Fokker DR1 Triplane Werner Steinhauser

Steinhauser, Jasta 11, Jagdgeschwader 1, Cappy Aerodrome, France, 21st April 1918 - Last combat sortie of the Red Baron Flying one of the six Jasta 11 Fokker Dr.1 fighters which climbed away from Cappy Aerodrome in the mid-morning of Sunday 21st April 1918, Werner Steinhauser was beginning to develop into an extremely gifted aviator under the guidance of his inspirational Commanding Officer, Manfred von Richthofen. When he initially joine the unit in early 1918, he only had a solitary observation balloon victory to his name, but now that he found himself in the company of some of the Luftstreitkräfte’s most gifted fighter pilots, he began to show real skill and poise during combat situations and as a consequence, his victory tally was increasing.

Flying alongside von Richthofen in his own distinctively marked personal Fokker Dr.1 fighter on the morning of the 21st April, 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 the 26th June, just three days before he would have celebrated his 22nd birthday.