Fokker DR1 Triplane Werner Steinhauser
Fokker Dr.1 564/17, Ltn Werner
Steinhauser, Jasta 11, Jagdgeschwader 1,
Cappy Aerodrome, France, 21st April 1918 –
Last combat sortie of the Red Baron
Flying one of the six Jasta 11 Fokker Dr.1 fighters
which climbed away from Cappy Aerodrome
in the mid-morning of Sunday 21st April 1918,
Werner Steinhauser was beginning to develop into
an extremely gifted aviator under the guidance of
his inspirational Commanding Officer, Manfred
von Richthofen. When he initially joined
the unit in early 1918, he only had
a solitary observation balloon victory
to his name, but now that he found
himself in the company of some of
the Luftstreitkräfte’s most gifted fighter
pilots, he began to show real skill and
poise during combat situations and
as a consequence, his victory tally
was increasing. Flying alongside
von Richthofen in his own
distinctively marked personal
Fokker Dr.1 fighter on the morning of the 21st April,
Steinhauser would be involved in the intense fighting
with the Sopwith Camels of RAF No.209 Squadron which
ultimately resulted in the death of his mentor. The famed
‘Flying Circus’ never really recovered from the loss of von
Richthofen and from this date, an ever increasing number
of Allied fighters in the air at any one time would result
in the loss of the majority of their most successful pilots.
Going on to score a further six aerial victories after this
fateful day, Werner Steinhauser would himself be shot
down and killed near Neuilly on the 26th June, just three
days before he would have celebrated his 22nd birthday
