“Eduard Ritter von Schleich standing by his Albatros D.Va, Serial No. unknown, while serving with Jagdgruppe Nr. 8 in the Spring of 1918. Its fuselage, tail, struts and wheel covers were painted black, and the aircraft displayed unusually proportioned Balkenkreuze on the wings. The wings were finished in standard 5-color lozenge pattern. A white edelweiss had previously been worn on the fuselage just aft of the cockpit, and was still barely visible under the black over-painting. The presence of the edelweiss may indicate that this plane previously belonged to Otto Kissenberth, who flew a similarly-marked Albatros with a white edelweiss in this position while serving with Jasta 23b. Known as the “Black Knight”, von Schleich survived the war with 35 victories and died in 1947.”
(Colourised by Olga Shirnina from Russia via WWI Colorized Photos)
