The First War Prize; the Australian War Memorial's Albatros D Va
In this update I have added the Australian War Memorial's (AWM) rare and significant Albatros D Va to the site. Rare because it is one of only two surviving original Albatros D Vas, the other being in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, USA. Significant because it was the first of its type to be captured during the war by the British and it was the first Australian aerial war prize on the Western Front. 24 year old Leutnant Rudolf Clauss of Jasta 29 was flying Albatros D.5390/17 on 17 December 1917 when, a part of a brace of Albatros fighters, he dived upon an R.E.8 reconnaissance machine over Flanders. Turning inward toward the attackers, the R.E.8's observer fired at the fighters; a bullet penetrated D.5390's fuel tank and entered Clauss' upper thigh. Bleeding profusely, Clauss managed to land his aeroplane intact inside enemy lines near the 21st Battalion of the 2nd Australian Division and was captured almost immediately. Clauss survived the encounter and later donated the bullet that entered his leg to the AWM. The importance of this Albatros war trophy was realised fairly quickly and it was shipped to Britain, where it was given the enemy aircraft serial G'101 and evaluated to ascertain its flying characteristics. Owing to the Australian connection to the machine, permission was given for it to be acquired by the AWM - not only was Lt Clauss and the machine captured by Aussies, the R.E.8's pilot and gunner, both of whom sadly died during the encounter, were Australian. Sydney born Gallipoli veteran Lieutenant J.Lionel Sandy, or 'Old Sandy' as he was nicknamed due to his advanced age of 32 years for a front line RFC pilot, and Sergeant Henry Hughes of Melbourne and their R.E.8 failed to return, but their bodies, still seated in their intact aeroplane were discovered near St Pol, after the machine had run out of fuel and landed, carrying its dead passengers and ground looped to a halt. Its only fitting then, that this Prix de Guerre make the journey to Australia to be displayed in the AWM - because of the barriers surrounding the aeroplane, I couldn't get too close, but click on the image to see D.5390/17's walkaround page.
