Adlershof Luftfahrzeug Ges Aerial view Military Werft

Seeflieger · 18 November 2016, 02:12 AM

Good morning,
today I present an aerial view, shot in 1916 but before September, of the south-east side of the Johannisthal-Adlerhof airfield in Berlin, Germany´s 2nd oldest airfield. The purpose of the photo was to document the facilities of the "Prüfanstalt und Werft der Fliegertruppen" which you see at the bottom of the photo (presumably) with the planes in front of it. In the upper left-hand corner you see the buildings of the "Luftfahrzeug-Gesellschaft mbH", which was founded in 1908 in Berlin with the participation of AEG, Krupp and the Motorluftschiff-Studiengesellschaft in Bitterfeld. In 1913 production switched to Berlin. They build four Parzeval-Luftschiffe for the German Army as well as Albatros planes under licence. Their own design (among others) was the scout plane Roland CII and the Jäger Roland D II. In September of 1916 some of the buildings on the picture were destroyed by fire; some planes and prefabricated parts of planes fell victim to the flames. The photo was developed at the Bildstelle of the "Prüfanstalt und Werft der Fliegertruppen". Comparisons with other aerial views of the area show the rapid changes and building progress made around the airfield during WW1.

Seeflieger · 18 November 2016, 03:32 PM

Hi,
as people seem to like this thread

here as promised the next photo:
It shows the burning ruins of some of the buildings of the LFG next to the Adlershof airfield on 6th Sept. 1916. According to contemporary sources no lifes were lost, alas six planes and ten fuselages were destroyed by fire which was supposedly caused by negligence. What I only realized at second glance is, that the photo seems to have been taken by an aerial photo camera as indicated by the dial showing the altitude. According to it, the plane must have been very low indeed or they just took the camera and photographed from atop a high building (which is what I think). What do you think?
Seeflieger

Ransom E. Olds · 19 November 2016, 04:21 PM

Seeflieger: I find the photos fascinating, but need some orientation. With respect to the buildings seen in the first photo where would the large airship hangar be located? I'm speaking, of course, of the large hangar seen at a distance across the field from the flight line in so many photos. Thanks! Ransom

Seeflieger · 20 November 2016, 03:21 AM

Hi Ransom, hello all!
It is a bit tricky to explain not only because I don´t have a map of that time, but the substantial building activity was altering the scene during that time quite a bit as well. On the other hand fires demolished a few buildings also, like the smaller of the two hangars, that was destroyed by fire in 1915, so that, after that date, only the large hangar remained. This is way I thought a little map might be helpful.
Unfortunately I am not very good at penciling maps in photoshop, but I tried my best

. I have included todays street-names for better orientation. You´ll see the hangars in the north, next to the grandstand and the buildings of the LVG who used the hangar for airships manufactured by the LFG, which buildings were situated in the south-east (Rudower Chausse). Since about 1911 the LVG and LFG had corporate ties and were if not basically one company, at least partners. The Prüfstelle and Werft of the Luftstreitkräfte were at a right angle to the LFG not far from the railwaystation Adlershof.
On the other side of the tracks at Moltkestrasse (today Anna-Seghers-Str.) was the Bildabteilung of the Prüfstelle and Werft der Fliegertruppen, where quite a few people with a background in photography and the moving image tried to come up with new ideas of manufacturing and adapting camera-equippment for use in military aerial photography. It also performed, of course, the normal duties of a Bildabteilung, i.e. developing and printing aerial photographs etc. It is not on the photos posted, though I will post an aerial view and a ground view as well as other photos from that unit later.
Seeflieger

Seeflieger · 20 November 2016, 06:18 AM

Hi,
to round it off for today here another aerial view taken by a Leutnant Stier in 1916 that shows part of Adlershof, its trainstation and for me most importantly, the vicinity of the Bildabteilung der Prüfstelle und Werft der Fliegertruppen at Moltkestrasse. More of that sometime next week.
Does anybody have any Information with regard to this unit?
Seeflieger

Ransom E. Olds · 20 November 2016, 04:19 PM

Seeflieger: Thanks so much for your map and useful comments. I had spent a good deal of time and effort trying to grasp the layout of this historical airfield with very little success. Will look forward to your future posts. Ransom

CjBobrow · 20 November 2016, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seeflieger

Good morning,
today I present an aerial view, shot in 1916 but before September, of the south-east side of the Johannisthal-Adlerhof airfield in Berlin, Germany´s 2nd oldest airfield...etc..

Anyone who might be interested... look at Google maps link...https://goo.gl/qeoID0

you'll notice the distinctive curve in the road is still there...

Seeflieger · 20 November 2016, 05:03 PM

Hi Carl, hi Ransom.
I like the then/now comparison. I was not sure how policies are in this forum with photos that one does not hold the copyright of, that´s why I tried to scribble the map

.
Glad I could help, Ransom. The history of this airfield is completely new to me and I find it utterly interesting. Funny enough, that the guy who originally owned and in most cases even took these pictures worked at Germany´s oldest airfield as member of FEA9 in Darmstadt.
Seeflieger

CjBobrow · 21 November 2016, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seeflieger

Hi Carl, hi Ransom.
I like the then/now comparison. I was not sure how policies are in this forum with photos that one does not hold the copyright of, that´s why I tried to scribble the map

.
Glad I could help, Ransom. The history of this airfield is completely new to me and I find it utterly interesting. Funny enough, that the guy who originally owned and in most cases even took these pictures worked at Germany´s oldest airfield as member of FEA9 in Darmstadt.
Seeflieger

With regards to copyright? I'm not sure what your concerns are but their is the Fair Use Act... In which case since you are not representing nor attempting to profit from the image as well as providing it for historical and educational use it would fall under Fair Use...

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview...t-is-fair-use/

Seeflieger · 21 November 2016, 09:22 AM

Ah, interesting.
It doesn´t work that way in Germany.
Seeflieger