Hunting the Lattice Tails
oil on canvas, 18.75" x 28.75"

Private collection

Hunting the Lattice Tails is a depiction of Kurt Wintgens' 15th victory on Sept. 14, 1916, in which he downed what was described as a "pusher". Very little information exists regarding this particular encounter, but we do know that Wintgens, who is normally associated with the Fokker Eindecker types, was flying a Halberstadt DII that particular day. Here, as Wintgens' begins his attack on the nearby FE2, an escorting DH2 in the distance turns to defend his comrade. Either type may have been Wintgens' victim that day as both types fell into the category of "Gitterrumpf", or "lattice tail".

An early German design, the Halberstadt D series aircraft were innovative for their time, bridging the gap between the early Fokker monoplanes and the later, more successful Albatros D-types. The Halberstadt D.II was a maneuverable aircraft widely used on the Western Front in late 1916 and early 1917. Many well known German aces, such as Voss and Richthofen flew Halberstadt fighters at some point in their careers.

Details of Hunting the Lattice Tails
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The Galleries / World War 1 Originals