PERSONALITY GROUPING FOR HAUPTMANN WILHELM REINHARD - THE SECOND COMMANDER OF JG 1

This is exactly what happened to Wilhelm Reinhard as after his recovery  he was sent to a Feld-Fleiger-Abteilung and was initially trained as an observer. Following this he was then began piloting observation airplanes. Ultimately he was trained to fly a single seat pursuit airplane. Following his training he then went to Jasta 11, which was to become Manfred von Richthofen’s squadron as he had arrived in late 1916 prior to the appointment of von Richthofen as Jasta commander. There must have been something special which the Red Baron saw in him as Jasta 11 was an under performing unit and von Richthofen cleared out those pilots who did not meet his high standards. Reinhard began to produce and he ultimately commanded both Jasta 11 and 6 under the Rittmeister. Von Richthofen was killed on 21 April 1918. The day after Reinhard who was already a Hauptmann was made the second commander of JG 1. His command did not last long. He would be killed in a flying accident in June 1918 testing a new airplane in Berlin that Hermann Göring had just flown which was a Dornier-Zeppelin D I an unusual airplane as it was the first all metal airplane to be produced. This aircraft was a joint creation between Dornier (Who also built airplanes for the Luftwaffe during World War II) and the Zeppelin company at their facility. While fifty were ordered just months before the war they never entered service and only seven were actually produced.

One example of each airplane was procured by the U.S. Army and Navy to see the unique methods of it’s construction as opposed to using canvas. As Reinhard had the requisite twenty victories, his name had been put forward for the Orden Pour le Mérite, but with his death that process was halted as the Pour le Mérite was only awarded to living officers. Interestingly the pilot who flew the aircraft prior to the fatal crash of Reinhard was made the third and final commander of JG 1 none other than Hermann Göring who had received his Pour le Mérite in May 1918 while commanding Jasta 27 before his transfer to command JG 1. While Göring would command JG 1 from June to November 1918 he did not have another victory before the end of the war.

 

This sets the stage for a really important historical grouping which has many of the personal effects of Hauptmann Wilhelm Reinhard. Also included are two excellent books which highlight both Manfred von Richthofen, the Fokker Dr 1 Triplane, and Wilhelm Reinhard. They were both flying mates and personal friends or von Richthofen would not have invited Reinhard to the family estate in Silesia which he did on more than one occasion.

To begin there are three artifacts that are housed in a custom designed presentation case. This case is red leatherette. There is some expected scuffing which we explain as “honest wear or age”. Upon opening the case we note that the upper lid is white silk with a diagonal 1914 Iron Cross Ribbon in the upper left corner. This silk ribbon is of the Prinzengroße, or Prince sized ribbon as opposed to a full size ribbon and which was used on a smaller 1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class. The bottom of the case is black velvet and has three separate cut out areas for the artifacts which fit snugly in their places for this magnificent grouping. We shall begin from left to right in describing the contents.

*1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class without ribbon.
The condition is excellent with a wonderful toning to the silver portion of the Cross. The paint on both the obverse and reverse is exceptional. There is a bit of toning on the front arms which come from one hundred plus years of age. The paint is 100% complete and there is not a whisper of rust. On the loop of the Cross, we see the hallmark for Friedlander (Fr). This was a well known Berlin jeweler which was founded in 1819 and three generations continued to run the firm. Besides being one of the oldest jewelers who made a wide variety of silver pieces they were in fact one of the official house jewelers to Kaiser Wilhelm II and other German royalty not to mention the more important orders of the and decorations of the Empire including the Orden Pour le Mérite.

* Prussian Army Pilot Badge.

We have held some most interesting flying badges in our hands over the years but this example is simply over the top. To begin the condition and the detail of the obverse is most impressive, extraordinary is a far better term . We direct you in particular to the Hohenzollern crown. The detail to the airplane as it passes over the countryside on the obverse is well worth noting as well. To the entire obverse of the badge there is a lovely patina.

Now let us look at the reverse as this is what makes the badge SO special. First the badge is a plain back variety as opposed to a rayback and it comes from the workshops of C.E. Juncker in Berlin. Besides flight badges, C.E. Juncker was known for producing helmets, spikes, and Eagles for the Regiment der Garde du Corps. This firm was in fact a military effects operation which sold all manner of military gear. It was not merely meant for officers as NCO’s, Enlisted Men, and One Year Volunteers could shop there as well as their Naval comrades if they had the necessary funds. Besides this hallmarking it has all the correct other details which confirms that this is a hollow badge and was produced from .800 silver.

Now dear readers we get into what really makes this a special pilot badge. At the very top, we see S/L which stands for “Seine/Leiben” which is indicative of an engraved gift from one officer to another and is a form of endearment and trspect. We have seen this previously mostly on Army swords and Naval swords and daggers which are of the highest quality, often fashioned from the impressive Damascus steel. It was a very elegant way to express friendship and special feelings from one officer to another. Below this we see the name “Reinhard”. Immediately below his name we see the previously mentioned information on C.E. Juncker. Finally we come to the shattering news that bears the engraved signature of Manfred von Richthofen!!! The custom then in use prohibited the use of anothers signature without the express permission of the person to whom the signature belonged. We have seen this before on other major von Richthofen items. Thus this could ONLY be a gift from Manfred von Richthofen to Wilhelm Reinhard. There are other examples of items given by von Richthofen to close friends. Items such as cigarette cases, cups, etc. The man who crafted von Richthofen’s signature was indeed a master craftsman actually a genius as Manfred von Richthofen would settle for nothing but the best especially of this magnitude of this gift. The signature in miniature is identical to the many Sanke cards that he signed over the years. Many were given to casual passing strangers who would walk up to him on the street with their Sanke card in hand and ask for his signature which he was known to always oblige. Many of the signed cards were also sold by enterprising officers of his Jasta in exchange for cheese, wine, bread, etc. For special persons von Richthofen might add a personalization and possibly date of the occasion. These we seldom see.

This was such a magnificent gift that we wonder if Reinhard ever wore it for fear of damaging it. He certainly wasn’t wearing it on the day that he died as it shows no damage whatsoever.

* 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class engraved to Reinhard.

The Iron Cross is of the flat variety, similar to the award “KO” Iron Crosses. It must be remembered that the 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class was awarded in small numbers. While the 1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class was awarded in the millions the 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class was limited to about 400,000. These were more often awarded to officers but there were exceptions where they were awarded to Enlisted Men. One of these cases was Adolf Hitler. He wore no World War II decorations during his head of the Third Reich and certainly not the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross which he could well have awarded to himself. The Iron Cross is richly engraved in the following manner.

* Lt.

* W. Reinhard

* Jagdstaffel 11

The condition of the obverse is mint. The paint is 100%. The patina to the frame is deep. The same can be said to the reverse. Even though we can detect no silver or manufacturing hallmarking the Iron Cross is clearly silver based on our observation. The engraving while quite fine was not produced by Manfred von Richthofen’s jeweler as the style is distinctly different from the engraving on the pilot Badge that von Richthofen gifted to Reinhard. The fellow who did this Iron Cross was very good mind you but not quite as good as the von Richthofen jeweler. Quite honestly, you don’t see this quality of workmanship today even with sophisticated engraving machines. There is an interesting anomaly. Reinhard was actually promoted from Leutnant to Oberleutnant in 1916 before his arrival to Jasta 11. He would also be promoted to Hauptmann in March 1918 a month before the death of von Richthofen. This in itself is a bit unusual as most commanders of Jastas were either Leutnants or Oberleutnants. Why he had used the rank of Leutnant for this Iron Cross is a bit of a mystery but it is likely that he commissioned this Iron Cross before his promotion to Oberleutnant and then it was added to the presentation case.  

* Prussian Army Pilot To expand on the information noted above let us allow further clarification. Manfred von Richthofen ordered from his jeweler in Berlin one small silver cup with the information and date of each of his victories. We have never personally seen one of these cups. For every tenth victory he ordered a larger cup. The practice of ordering cups ended some time in 1917 as silver became most important to the war effort. So there were no cups produced for his 61st through 80th victories. It is our conjecture that the pilot badge was produced sometime in mid to late 1917 while silver was still available and von Richthofen was able to order this from his Berlin jeweler along with his first sixty cups. By so doing this the jeweler was expressly authorized to engrave the von Richthofen signature on the badge to confirm the gift.

* There are also two books which accompany the cased grouping along with extensive research provided by the seller. These books are “Mother of Eagles - The War Diary of Baroness von Richthofen” by Suzanne Hayes Fischer which is a throughly researched book about war time Germany by the mother of Manfred and Lothar von Richthofen. Included is a most interesting tidbit which shows the closeness of von Richthofen and Reinhard. Also, that Reinhard had a scrap of paper which was von Richthofen’s last will and testament and specifically mentioned Reinhard and we can speculate that von Richthofen wanted to name the next commander of JG 1 in the event of his death. The second book is one of the nicely done Osprey series titled “Fokker Dr I Aces of World War I” by Norman Franks and Greg Van Wyngarden. These two authors are among the very best when it comes to World War I aviation for both the Central Powers and the Allies. Along with all the interesting information on pilots who flew the Fokker Triplane there is an interesting photograph of Reinhard and other interested bystanders beside his crash landed Fokker Triplane which suffered structural damage while he commanded Jasta 6 and was turned upside down. He was most fortunate to have survived that crash.

 

So this completes our description of this historic grouping. While we have tried to give you the best background, in this case we ask that you look at the numerous and detailed photographs that accompany this to fully appreciate this grouping.