Germany Jasta 10 Pfalz D.III

Jasta 10 and the Pfalz D.III

Pfalz Flugzeugwerke was established by the three Everbusch brothers to build French designed aircraft under license for the Bavarian government. Prior to the Great War Pfalz Flugzeugwerke acquired the rights to build to various Morane-Saulnier designs and later designs from Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft G.m.b.H. (Roland). Using the knowledge gained from building aircraft designed by other companies they began to build aircraft from their own designs in late 1916.

Pfalz was introduced to the construction of wooden fuselages building Roland D.IIs under license. This sturdy but heavy construction signature feature on all their subsequent designs. Their first attempt at building an original design resulted in the Pfalz D.III. Many people consider it to be one of the most beautiful aircraft flown during the First World War.

The presence of German states which had been independent before the empire led to competition between the states. Since Pfalz was a Bavarian enterprise most of their production output went to Jasta with a high percentage of Bavarian pilots. This is one of the reasons you see them concentrated in several Jastas. One of the most notable was Jasta 10.

Pfalz D.III Jasta 10 Ltn. Hans Klein - 1917

The distinctive chrome yellow nose sections mark this as an aircraft from Jasta 10 before the spring of 1918. The main fuselage is painted with a varnish containing aluminum powder, giving it a silvery shine. The wing surfaces were all covered in the aluminum varnish with white bordered iron crosses on the upper wing top, and borderless iron crosses on the bottom surface of the lower wing.The wing struts landing gear struts, wheel cover and tail section are painted in chrome yellow. The yellow stripe was used by Ltn. Hans Klein.

Pfalz D.III Jasta10 Vzfw. Adam Barth - 1917

The Pfalz D.III flown by Vzfw. Adam Barth once again has the basic theme for the Jasta combined with his distinctive "Dumbell" design he used on several aircraft. The tail section is different than the first example the aft fuselage and rudder is divided into two yellow stripes.

Pfalz D.III Jasta 10 Pilot and serial number unknown - 1917

Unfortunately we do not know what the serial numbers or pilot were for this pre 1918 Pfalz D.III. This example shows some of the variations used in the basic paint scheme. The nose section has a larger yellow area and the tail section is done so it terminates at an angle. The struts and wheel covers are painted in the aluminum. varnish mix.