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

[PJ Fisher]

Tough Russian
Little detail to work with today but here's an amazing story of a Russian aviator who's airplane was hit 140 times and he emerged unscathed.
(from the Spanish American, 26 December 1914):

[PJ Fisher]

Torpedo Evolution
Two articles, published year and a day apart, discuss the development of aerial torpedos.  The pictorial features two RNAS seaplanes - the Short Admiralty Type 184 (designed to carry a 14-inch torpedo) and a real rarity... the Wight Twin.  Based on the failed Admiralty Department Seaplane Type 1000 of 1916 (the largest British aircraft then built), the Twin was developed to meet an Admiralty requirement for a long-range aircraft capable of carrying the heavier 18-inch torpedo required to sink larger warships.  It shared the same double-cambered wings, floats designs and Salmson 2m7 radials as the Improved Navyplane of 1914.  Alas, the Twin proved inadequate for carrying both a torpedo and a full fuel load and so less only a couple were produced.
(respectively from the Illustrated War News, 26 December 1917; and the Abergavenny Chronicle, 27 December 1918):




I've never seen a model of the Wight Twin, but here's a great scratchbuild of the similar Twin Blackburn in 1/72 by forum member Lone Modeller: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=10639.msg195183#msg195183

[Davos522]

I absolutely love the bizarre aircraft they were thinking up in the early days of the Great War. So can we expect you and Eric to tackle the Twin Wight as your next project? Heck, you've already got the engines figured out...

Dutch

[PJ Fisher]

Good thought and true - we do indeed have the engines, floats and basic wing structure already conquered!  And the twin fuselages are borrowed from a third Wight tractor design (the Admiralty Type 840) which also had the same engine and floats; much work is already behind us... including the torpedo. 

So many dreams so little time... at least I'm starting to figure out how to add more realistic backgrounds to our 3D renderings.  Here's one of the torpedoes (14in) I designed a few months back in a new environment I sourced online last weekend:

[Davos522]

Stunning!

[PJ Fisher]

Stunning!

Thank you!

[PJ Fisher]

Mark of the Death's Head
From the roof of the sky comes a personal recollection by the American journalist and author, 'Mrs. Deems Taylor', who took a loop over wartime London.  The artist's rendering and her description of her 'blip' suggest she was flying in a rare bird - a night-fighting B.E.2e of No. 50 Home Defence Squadron, RFC. 
(from the New-York Tribune Magazine, 28 December 1916):






Jane Anderson continued her career as a war correspondent during WW2... only this time as a fascist propagandist with a radio broadcast under the alias 'Georgia Peach'. She was indicted in abstentia for treason in the summer of 1943.  More on her story: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Anderson_%28journaliste%29

Today's tale is a fun find for me because this rare bird could well the very same machine I built a model of twenty-odd years ago.  It was my first attempt at building a resin kit (Czechmaster 1/72 with Blue Rider decals).  I recall I was so excited to photograph it as soon as the paint dried took I it the the park outside my NYC apartment in subfreezing temperatures.  By the time I returned home I realized the resin wings had curled up and the rigging had slackened... the wrong kind of wing warping!  Visible in the pictures, it retains the same limp look today....

[torbiorn]

Fascinating story and fantastic model. I have bought blue rider decals of a plane of that unit and was hoping to convert an Airfix kit. Yours is a great inspiration!

[PJ Fisher]

I have bought blue rider decals of a plane of that unit and was hoping to convert an Airfix kit. Yours is a great inspiration!

Give it a go!  Would love to see an in-progress conversion post of that!

[PJ Fisher]

SEAPLANE CENTERFOLD!
Paired with this week's post on the naval development of the aerial torpedo, here's a two-page pictorial on the development of seaplanes up to 1915.   Which numbers are your favorites??  Mine of course is #31 (Wight Enlarged Navyplane), followed by #12 (Borel Bo.8 Hydro-monoplane).  Some of these I don't even recognize.  Come to think of it... this could make for a good trivia game since we don't have the descriptions to go with the images.  Can anyone identify them all?
(from The Aeroplane, Supplements iv-v, 29 December 1915):

[torbiorn]

Let’s see now:
9. early Curtiss?
10. a Curtiss, dunno which model - edit google says F
13. Sopwith Batboat
15. Breguet
17. a Caudron?
18. Nieuport (IV?)
19: Bleriot XI hydroplane
20. Morane-Saulnier hydroplane
26. Henri Farman (HF 21 perhaps?) 28 looks like HFs too
33.Short looks like a predecessor of the 184

[KiwiZac]

SEAPLANE CENTERFOLD!
Paired with this week's post on the naval development of the aerial torpedo, here's a two-page pictorial on the development of seaplanes up to 1915.   Which numbers are your favorites??

Without a doubt 10 and 21: the Curtiss boats have a key place in New Zealand aviation history (and Sir Peter Jackson has one on display at Omaka), and I've long had a soft spot for the Tabloid...albeit I prefer mine with wheels!

Follow the Fleet
Introduced in summer of 1915, America's revered Curtiss JN's were certainly obsolete by European standards at the time this enthusiastic photo-story went to press.

I wonder if we'll see this photo recreated - in spirit if not direct colour scheme matching - with the upcoming, much anticipated Lukgraph and potential other kit releases?

First U.S. Camo?
Here's a quirky paint scheme on what looks to be a Thomas-Morse S-4.  Anyone recognize this image?  Would love to see a better-quality version.
(from the Evening Star, 16 December 1917):

I too would be fascinated to see more photos...and for someone (not me!) to do a model of this camo!

[PJ Fisher]

Let’s see now:
9. early Curtiss?
10. a Curtiss, dunno which model - edit google says F
13. Sopwith Batboat
15. Breguet
17. a Caudron?
18. Nieuport (IV?)
19: Bleriot XI hydroplane
20. Morane-Saulnier hydroplane
26. Henri Farman (HF 21 perhaps?) 28 looks like HFs too
33.Short looks like a predecessor of the 184

Right on!  … and extra rations to the bloke bold enough to go up in #1.

[PJ Fisher]

Prisoner in Palestine
This silhouetted desert bird appears to be the Albatros D.II (D636/17) flown by Oberleutnant Gustav Adolf Dittmar of Fliegerabteilung 300 unit, which force-landed near Weli Sheikh Nuran, Palestine on 10 October 1917.  "The aircraft had been shot down, practically intact, into AIF Light Horse lines near Bersheeba by a Bristol fighter aircraft flown by Lieutenant R. Steele a Canadian pilot with No 111 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. No 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, members recovered the machine and moved it to their airfield where repairs, including a bullet holed radiator, were carried out returning it to flying condition." (via AWM.gov.au)
(New-York Tribune, 30 December 1917):







(images via the Australian War Memorial and Facebook Australian Light Horse page)

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe the particular Bristol Fighter that clipped Dittmar's Albatros was serial# A-7194.  Click the link below this image and you an see archival film footage of this exact plane (startiing around the 14-minute mark:

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C188261

Bonus: a spectacular diorama of this machine was recently shared by forum member Mike Norris: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14144.msg260251#msg260251

[Davos522]

"No 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, members recovered the machine and moved it to their airfield..."

"Recovered"? Is that another term for "Scrounged"...?

Dutch