Description
SAXONY / GERMANY – SANKE CARD – LEUTNANT CARL MENCKHOFF – NR 634
Leutnant Carl Menckhoff (1883-1949) lead a very interesting life both as a pilot during WW I and after. He first entered the military as a One Year Volunteer in 1903. When WW I broke out he returned to the army as an enlisted man in Saxon Infanterie-Regiment Nr 106, a very distinguished two hundred year old regiment.
In 1914 he was severely wounded and also achieved the award of both the 1914 Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class. Like so many who had been wounded at the front he applied for entry to the Imperial German Air Service. He completed his pilot training and began flying two seater observation planes. Later he moved to Jasta 3 and flew single seater scouts. By this time he was promoted to Vizefeldwebel and achieved ace status. He was then promoted to Leutnant der Reserve and assigned to command Jasta 72 which was a Saxon squadron. He continued to increase his score which ended with thirty-nine confirmed victories. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite on 23 May 1918 ehrn hr had shot down twenty-five planes. It is interesting to note that he was one of the oldest pilots in the Air Service at thirty-two years of age.
His final tally was thirty-nine victories. He was shot down and captured by an American pilot who was flying his first mission!
After the war Menckhoff owned several businesses. In 1938 he ran afoul of the Nazi regime and lost most of his businesses. He left Germany and moved to Switzerland for the remainder of his life. Oh by the way he was married five times!
Sanke card Nr 634 of Carl Menckhoff. The 600 series of Sanke Cards is the last of the Sanke cards produced during the war. Cards from this series are far less common. This pose shows him seated and seen from the thighs up. He is wearing a M-1915 feldbluse. Pinned to his left breast we see the 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class and the Prussian pilot badge. Above those two he is wearing a two-place ribbon bar for the 1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class and the Knights Cross with Swords of the Hohenzollern House Order. His visor cap is resting on his thigh and at his neckis the Pour le Mérite.
The card is in excellent condition. It was never mailed (but there is a brief inscription and date on the reverse in German).
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