built were on that footage.
R.47/17 was shipped to Japan and R.48/17 was found destroyed in the Staaken factory by the Inter-Allied Control Commission in 1919. Pieces of that one were sent to England (Isle of Grain) for study.
Leaving onl;y the first machine (R.46/17) as a possibility.

Incidentally there was one Staaken R.VI (4-engined though) R.30/16 which was used for civil work with the name "Fletcher's World" in big letters at the side. The machine particpated in one movie, the name of one I do not remember now, but I can search for it. I remember that it was a short piece of footage in that film. Give me some time to find it.

Kees

[Tom L.]

The info in Roden's instructions sheet for their R.VI kit gives the film title as "Mistress of the World".

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by Tom L.

The info in Roden's instructions sheet for their R.VI kit gives the film title as "Mistress of the World".

Tom, you are right. The Mistress of the World or in German Die Herrin der Welt , a mute film of 1919 vintage. You can find some pictures of the film and the (I think) improbable story here.

Fletcher was the name of a newspaper tycoon, and the Staaken R.VI was in the unique role of saving the star of the film (Mia May) from out of Africa.

The name of the fictional newspaper was painted in big letters on the fuselage.



Interesting to see the footage of this film where the Staaken R.VI appears. Would be delighted to see them.

Kees

[Zeppelin]

Thank you Eric, that was very cool!

Just how rare is footage of the big WW1 Bombers?

Best regards,
Zeppelin