Uniformly unknown

April 3, 2008 5:50 AM

I have a photo of an ancestor in what I think is a Great War Austrian (well, Austro-Hungarian) uniform. Can anyone identify the insignia?

Photograph here, with apologies for vicious cropping engendered by internet privacy paranoia.

Ancestor in question was born around 1895, and I believe he served in the Austro-Hungarian army in the war, but I could have been misinformed. From the baloons, I'd guess some sort of Observer corps, but any specifics, and what that cubular decoration is, would be interesting.

posted by Luddite to clothing, beauty, & fashion (7 comments total)

Balloons, even.
posted by Luddite at 5:53 AM on April 3, 2008

One standard text is Battledress: The Uniforms of the World's Great Armies, 1700 to the Present edited by I.T. Schick. Though this might stump that book.

You might try the various war museums, Imperial War Museum in London, for example, or that of west point. They should at least be able to send you in the right direction. Or post the question on any of dozens of military sites, http://www.militaryphotos.net/ for example.

Good luck, let us know.
posted by IndigoJones at 6:06 AM on April 3, 2008

Found it! The insignia is called "Luftfahrtruppe".
posted by parmanparman at 6:08 AM on April 3, 2008

Luftfahrtruppe is something like an "Army Air Corps" equivalent. That is a very interesting medal on his chest. I have never seen one of that shape and size. I will look for it, unless you have that information.
posted by parmanparman at 6:17 AM on April 3, 2008

Wow, thankyou for finding that much out - and impressively quickly, to boot. Afraid I know nothing about the medal, and I don't have the original of the photo to hand (although I could ask the person who has it to re-scan at higher resolution.)
posted by Luddite at 6:20 AM on April 3, 2008

Following the lead from parmanparman

A post to the forum on the austro-hungarian-army.co.uk site here might yieldsome results regarding the decoration
posted by MarvinJ at 6:25 AM on April 3, 2008

Here is a photo of Emperor Karl visiting a luftfahrtruppe regiment
posted by parmanparman at 6:36 AM on April 3, 2008