Don't Miss Any Special Deals - Sign Up To Our Newsletter! Aircraft Search Squadron Search Signature Search Artist Search SPECIAL OFFERS Product Search
CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LIST OF ALL GERALD COULSON PRINTS BY TITLE

Please note that our logo (below) only appears on the images on our website and is not on the actual art prints. When you are ready to add this item to your basket, click the button below.       Website Price: £ 310.00       Joseph Frantz Rare WW1 Signature and Matching Print Pack. PCK2932. Joseph Frantz Rare WW1 Signature and Matching Print Pack. Clipped Signature and Print Pack. Items in this pack : Item #1 - Click to view individual item DHM6772B. The First Victory by Ivan Berryman. Pilot Joseph Frantz and his observer Louis Quénault have the unique distinction of recording the first ever aerial victory by an aircraft using weaponry. On 5th October 1914, Quénault used magazines of ammunition of the machine gun mounted on their Voisin III craft, with its incredibly primitive appearance, and continued with rifle fire once it had failed. Their prey, an Aviatik returned fire, but was observed to crash into trees following the combat - the first recorded aircraft to be shot down by another. Small signed limited edition of 30 prints. Image size 16 inches x 12 inches (41cm x 31cm) Item #2 - Click to view individual item CLP2981. Clipped Signature - Joseph Frantz. 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 in 1979. This is a particularly unusual clipped signature - indeed it has not been clipped at all. Normally, we would remove signatures from their source in order to provide them as individual items. As can be seen in the photograph, this item has two signatures which are so close together that they cannot be indiviudally removed. With the extreme rarity of this item in consideration, we will provide this item as it is shown here - with both signatures on it as well as the full philatelic collector envelope. Clipped Signature. Website Price: £ 310.00   To purchase these prints individually at their normal retail price would cost £345.00 . By buying them together in this special pack, you save £35 All prices are displayed in British Pounds Sterling   Signatures on item 2 *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 : £120 (matted) 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 : £160 (matted) 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.