Unknown Ace

[voffka0503]

Would anyone know who is on this picture?
Can clearly see that he is the owner of RK and there was a lot of them in Luftwaffe,but anyway maybe somebody can recognize?
Thanx!

[John Toner]

Alfred Grislawski


John

[voffka0503]

Alfred Grislawski


John

No way?Do u know for sure???Thanx a million!!!

[JackHyv]

Fantastic portrait!

Jack

[voffka0503]

Well if this is really him so im lucky to have this picture!
Maybe experts could assure me if its original now?
Here is the back of it.

[voffka0503]

Here is once again

[Larry deZeng]

It looks good to me. Very, very few counterfeiters would go to the trouble of faking the scrapbook glue evidence on the back.

BUT, are you absolutely sure it's Alfred Grislawski, DOB 02.11.1919, RK 01.07.1942, EL 11.04.1944? There is a nice photo of him at the bottom of p.69 in Ernst Obermaier's Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe: Jagdflieger 1939-1945 (Mainz: Verlag Dieter Hoffmann, 1966), and the fellow in your photo doesn't look anything at all like the photo in the book. According to this photo, taken in 1944 after he was awarded the Eichenlaub, Grislawski was medium height with a slightly chunky build and had a round face with blond or light brown hair. You could even say he was rather "boyish" looking. Does this famous book, faithfully used by researchers for the past 41 years, have the wrong photo?

--Larry

[torstenbel]

photo and brief bio of Grislawski

http://www.das-ritterkreuz.de/index_...ord=Grislawski

[Larry deZeng]

UNBELIEVEABLE difference between the Obermaier photo and the web site photo, yet both taken between April 1944 and the end of the war.

--Larry

[John Toner]

Hi Larry

I have (scanned) versions of the photo above and the one from Obermaier and the one from das-ritterkreuz.de, and they are all similarly signed "A Grislawski". It is him.

John

[Larry deZeng]

Hi Larry
I have (scanned) versions of the photo above and the one from Obermaier and the one from das-ritterkreuz.de, and they are all similarly signed "A Grislawski". It is him.
John

Okay. The poster's photo and the one on the site look similar enough for me to agree that they are the same person. But the one in Obermaier sure looks different to me. I have the original 1966 first edition of Obermaier, which I believe was revised and republished around 1987 or 1988. Do you suppose the 1st edition has the wrong photo and this was corrected in the 2d edition? Obermaier completely reworked the 2d edition and I recall some discussion in the "letters to the editor" section of Flugzeug magazine at that time to the effect that some of the photos were changed. Perhaps that's what happened with Grislawski.

--Larry

[voffka0503]

Well,if its him then its a very good piece of history,but only if its original.
For me it does look so 100 %,but maybe there are some other opinions?
Also here is a web site about Grislawski,does he look like the one on my foto?especially have a look picture on the bottom of the site. (only one bagde is missing on the uniform).

http://www.defendingarnhem.com/Grislawski.htm

[John Toner]

Hi Larry

I only have the later Obermaier, so I'm afraid I don't know what photo was used in the 1966 edition. Perhaps the photo was changed, as you say.

John

[voffka0503]

Thanx lads for help!So what do u think is it original or could be not?

[Steinar]

Well,if its him then its a very good piece of history,but only if its original.
For me it does look so 100 %,but maybe there are some other opinions?
Also here is a web site about Grislawski,does he look like the one on my foto?especially have a look picture on the bottom of the site. (only one bagde is missing on the uniform).

http://www.defendingarnhem.com/Grislawski.htm

Look at the shape of his visor hat in this link and the photo above... it got the same shape, the shape of a well used visor