Indeed Clint
Much more info would be very desirable.
When it comes to civil vs military during WW 1 I admit I have no good evidence except a gut feeling that everything which could remotely be connected to the war effort immediately became of prime interest to the "Generals".
Exactly how this finacially came about is unknown by me. I have not studied economy and finance (I have enough trouble with my own
) and never will.
What I can say with certainty is that every aircraft manufacturer became basically overnight very dependent on the Government aka military leadership and most likely followed whatever instructions were issued to the point.
Most likely the ownership remained unchanged in all/most companies, since there cannot have been any use to change anything unless pure incompetence/fraud was discovered.
Most likely there was a far better control than before from the authorities and it would surprise me a lot if there wasn't assigned liasion officers as a sort of go-between, since I would say it would have been very beneficial for both parties to do so.
As a means of recognition, all aircraft which were flyable were most likely impressed in one way or another (or at least grounded). They were also painted with military crosses and recognised as a military asset.
I cannot picture a situation where civil pilots, aircraft owners, aircraft manufacturers etc were left on their own accord and allowed to do whatever they pleased, especially not in Germany! All this lead up to the conclusion, that there must have been a general shifting of authority from pure civil in concept to at least a 50/50 civil/military control (Personally I believe even more in favour to the military side).
As long as the civil co-operation worked, I don't think anyone, regardless of position, felt any need for any changes. Big capital and Generals are usually on the same side both in war and peace....
No, it is the odd military markings which interests me. Did these manufacturers training facilities use aircraft outside the military Bestellnummer sequences or not? If they didn't, how do we explain these odd photos and numbers painted on them?
So far my theory is they did, but I will admit defeat as soon as someone can come up with a better one....
Cheers
Stig