On this Day (WWI aviation news), Vol. 2

[PJ Fisher]

Observations of a Neophyte
Walter John Shaffer was a relatively new recruit in the Lafayette Escadrille when he penned this letter home.  Like the backdrop of a film set, it paints fleeting but perspicuous scenes of the aviator's everyday aerodrome experience.
(from the Harrisburg Telegraph, 16 April 1918):




Our author doesn't reveal which type of parasol he was assigned to, but Czechmaster offers a Morane-Saulnier A.I with Shaffer's markings:  https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/CMR72-112.  Meanwhile, check out forum member Ianschippee's 1/48-scale Special Hobby build of a similar plane: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8638.msg158750#msg158750

[PJ Fisher]

Mission Failure
Today's news reports on one of the greatest strategic blunders of the Great War.
(from the Birmingham Age-Herald, 17 April 1917):

[PJ Fisher]

Down in No Man's Land
This story relates to a March 28 incident when American airman Frank Leaman Baylies survived being shot down in between the lines.  Evidently Baylies had been rejected by the American air service because of substandard vision, so he flew for France instead in the Lafayette Escadrille.
(from the Tonopah Daily Bonanza, 18 April 1918):

[PJ Fisher]

Tanked By Turks, Brits Bomb Own Submarine
Not sure which planes participated in this mercy killing of submarine HMS E15, but the 1960's-era comic below suggests one was a Short two-seater (possibly Admiralty Type 166).  For further reading, here's a good article written by a descendant of one of its survivors who was subsequently imprisoned for the remainder of the war:  https://timedetectives.blog/2015/05/31/submarine-e15/

(from the Sun, 19 April 1915):

[PJ Fisher]

Meet the Fokkers
Coming soon to your hometown!  Mere months after the armistice, captured war trophies were already touring America to celebrate the Allied victory and to help for a final round of war loan funding. Two Fokker D.VII's were highlights already flying over American skies when today's news hit the press.  Images and articles on this pair of planes were featured in local papers across the county well into the coming summer months as the tour progress throughout the states.  Here are some samples.  I wonder if these planes are among the survivors in museum collections today?  Here's the list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Fokker_D.VIIs

(respectively from the Monmouth Inquirer {19 April}, the Evening Capital News {20 April}, the Omaha Daily Bee {26 April}, the Monmouth Inquirer {1 May}, and the Oklahoma City Times {2 May}; 1919):

        


Check out forum member fredjocko's build of a captured Fokker D.VII in USAS markings: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11351.0

[PJ Fisher]

Sopwith Camel Time
The F.1 had already been on active duty for ten months before this introductory mention was published in the stateside press.  While the reporter's description of the 'hump' reminds us that the press doesn't always get it quite right, this remains an early public mention of one of the best-remembered airplanes in history.
(from the New-York Tribune, 21 April 1918):



The Camel is claimed to have the highest kill rate of any British fighter of the era.  Its high accident rate is also well known.

"...the Camel gained an unfortunate reputation with pilots, with inexperienced ones crashing on take-off when the full fuel load pushed the aircraft's centre of gravity beyond the rearmost safe limit.  A stall immediately resulted in a dangerous spin.  RFC pilots used to joke that it offered the choice between "a wooden cross, the Red Cross, or a Victoria Cross." (via wikipedia)

To reduce the frequency of training mishaps a number of Camels were fitted as two seaters.  Here's an old 1/72 build (Academy with Rosepart conversion) of mine depicting a such a configuration as flown with No.32 Training Depot Squadron, Montrose, Scotland, Spring 1918:

[KiwiZac]

I find it very, very hard to believe any part of that model is Academy, PJ - beautiful work! I thought it was a 1/48 Eduard, if not larger!

[PJ Fisher]

I find it very, very hard to believe any part of that model is Academy, PJ - beautiful work! I thought it was a 1/48 Eduard, if not larger!

haha, thanks.  I actually recycled it from a model I built as a teenager.  Disassembled, sanded down and repurposed. I recall much of the shading was done with pastels and the surface details simply highlighted with various colored pencils.

[PJ Fisher]

TERROR DRONE
During aviation's early years newspapers routinely published fantastical stories about new inventions that now seem naive.  This story actually holds some truth for its time, and drone technology is certainly at the forefront of aviation today, over 100 years after this article was published.
(from the Medford Mail Tribune, 22 April 1915):

'

Not sure how such supposedly top secret information made its way to the public, but the Royal Aircraft Factory did indeed experiment with 'Aerial Torpedoes' throughout the great war. I'm going to add a model of this to my 'to-do' list.  Per wikipedia:

"There is a Royal Aircraft Factory engineering drawing dated October 1914 of an unmanned powered monoplane 9 ft 3 in (2.82 m) long with a 10 ft (3.0 m) wingspan. This was developed as a possible defence to counter the threat of aerial bombing from German dirigible airships. This new potential weapon was called "Aerial Target" (AT), a misnomer to fool the Germans into thinking it was a drone plane to test anti-aircraft capabilities...   The Royal Flying Corps' Aerial Target was the world's first drone unmanned aircraft (UAV) to fly under control from the ground.

Until 2016 the RFC Aerial Target project was deemed by most sources to have failed and been terminated. The on-line images of the Imperial War Museum Feltham artefacts were not presented as a collection. Prior to 2019 no known source had published details of the Royal Flying Corps secret patents or demonstrated that they matched and described the items in this IWM collection. The Feltham Works re-application of their system to control the Royal Navy DCBs had not been established. Details of the mysterious Feltham Works were in the National Archives but not published. References to the post war influence of the Feltham Works success as it passed via Biggin Hill to the Royal Aircraft Establishment have now been researched. The suspected influence of Pitcher and Loraine on Denny's involvement with UAVs was recognised in 2019. The Imperial War Museum now state... "The Aerial Target... became the first drone to fly under control when it was tested in March 1917. The pilot (in control of the flight from the ground) on this occasion was the future world speed record holder Henry Segrave."

 

[PJ Fisher]

Iron Nerve
Can anyone identify this anoymous aviator?  Aliased here as only "De M", his story closely resembles but predates by a few months that of British pilot John Aidan Liddell, who earned the V.C. for showing similar fortitude in completing his mission.  Liddell's feat was shared here back on August 25th.  Perhaps this French flyer ultimately survived and was similarly decorated?
(from the Omaha Daily Bee, 23 April 1915):

[PJ Fisher]

Highs and Lows
Two back-to-back snippets pertaining to the RNAS today.  The first notes the decoration of Petty Officer J. Rees for an aerial victory, the second describes the death of Flight Lieutenant Bush from a unfortunate wirestrike over his home port.  Following is a bit more on Bush's story.
(from the Cambria Daily Leader 24 April 1917):

 
(image via greatwarforum.com)

"On April 22nd 1917 Lieutenant Richard Eldon Bush was testing a Sopwith Baby seaplane near Fishguard Harbour. The aeroplane failed to clear power lines when taking off and it crashed, and a sentry dragged the injured pilot from the plane before... two 16 pound bombs being carried exploded and the aircraft was completely wrecked. Bush (aged 26) - was badly burnt.   Lieutenant Bush was billeted at the Fishguard Bay Hotel, and was taken there to be treated for his injuries. He died on 24th April 1917.  Bush was piloting Sopwith N1033, one of the latest Blackburn-built ‘Baby’ float planes, with a revised wing section had only been delivered to the new RNAS anti-submarine station at Milford Haven the day before the accident. " (via aviation-safety.net)


(images respectively via kingstonavaiation.org and walesonline.co.uk)

According to a post on greatwarforum.com, the blackened mark from Bush's crash is still visible one-hundred years later.  In 2019 a model of Bush's plane was put on display at the Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre: https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/17432896.seaplane-model-goes-display-pembroke-dock-heritage-centre/.  Also, check out forum member PrzemoL's 1/32 Lukgraph build of a similar bomb-laden Sopwith Baby;  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=10939.0

[PJ Fisher]

Lafayette Fliers Fall
The final flight of R.H.Hoskier, allegedly the second American aviator to have died in combat during the Great War, was referenced here last month on March 15. Today's news reveals that his flying mate was French adjutant Jean Dressy, a who had previously escaped capture by the Germans.  They were felled by Willie Schenke of Jagdstaffel 20.

(from the New-York Tribune, 25 April 1917):

   


Here's a second view of their crash site juxtaposed with a modern image of the same field where a memorial sign has been placed.  A stone stele erected in their memory can be seen here: https://www.aerosteles.net/steleen-grugies-hoskier.

     
(images via patch.com; uswarmemorials.org)

[PJ Fisher]

Sopwith Cuckoo in Action
For our third Sopwith spotlight in one week, here's an early publication, albeit printed inverted, of the now-familiar photo series of Sopwith's Cuckoo N6950 during torpedo-dropping tests.  Though the article correctly states that the Armistice arrived before the Cuckoo saw combat, it first flew nearly a year and a half earlier in June 1917.  I was surprised to discover that no one has submitted a model of this plane here on the forum!
(from the Ogden Standard, 26 April 1919):

[PJ Fisher]

Seaplane Side-Slips
Our fourth Sopwith story this week shares news of a new two-seater that crashed just two days into service with the seaplane tender HMS Ben-my-Chree (whose sinking headlined here back on January 12).
(respectively from the Newark Evening Star and the Freie Presse fur Texas, 27 April 1915):



Some online sources cite the aircraft involved in this double fatality as a Wight Navyplane (at least one of which was aboard ship), but Ben-my-Chree's logbook notes this crash involved RNAS serial number 928, which was assigned to a Sopwith Admiralty Type 860 torpedo bomber.  Kingstonaviation.net also notes,"On 26th April after just two days in service and on its first test flight from HMS Ben-my-Chree, “Type 860” floatplane No.928 crashes from 600 ft after banking slightly with the engine throttled back possibly intending to alight but side-slipping into a nose dive beside the ship.  Fl Lt S. Medlicott and AMI H. G. Hughes are both killed".  Flight Lieutenant Medlicott was interned at Haslar Royal Navy Cemetery, and is memorialized on the Potterne Cross outside the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Wiltshire, England.  The Sopwith 860 is another plane that has yet to appear in model form here... or maybe anywhere?

   
 

[PJ Fisher]

Struts to New Heights
I swear I'm not overly obsessed with Sopwiths, but here's story number five on the subject this week. Today's news pertains to a '1-1/2 Strutter' that their chief test pilot, Harry Hawker, flew to nearly 25,000 feet.  This established a new British height record. 
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 28 April 1916):



"On 26th April Harry Hawker takes a “1½ Strutter” to a new British height record of 24,408ft at Brooklands, a considerable improvement on his own 18,393ft record in the “Sigrist Bus” last June and not far short of the long-standing world record of 25,750ft held by Herr Oelerich in a specially modified DFW.  The only change to Harry’s standard machine is a finer pitch Lang propeller.  One report refers to it as a single-seater which would suggest that it is the first “1½ Strutter” bomber.  Sopwith’s second Admiralty order for “1½ Strutters” has been formalised for 100 in a mix of long & short range two-seat fighters and long range single-seat bombers." (via kingstonaviation.net)

Check out forum member AndRoby67's 1/72nd-scale Toko build of a Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutter single-seat bomber variant in Dutch markings: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=10861.msg199831#msg199831