The Debated Origins of a WWI Fighter Plane: Nazi Plunder or Gift?
Military Aircraft Might Be Hidden Nazi Assets
Chatty synthesis ahead! Let's delve into the intriguing saga of a World War I era fighter plane causing quite a stir. The Fokker D.VII, held by the German Museum in Munich, might just be a piece of Nazi plunder, or it could have been a gift from the Netherlands. As curious as that may sound, the research team is busy unraveling this genuine scientific mystery.
The plane in question hails from the Schleißheim Aviation Factory, but its roots are Dutch. In 1948, this very plane found its home at the German Museum after an American unit stumbled upon it in a shed in Vilsbiburg, Lower Bavaria, not long after the war's end.
It's been theorized that the Dutch may have intended to offer the plane as a gesture to Hermann Goering, thepotentate of Nazi Germany's air force. This hypothesis is rooted in Dutch intelligence documents, according to the museum. Goering, the aviator extraordinaire, had once soared through the skies in an identical model during his tenure as a fighter pilot.
However, the plane's true origin remains elusive despite exhaustive sleuthing by the German Museum. Remnants of paint, detected back in 1980 under the plane's camouflage, hint at its Dutch naval aircraft lineage. Yet, answering the question—gift or loot—still proves elusive to our historians.
It's a true brain-teaser, this game of cat and mouse. Nonetheless, the German-Dutch cooperative endeavor in cracked codes and historical clues will soldier on, even with the future loan of the Fokker D.VII to the Netherlands' Military Museum. For now, our Dutch counterparts hold the keys, even as the German Museum keeps the academic intrigue intact.
- World War I * Aircraft * Discovery
Sources: ntv.de, jaz/dpaAdditional Insights:
- The Fokker D.VII in question was actually the "D-28" model of the Dutch Naval Aviation Service.
- The plane had originally been slated for a Nazi-Luftwaffe museum collection orchestrated by Hermann Göring.
- The Fokker D.VII was discovered in a farm barn in Vilsbiburg, Bavaria, in 1945 by American Monuments Men, who later transferred it to the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
- Despite its Dutch origins, the plane has been on display in Munich for decades, adorned in German colors reminiscent of its World War I association.
- The Fokker D.VII will be lent to the National Military Museum in the Netherlands for a period of five years starting in September 2025.
- It's interesting to note that the discovery of the Fokker D.VII aircraft in a farm barn in Vilsbiburg, Bavaria, in 1945 was initially made by the Monuments Men, an American unit that focused on protecting cultural heritage during WWII.
- The Fokker D.VII, now housed in the German Museum, was actually a "D-28" model of the Dutch Naval Aviation Service, which raises questions about its origins and whether it was a Nazi plunder or a gift.
- The plane's markings hint at its Dutch naval aircraft lineage, yet its suspected history as a potential gift to Hermann Goering, the potentate of Nazi Germany's air force, adds another layer to the ongoing debate about its true origins.
