Roth

[leo]

It would seem that the leading balloon buster for the Germans was a flyer named Oblt. Friederich Ritter von Roth who brought down 20. He destroyed 5 in one day, May 29, 1918. I had always thought Gontermann with 15 was the leader.

Leo, Roth was a member of von Schleich's unit and was a good friend of the Hauptman's. I have seen him described as a fearless sort who at first had great difficulty hitting the side of a barn with his guns. Apparently despondent over the defeat of Germany, he committed suicide on new years day 1919.

[rammjaeger]

Hi Leo,

Gontermann is even recorded with 17 victories here. I guess you were reading some reports about Gontermann which mentioned that he was German balloon buster #1 when he died in this accident 1917. Ritter von Röth was quotated with saying that he was starting to hunt balloons because he was not able to hit the more little airplanes. The German number 3 - Schlegel (14 balloons) - is even not known in his birthtown and missing on the war memorial of the town. He achieved his successes simply too late to get any recognition.

VBR

Hannes

[leo]

If I were a flyer in WWI, I would have had to go after airships. I am unable to hit a bull in the fanny with a banjo. Did the Italians and Russians have airships?

[rammjaeger]

Leo,

Italians and Russians had airships. My reprint of the "Taschenbuch der Luftflotten 1914, vol.2 Luftschiffe" shows also the existence of "Kriegs-Luftschiffen" in Japan, Austria-Hungaria, Netherlands, Spain, Ottoman Empire, USA.

I saw some time ago a coloured German propaganda postcard showing a "fight" between a (maybe THE?) DUTCH airship and a British airship! Maybe Reinout knows more about this incident (if thru).

[mike_baram]

Leo,
Unfortunately those airships had machine guns up the wazoo...any angle you came in at you'd come under defensive fire.
But you could do something about the gasbags in Washington. We would all be in your debt.
Slainte,
Mike

It's the "ö" umlaut of the German language. It is a fact, with is not to be neglected - in serious research work.

[leo]

I ain't got no Umlauts on my computer. Mother Russia won't let me have none.

[Reinout]

Sorry hannes, I have knowledge on that incident.

Somwhere during his career, Friedrich Ritter von Röth managed to finetune his aiming to such an extent that he also accounted for 8 airplanes.

Kind regards,

Reinout

[rammjaeger]

O.K. Reinout,

I will try to buy this postcard during the next days and send you a scanned picture. Maybe you can find out something about a new glorious chapter of the Dutch Air Force!

The single airship vs airship-fight of the war?

VBR

Hannes