Greetings from the aviator city of Gotha! Postcard with a view of the city of Gotha, Germany, of a pilot in a bi-plane, and an Albatros bi-plane (evidently the same plane and pilot) at the Gotha airfield. Field postmarked December 12, 1916 by the Ersatz Flieger Abteilung, the Reserve Flying Section, Gotha.
Gruß aus der Fliegerstadt Gotha.Doppeldecker vor dem Start.Albatros-Doppeldecker auf dem Flugplatz Gotha.Greetings from the aviator city Gotha.Biplane before starting.Albatros biplane at the airfield of Gotha.
". . . before Brandenburg could launch his first raid, another daring attack by a single aircraft, an Albatross C VII of Feldflieger Abteilung Nr. 19, on the night of 6/7 May [1917] did reach London. The crew dropped five 10kg bombs between Hackney and Holloway, killing one man and causing two injuries, before returning unmolested to Belgium."
Hauptmann Ernst Brandenburg formed the Englandgeschwader — the England Squadron — in early 1917, preparing to bomb the United Kingdom. The Zeppelin and Schüte-Lanz airships that had done so the previous two years had proven vulnerable to bad weather and newer fighter planes that could reach the altitudes at which the airships operated. Feldflieger Abteilung is a field aviator department, and an 'Albatross' is an Albatros, manufactured by Albatros Flugzeugwerke, the Albatros Aircraft Works. Hackney and Holloway are in north London.
The First Blitz: Bombing London in the First World War by Ian Castle, page 117, copyright © 2015 Osprey Publishing Ltd., publisher: Osprey Publishing, publication date: 2015
1917-05-06, 1917, May, Albatros, Albatros two-seater
