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German soldiers examining a Navy Sopwith triplane from Royal Naval Air Service Squadron 1 brought down near Wervik Belgium September 13 1917.
Sopwith Triplane, Serial No. N5429, previously saw service with 8 Naval and 10 Naval Squadrons, before being assigned to RNAS 1 Naval Squadron at Bailleul, France.
German text on back
Light toning.
(Red text is an electronic watermark that is not physically part of the card for sale)
Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 4, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 4, was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the Luftstreitkräfte, the air arm of the Imperial German Army during World War I.
Leutnant Kurt Wüsthoff (27 January 1897 – 23 July 1926) was a German fighter ace credited with 27 listed confirmed victories during World War I. Enlisting prewar at age 16 1/2, after learning to fly during the events leading to the war's start, he was posted as a flight instructor until adjudged old enough for combat. He then flew two-seater reconnaissance craft for a year and a half during 1916 and 1917 before training as a fighter pilot in June 1917. Assigned to Jagdstaffel 4, he shot down 24 enemy airplanes and three observation balloons between 15 June 1917 and 10 March 1918. Promoted to command of his squadron on 10 January 1918, he proved immature and plagued by combat stress reaction. Relieved of his post on 16 March 1918 by Manfred von Richthofen, he returned to combat duty with Jagdstaffel 15 in June, only to be shot down and captured on the 17th. He survived the war and a long convalescence, only to die after crashing while performing aerobatics on 18 July 1926. He died of his injuries five days later.
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