The first aerial photo of the pyramids was taken by a Rumpler C1 1838/15 from Fliegerabteilung 300, which was part of the Pasha I deployment of German forces to Palestine.
The photo itself is almost certainly a composite, with the plane added later. Reportedly, it was done as a “hoax” and the composite was dropped at a British airfield to boast about German’s capabilities. The original photo is part of the Commander of FA 300, Hauptmann Hellmuth Felmy, collection, and supposedly the story of the hoax is told on the back of the photo.
About the flight itself, Hauptmann Felmy wrote*:
“At the beginning of October, the division was transferred back to Beersheba because of the impending rainy season. On November 13, 1916, a long-distance flight to Cairo was carried out from here (there and back a total of over 800 km) with intermediate landings at El-Arish. First Lieutenant Richard Falke** and Lieutenant Schultheiss** successfully bombed Cairo, brought home important photo reports also about the traffic to the canal, and an interesting photograph of the pyramids at Giza, which at the time attracted very great attention worldwide and was considered the first aerial photograph of the pyramids. No English airman had interfered! As prisoners later testified, when the English airmen on the canal were told that a German airplane was over Cairo, they actually thought this report was erroneous and – stayed home!”
Normally this flight would be well out of range for the heavily weighted Rumpler -it is said to have carried 124.5 kg of bombs- but it was outfitted with a special 300 kg fuel tank which enabled it to make the flight. Falke and his observer took off from Al Arish at 0730, did reconnaissance on the way to Cairo, then bombed the Cairo railway station, killing 16 and wounding 38, but achieving little permanent structural damage. Then they flew to the pyramids and took the photo above. They arrived back in Al Arish 5½ hours after take-off.
* This statement’s source is said to be fliegeralbum.de, a website now deactivated, so I was unable to confirm its legitimacy.
** Falke was the pilot, Schultheiss the observer.
Original: Hauptmann’s family, copy used from Upper Austrian Federal State Library