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| Signatures on this item | |
| *The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare. | |
| Name | Info |
  Friedrich Stahl (deceased) *Signature Value : £130 | A German officer born in 1889, he was a balloon aviation and aerial photographer during the First World War. A rough translation of text from an old publication (1971) is given below : Gen Lt Friedrich Stahl, born 14th June 1889. Enlisted as a balloon pilot on 6th January 1912, as a reconnaissance pilot and observer, and instructingin aerial photography. On 1st October 1913 he became Adjutant of the new Airship battalion No.5 until the summer of 1914. From the autumn of 1915 untilsummer 1917, he was second pilot of Schutte-Lanz airships SLII and SLV in the air force. By the end of World War One, he was in command of an airship squadron in the west. In total he piloted or photographed from 23 airships : 3 Parseval, 3 military Groß-Basenach, 13 Zeppelins, 3 Schutte-Lanz and 1 Blimp. He later commanded infantry units in World War Two and was questioned as a witness in the Nuremberg trials. He died on 19th December 1979. |
  Joseph Frantz (deceased) *Signature Value : £170 | Joesph Frantz was a French aviator who became widely known after one particular sortie in 1914. With his observer Louis Quénault, they flew their Voisin III aircraft on the 5th October 1914 into history books when they engaged an enemy Aviatik aircraft. Using his altitude advantage to position his aircraft as close as possible to the German craft, Frantz gave his gunner the opportunity to fire their Hotchkiss machine gun with a good chance of success. When the gun jammed after a few rounds, and with the enemy aircraft now returning fire, Quénault resorted to his personal rifle. It is thought he hit and killed the pilot Wilhelm Schlichting and possibly also hit the fuel tank. There were many witnesses on the ground, mostly French troops, and descriptions vary as to what happened next. Did the aircraft turn over and explode, or did it just come down in trees out of control after the pilot was killed? The Aviatik certainly crashed into trees, and the observer - Fritz von Zangen was killed. No aircraft had ever shot down another in combat before this day, and the French were quick to celebrate the victory. Joseph Frantz received the Légion d'Honneur and Louis Quénault was awarded the Médaille Militaire. Perhaps more significantly, the age of air to air combat had arrived. Frantz would also receive the Croix de Guerre and Médaille Militaire, and was a co-founder of the 'Vieilles Tifes de l'Aéronautique' (eng, Old Stems of Aviation) in 1926. He died on 12th September 1979. |
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Frantz, Joseph 
