19
$\begingroup$

I purchased a wooden box of glass and nitrate negatives at a flea market in Berlin Germany in 1995. There are about a dozen more in the lot with planes in them.

This image has never been published to my knowledge.

Any ideas on the plane or the pilot?

Black and white photo of man standing in front of a biplane

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
3
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ This image seems to be reversed left-to-right. $\endgroup$
    – A. I. Breveleri
    Commented Feb 7 at 8:12
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Yes it is, I had to choose between the emulsion side and the other - not knowing which is correct. $\endgroup$
    – Greg Parker
    Commented Feb 7 at 15:55
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ You can see it's reversed because of the cut of his coat: the left side always comes over the right for men. $\endgroup$
    – Party Ark
    Commented Feb 8 at 17:50

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
29
$\begingroup$

About the airplane: It looks like a Fokker D.II.

About the engine: it definitely looks like a Oberursel_U.I.

About the pilot: thanks to @PortreeKid we know him to be the test pilot Werner Emil. We speculate that he doesn't look happy since he is missing a button on his jacket 😄

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
15
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ The missing button is the reason for his unhappiness :) $\endgroup$
    – U_flow
    Commented Feb 7 at 11:14
  • 14
    $\begingroup$ fokker-history.com/en-gb/d-ii#&gid=1175965900&pid=17 Emil Werner also seems to be unhappy about a missing button. $\endgroup$
    – Portree Kid
    Commented Feb 7 at 13:28
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @sophit yes but faaaaar better quality. Presumably same series and this one is a close up $\endgroup$
    – Portree Kid
    Commented Feb 7 at 14:06
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ It seems to be Emil Werner, not Werner Emil, right? (The problem being that both "Werner" and "Emil" are German first names, but of course either one could be the family name here. The answer has it the other way around than the link.) $\endgroup$
    – Stephan Kolassa
    Commented Feb 7 at 17:45
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ @PortreeKid it seems to me that this is not the same series, but literally the same photo. If you overlay them in an image editor, they are identical to the last crease on the uniform, and the face doesn't move the tiniest bit. Negatives may be duplicated (and maybe flipped in process?), so it's likely that the OP got a copy. $\endgroup$
    – IMil
    Commented Feb 8 at 0:00

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .