I've seen this mascot/emblem before, and last night it turned up again on a replica built D.VII. What's the story behind the seven guys with a spear menacing a bunny?
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Jasta 65 Gefreiter Wilhelm Scheutzel's Fokker D.VII(OAW) 4649/18 had the Brothers Grimm fairy tail "Seven Swabians" painted on the sides. Each side was different.

So he wasn't actually a Monty Python fan...

...probably a Member?

Jim, I looked up the "Seven Swabians". Considering the sorry end those buffoons came to, did Gefreiter Wilhelm Scheutzel fare any better?

He was credited with one victory and survived the war, but that's all I know. This info as listed in Franks/Bailey/Duiven's The Jasta Pilots.

Good. But the seven Swabians all perished. I wonder if he was having dark premonitions? A strange symbol to carry into battle.

The Grimm brothers' tales were all rather, well, grim. Quite unlike the stuff that is written for kids today!

Symbolism related to death seems to have been quite popular in WW1 aircraft art, so I think the Swabians fit in quite well there.

...one Victory and survived the War... he probably spent more time painting his Aircraft that flying it
"Sorry, Boss. Sure, I would like go Hunting with you, but the Paint isn't dry, yet."
Good choice in Times like those...

He seems to have graduated as a fighter pilot in June 1918 and then joined Jasta 65, so he didn't have much time to get many victories. One kill is still more than the majority of pilots ever achieved. Pilots with several victories were a small minority.

Some info at the Aerodrome: http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=389

Kind of like Nungesser's (sp) paint job I reckon.

In a way, perhaps. But there is no back-story to Nungesser's emblem; so it can be read as "Come over here, and these will be your fate". In the case of the Seven Swabians, the message is more like "I'm too damned dumb to shoot you down."

To our German pilots: Are Swabians regarded as stupid in German folklore as Applachian 'hillbillys' used to be in America?

As it's often with brothers Grimm's fairy tales this tale is not by them but older. They often took old fairy tales and compiled it to books and changed it a bit here and there.

Maybe the painting has no message at all besides being a symbol that the pilot is a Swabian. AFAIK although this story mocks the Swabians they don't take it as offense but are proud of that and use it themselves in a positive context, similar maybe like if mocking bavarians for their leatherpants or Texans for their cowboy boots. So if he would be from Bremen, he might have had a painting of Town Musicians of Bremen, or if from Lower Sayxony, then he might have had a painting of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. No deeper message but just to show where he's from by using a paint of a tale connected to the place he's from.

What Creaghorn said; don't read too much into things. Who knows a young man's motivation? And there's zero proof the painting was used to impart any sort of message. It's doubtful the details of the painting could even be discerned during battle, anyway. The plane just looked cool back at the airfield.

I'm startled noone has yet posted a pic of Gefr. Scheutzel's aeroplane high Over Flanders Fields.
Cheers,
shredward

Well of course it had some kind of message - however trivial or odd or vague to the modern mind - why else would he/the ground crew go to all the trouble to put it on there? Not knowing the fairy tale in its native language perhaps the message isn't so strange.
And yes, as Shredward says, no one has a screenie yet?

Perhaps, Duke, but it's unfounded speculation to state categorically that painting that plane that way was some sort of "message" to the enemy. Why else would the plane be painted that way? As I said, who knows a man's motivation? It could have been as simple as he liked the way it looked on the plane. Or it was his uncle's favorite tale and since his uncle passed away, it was a tribute to him. Who knows? It's all speculation--until there is tangible proof. Speculation is fine, and can be fun, but it must not be presented as absolute fact.

And, Shredward, why didn't you just post the screenie?

'Can't argue with that. Some things were never meant to be examined too closely.

There's a reason for everything - whether it makes sense to one or not.
People always do things for a reason. Now where's the in-flight pic?
Some of us have stupid real life stuff going!

I caved in and went for a QC spin

Is that three yellow antlers on the black shield?

Thanks MudWasp.
Was getting ready for some WOFF time and was gonna check it out.
Nicely done skin....as always!

I'm just lowly ground crew

Cheers,
shredward

Pickled chicken feet! Now someone explain that symbolism.

That was never the issue. What the reason is was.

No kidding...can't be much to eat off that part of the bird!
Swabians are Frugal!

From Greg VanWyngarden: "The heraldic crest on the top decking was no doubt inspired by the Württemberg coat-of-arms: three black antlers on a yellow field. However, this shield apparently displayed three white antlers, probably on a black field."

@ Mudwasp: Supercool

...speaking of Messages or Meanings:
You all probably know the "Du doch nicht!" (not you!) on Udet's Plane (It was Udet, right?)
Well, I AM German, and I have no Idea, what he wants to say with that.
If he wanted to say, that a pursuing Entente-Pilot wont get him, I doubt that they all understood German... and if he wanted to warn German Pilots not to accidentally take him for EA... well, the Shape of his Plane alone should be totally obvious, I think.
So, what did he mean?

With "Du doch nicht!" he meant "Certainly not you!" in the sense that the adversary certainly won't be the one who shoots him down. It would make more sense if the sentence is more complete like: "Mich abschießen? Wer, du? Du doch nicht!"
But I think wing surfaces are rather small for long sentences :-).

Okay, that was my first Guess. So, noone (at least not the ones, this Sentence was meant for) would have understood, what he meant, because the average Enemy wasn't able to read it.
On the other Hand... if he would have written "Surely not You!", a German Pilot might have thought: "This looks like English! There's one of those Tommies flying one of our Planes! Go get him!" LOL

So antlers was a good guess. Lucky me!
...they must have shot young deer to have puny antlers like that.... ..in methinks. maybe that was all that was around then during the war, or a small racked Euro-deer species had racks like that?

I kinda like the pickled poultry feet story though, as it could have indicated how frugal, tough, and resourceful they were.....or sumtin like that

Hi. Sorry I'm piping in on this one so late. Was on vacation at my mother-in-law's house where she has DSL... which being on when you have 2 teenage girls constantly streaming music on I-Phones is like watching a cactus grow.

Jasta 65's scheme is a personal favorite... and the "Sieben Schwaben" was high on my favorite list as well!

The color scheme was as close as I could get to accurate as possible. The antler color was a choice I made. I did it both in white and yellow... it just looked right in yellow. I was told when I was researching this color scheme it could have been either.

The Rhinebeck Fokker D.VII carries this same paint scheme and it has the antlers in yellow as well. It is an O.A.W. built Fokker as well... so Rhinebeck got the wheel wing wrong. It should be 2 color cammo.... hey.. who's complaining. It still looks awesome!

OvS

The antlers look better on that one...imho.

Antlers may have come from this crest, Königreich Württemberg.

As we already pointed out, there is no rhyme or reason to some of the imaages you'll see on the planes, but only to the pilot. Some are meant to infuriate, some are for jest, some are for personal love of country or someone special, some are for family name.

I think in his case it was for a childhood story he liked and felt somehow related to the position of Germany in the war?

But here is the crest of Königreich Württemberg



You might also recognize some of these design aspects in this crest of this popular German automobile badge as well.... funny how things link together in Germany.



All the best,

OvS

Yep, Nungesser is a prime example, but others spring to mind... Brumowski, Monnington... skulls were certainly prevalent.

Good to hear from you, Dezh!