Germany - 1918 Pfalz D.IIIa

A Red Breasted War Bird from Raben Staffel

Pfalz D.IIIa - 1918

I have been wanting to work up this particular profile. I had previously drawn the Fokker D.VII flown by the same pilot later in the war. I finally dove in and made this during the evening. The profile is of the Pfalz D.IIIa flown by Ltn Hans Muller while serving in Jasta.18 during 1918.

The Pfalz D.III was a fighter aircraft used by the Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Air Service) during the First World War. The D.III was the first major original design from Pfalz Flugzeugwerke. Though generally considered inferior to contemporary Albatros and Fokker fighters, the D.III was widely used by the Jagdstaffeln from the fall of 1917 through the summer of 1918. It continued to serve as a training aircraft until the end of the war.

References

1. "Pfalz D.III", From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfalz_D.III
2. Gray, Peter and Owen Thetford. "German Aircraft of the First World War". London: Putnam, 1962, p. 188-189. ISBN 0-93385-271-1.
3. Grosz, Peter M. "Pfalz D.IIIa" (Windsock Datafile No. 2l). Berkhamsted, Herts, UK: Albatros Publications, 1995, p. 2, pp. 7-9. ISBN 0-94841-425-1.
4. Guttman, Jon. "Balloon-Busting Aces of World War 1" (Aircraft of the Aces No. 66). Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2005, p. 9. ISBN 1-84176-877-4.
5. Herris, Jack. "Pfalz Aircraft of World War I" (Great War Aircraft in Profile, Volume 4). Boulder, Colorado: Flying Machine Press, 2001, p. 10, pp. 27-30, pp. 61-62, p. 154. ISBN 1-891268-15-5.
6. Van Wyngarden, Greg. "Pfalz Scout Aces of World War I" (Aircraft of the Aces No. 71). Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2006, pp. 18-19, pp. 45-46, pp. 50, 62, p. 77. ISBN 1-84176-998-3.