In Windsock Datafile 102 Aviatik B-Types by the late great P.M.Grosz. There are some pictures of the Aviaik P 14 possibly B.268/13 and the pilot Willy Truck , an ex mechanic. The plane, Truck and a mechanic were sent to GSWA for 3 months of tropical trials. They arrived on 19 May 1914 and were stationed at Karibib. Hamstrung by a lack of parts, tropical weather, mishaps, and minor crashs. Leutuant Alexander von Scheele and Truck performed sporadic bombing, reconnaissance, and leaflet dropping raids until the surrender of German troops on 9 July 1915. The remains of the Aviatik P 14 along with other weapons were dumped into the Otjkoto Lake near Tsumeb.

There are also pictures of this machine in Swakopmund museum, which I visited a couple of weeks ago. The German forces in what is now Namibia had a number of aircraft, one of which is said to have been "responsible" for the country's herd of wild desert horses.

See here

cheers Martin B

Lt Paul Fielder's Roland Taube plane crashed in high winds near Karibib in April 1915 and did not fly again. It was taken to Tsumeb and set alight and destroyed as the South Africans advanced on the town in July 1915. See 'Urgent Imperial Service' by Gerald L'Ange, Ashanti, 1991 for more on the two aircraft and their pilots.

There is a story of one of the planes dropping artillery shells on the men of the 1 Rhodesia Regiment. This made a lasting impression on one Rhodesian Trooper, a certain Arthur Harris, who of course went onto greater things in World War Two as the head of Bomber Command.

The men of the Rhodesia Regiment also fought at the battle of Trekkopies on 25 April 1915. A few days before nine Rolls Royce armoured cars of the Royal Naval Air Service had been sent up to Trekkopies on the railway line. Lt Von Scheele in his Aviatek flys over Trekkopies, spots the armoured cars but reports them as water carriers or food trucks depending on the account. A bit of a nasty surprise then for the attacking Germans on 25 April when they ran into these 'water carriers' machine guns blazing.

Hope this is of interest.

james

Some shots of German aircraft in SWA