This is a mysterious picture we found in my wife's family photos. The prone figure feeding the belt is marked with 2 small x's and is labeled "Franizcek", so he's probably the relative. The image is a photographic postcard (not lithographed) labeled on the reverse "Fronta Italie" and postmarked "K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen Fliegerkompagnie Nr.22" I assume from the K.u.K. that this is the Austro- Hungarian army (or some other army where it was OK to point a rifle at your weapons instructor's head). But does Luftfahrtruppen and Fliegerkompagnie mean that this was an aviation unit? The machine gun mount looks odd, as if it is just a pipe on a stand, instead of a tripod. Is it an aircraft machine gun adapted for training purposes? Let's see those Shorpy experts go to work!
