Photo Albatros D.III (Oef)

[Stig Jarlevik]

Clint

This is not a photo of Navratil. It has been misidentified so many times it has become close to Gospel!

The photo is of Albatros (Oeffag) D.III 253.116 after its pilot Adolf Blaha had flown it to Switzerland. Photo date is 22 Nov 1918 (Peter Schiemer statement, but I actually think the date is 22 Oct, see below).

Both Blaha and the aircraft had a very strange story.
On 22 Oct 1918 Blaha took off from his airfield to avoid this aircraft to be destroyed by Italian bombing. By mistake he landed in Switzerland and both he and the aircraft was interned.
On 28 Oct 1918 the state of Czeckoslovakia was proclaimed and by international law the Swiss had to release Blaha. It was also realised they could no longer keep his aircraft, which by then was now Czeck property.
It seems Blaha left for Prague sometime after the photo was taken, but returned in March 1919 to collect the aircraft again. However when he returned home he experienced both snow and fog and promptly crashed his aircraft when trying to land and wrecked it!

All this is verified from Czeckoslovakian sources

Cheers
Stig