Werner Steinhauser was beginning to develop into an extremely gifted aviator under the guidance of his inspirational Commanding Officer, Manfred von Richthofen, when he took off with the Flying Circus on the morning of April 21st, 1917. When he initially joined the unit earlier that year, he had only a solitary observation balloon victory to his credit. Now that he found himself in the company of some of the Luftstreitkrafte’s most gifted fighter pilots, he began to show real skill and poise during combat situations and as a consequence, his victory tally began increasing.
Flying alongside von Richthofen in his own distinctively marked personal Fokker Dr.1 fighter on the morning of April 21st, 1917, Steinhauser would be involved in the intense fighting with the Sopwith Camels of RAF No.209 Squadron, which ultimately resulted in the death of his mentor. The famed ‘Flying Circus’ never really recovered from the loss of von Richthofen and from this date, an ever increasing number of Allied fighters in the air at any one time would result in the loss of the majority of their most successful pilots. Going on to score a further six aerial victories after this fateful day, Werner Steinhauser would himself be shot down and killed near Neuilly on June 26th, just three days before he would have celebrated his 22nd birthday.
At 10am on April 21st, 1918, six Fokker Dr.1 fighter aircraft of Jasta 11 took off from Cappy aerodrome to embark on an offensive patrol over the Somme Valley region. Led by their inspirational commander, Manfred von Richthofen, this was an elite unit where only the finest fighter pilots were invited to join the squadron – the ‘Best of the Best’. Hans Weiss has joined Jasta 11 with a reputation as being something of a balloon specialist, but by this date, he was credited with an impressive ten combat victories.As the formation approached Le Hamel, they spotted a pair of Allied reconnaissance aircraft over the town and dived in to attack.
As the battle commenced, an unseen flight of Sopwith Camels joined the melee to protect the reconnaissance aircraft and just minutes later, the infamous reign of the Red Baron would be over. The distinctive white colored Fokker Dr.1 flown by Weiss had been hit by return fire from the British reconnaissance aircraft, severing one of his rudder cables and forcing an immediate return to Cappy. Nursing his damaged aircraft back to his home airfield, Weiss would live to fight another day, however, his Commanding Officer would not be quite so lucky.
Weiss would later command Jasta 11 himself, but only for a three week period, before he also fell in combat, the victim of Canadian ace Merrill Taylor.
Both triplanes are now winging their way to us from the Corgi Aerodrome and should be ready to seek vengeance for the death of the Red Baron by the third week of June.