Please help identify the object that Luftwaffe soldiers are looking at

[Mishkamike]

Hello comrades! Please help identify the craft that the Nazis are looking at here, is it some type of flying object? The soldiers surrounding this craft are Luftwaffe, and if Im not mistaking one of the craft has some kind of circle resembling the RAF roundels, or is it just a hole? Maybe this might be some kind of construction used for shade? Very interesting to find out what this is.

 

[fubar57]

According to Google Image Search. its a tent sold at Costco

 

[Capt. Vick]

Some kind of kite?

 

[fubar57]

Nearest I could find was something called a Cody Kite

 

[fubar57]

....and if Im not mistaking one of the craft has some kind of circle resembling the RAF roundels, or is it just a hole?....

I don't think those are RAF roundels. Some similar is seen on this kite. Dated 1906 and one source says its Japanese

THE WEBS
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[Mishkamike]

I don't think those are RAF roundels. Some similar is seen on this kite. Dated 1906 and one source says its Japanese

View attachment 587220
THE WEBS
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Thank you! This must be some kind of kite used in WWI, I read that the French and British used kites for observation before planes were mass introduced, maybe the Germans captured these somewhere in France and were trying to figure out what the heck they are just like we are doing here

 

[GrauGeist]

What appears to be "roundels" are most likely where the material is reinforced at attachment points or "eyes" for a cable pass-through, creating a darker area.

 

[nuuumannn]

The Cody Kite was an invention of Samuel Franklin Cody, a US citizen living in Britain who worked with the Royal Balloon Corps at Farnborough and built these as well as Britain's first flyable aeroplane, which took to the sky for the first time on 16 October 1908. Cody was also responsible for designing Britain's first military airship, the Nulli Secundis, which was not a resounding success.

A reproduction of Cody's aeroplane at the FAST museum at Farnborough:

0307 FAST Cody reproduction

Although it looks like a kite of some description, I don't think the Germans are standing in front of a Cody kite.

 

[nuuumannn]

Further from looking around the internet I found this, which shows the identical device in the fourth, fifth and sixth picture down:

Германия: Фотоальбомы . Частный архив военно-исторической фотографии

with the following:

"для метеорологических наблюдений, сконструированный сотрудником Линденбергской погодной обсерватории Рудольфом Грюндом. Благодаря хорошим летным качествам – большой подъемной силе и устойчивости в полете, воздушный змей привлек внимание люфтваффе, которые стали использовать их в том же качестве, что и заградительные аэростаты, в конструкцию змея были внесены лишь очень незначительные изменения. Подпись под фото: Бад-Сааров. Воздушный змей."

Bang it through the googleometer and you get this:

"for meteorological observations, designed by Rudolf Grund, an employee of the Lindenberg Weather Observatory. Due to its good flying qualities - great lift and stability in flight, the kite attracted the attention of the Luftwaffe, who began to use them in the same quality as barrage balloons, only very minor changes were made to the design of the kite. Caption: Bad Saarov. Kite."

Further investigation yields this:

http://www.wetter-anzeiger.de/museu...ng_the_kites_of_lindenberg_werner_schmidt.pdf

Plans for building one in Spanish, with pictures:

https://www.kiteplans.org/planos/finalhilo3/final hilo 3.pdf

The kites were known as Grund Regulierdrachen. Article of a visit to Lindenburg in Germany by members of the much misunderstood and largely under represented Taskite - the Kite Flyers of Tasmania!

http://taskite.org.au/Taskite/39-2006Autumn.pdf

 

[nuuumannn]

I'd also recommend looking through the entirety of the photo album I provided a link to. The images are extraordinary.

 

[Crimea_River]

Great work Grant.

 

[Conslaw]

The detective work by members of this group never ceases to amaze me.

 

[Wurger]