Austro-Hungarian World War I Aviation Album

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of digital scans of the forty-eight photographs in a souvenir album of Fliegerkompanie 17; "Gewidmet vom Offiziers Korps der Fliegerkomp.17. Südwest Front ("Dedicated by the Officer Corps of Squadron 17. Southwest Front"). The photographs chronicle the daily life of an active World War I squadron, showing squadron personnel in a variety of activities: pilots and observers preparing for missions and relaxing off-duty, and enlisted menworking at all the trades required for keeping a squadron running -- repairing aircraft, manning an antiaircraft position, cooking rations, and even mending boots. The album provides a rare look at a lesser-known theater of the Great War.

Arrangement

The digital image scans are presented in the order the photographs appear in the original photo album.

Biographical / Historical

The Austro-Hungarian Empire entered World War I with a small air force, the Kaiserlich und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen or K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen (Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops), consisting of eighty-five pilots, thirty-nine operable aircraft, and ten observation balloons. In the first year of the war, Luftahrtruppen units operated on the Serbian, Russian, and Romanian fronts. The Luftfahrtruppen was confronted by its most formidable opponent when Italy entered the war on the Allied side in May 1915. Fliegerkompanie 17 (FliK 17), a reconnaissance and artillery cooperation squadron, was activated on June 3, 1915 and was assigned to the South Tyrol front in Northern Italy, attached to the Austro-Hungarian 10. Armee Korps (10.AK); first at Gardolo, later at Pergine Valsugana, and once again at Gardolo. The squadron was disbanded at Hall, Austria, in 1918. Its most notable commander was Hauptmann (later Major) Raoul Stojsavljevic (1887-1930), a leading Luftfahrtruppen ace with ten aerial victories.