Lt. Gerhard Fiesler

[Gregvan]

Hello All,

As I wrote in Fokker D.VII Anthology 2, in his autobiography "Meine Bahn am Himmel", Fieseler wrote, "Early in July [1918] two Fokker D.VIIs arrived. One of them went to Ltn. Thiede of Jasta 38, I received the other...I had my Fokker painted in a camouflage scheme which, when seen from above, looked like the color of the ground in that season. Thus I could hardly be noticed by a higher-flying enemy. The underside became as blue as the sky..." Fieseler wrote that he had a Lewis gun cobbled together from a couple of cannibalized captured examples, and had this mounted on a steel fitting attached to the longeron tubes, just forward of the cockpit. It was positioned to fire at a 45 degree angle up and forward of the machine.

Sadly, I know of no photos of this multi-gunned Fokker. Before everyone asks me for a copy of the book, let me say that all I have is a rough English translation of portions of the book, translated and edited by my late Dutch friend Harry van Dorssen.It would appear from the book and from other sources that, by September 1918, Fieseler basically WAS Jasta 25, the rest of the pilots being decimated through attrition, disease, lack of aircraft. According to Rick Duiven's records, Jasta 25's last six victories of Sept. were all scored by Fieseler.

The book is interesting however, as Fieseler gives some rather scathing comments about his comrades in Jasta 25, and even about certain famous Western Front pilots as well.

Hope that helps.

Greg VanWyngarden