forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
The Book Shelf => What's interesting to read => Topic started by: PJ Fisher on March 20, 2022, 01:39:02 AM
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Guynemer Scores Thirty-Fifth Victory
(from the Quebec Telegraph, 19 March 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/LMNlDav.png)
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Shower Bombs Upon Zebrugge; Great Air Battle in Alsace
(from The Day, New London, CT, 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/B3ARIHu.png)
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Five Dollars in GOLD Paid for Model Airplanes:
(from the Spokesman-Review; Spokane, Washington, 1916)
(https://i.imgur.com/6HijHQ6.png)
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Flying High
(from the Sydney Morning Herald, 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/qGun7Z6.png)
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Zeppelins Bomb Paris
(from the Evening News, San Jose, 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/Wd5qrfk.png)
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Prince Freidrich Karl Shot Down By British
(from the Toronto World, 1917)
(https://i.imgur.com/SX7Loxa.png)
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A busy day in 1918 as can be seen from this extract from Communique 132 of the RFC. This was the penultimate communique before the RFC transitioned into the RAF.
A 'Bloody Paralyser' flew an 81/2 hour mission to bomb Cologne and 90,000 rounds were fired in ground attacks on enemy troops. Harvey and Moore in a Bristol Fighter knocked down an Albatros D.V amongst many other victories.
Great to hear the boot was on the other foot compared to a year earlier!
Sandy
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Thank you PJ for posting the newspaper clippings. Fascinating and insightful reads. Sandy, thanks for posting the communique. May I ask where you got that communique?
James
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French Destroy Enemy Aircraft
(from the Toronto World, 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/km8tpDz.png)
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Sandy, thanks for posting the communique. May I ask where you got that communique?
James
Excellent little book from Grub Street publishers - includes the weekly communiques from RFC HQ in France - known irreverently to RFC crews as 'Comic Cuts'!
S
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Sandy, thanks for posting the communique. May I ask where you got that communique?
James
Excellent little book from Grub Street publishers - includes the weekly communiques from RFC HQ in France - known irreverently to RFC crews as 'Comic Cuts'!
S
Sandy, thank you my friend. I will check it out now and see where I can find it.
James
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Reports of Mysterious German Giants
(from the Cambridge Times, 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/uXRLGWU.png)
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Royalty Under Fire Over Front
(from the Youngstown Vindicator, 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/4Sg7cGX.png)
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Strafing near Suez
(from The Day, 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/udWPE0r.png)
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Putnam Attains Ace Status
(from the Pittsburgh Press, 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/dup2NpN.png)
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Beware of Female Spies!
(from the Spokane Daily Chronicle, 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/3OTu23G.png) (https://i.imgur.com/QDeGBNB.jpg)
(poster printed in 1917)
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British 'Destroyers' top 150mph
(from the Lewiston Evening Journal, 31 March 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/uzxKCN5.png)
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Introducing the Ilya Muromets
(from the Morning Leader, 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/wXmmfcv.png)
For an idea of size, check out IanB's 1/72 in-progress build from 2017: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=1903.0
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This could almost have been an April Fool's post...
(from the Portsmouth Daily Times, 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/MmjyidJ.png)
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Much Allied Aerial Activity
(from the Montreal Daily Mail, 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/BFVpzct.png) (https://i.imgur.com/85CXwmO.png)
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These newspaper articles are fun to read, please keep them coming PJ!
Willem
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Glad to hear. Will do! Everyone else is welcome to contribute too.
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Zeppelins Guided by Radio
(from Popular Science Monthly, 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/MlNYdgh.png) (https://i.imgur.com/pwNnGgm.png)
Check out MoFo's amazing 3D-printed 1/350 Zepp model: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11834.msg221251#msg221251
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Seaplane Saves Sinking Seaplane
(from the Montreal Gazette, 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/cMkWwrO.png)
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Pégoud Captures Taube
(from the Lewiston Evening Journal, 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/kd0hywH.png)
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Crashes in Cemetery Carrying Corpse in Coffin
(from the Paterson Press, 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/mrXbKKr.png)
[/quote]
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Battling Bird Men: Boelke, Immelman, Althaus, Pegoud, Guynemer, Garros, Warneford, Thaw, et al.
(from the Cayuga Chief, 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/UgVgxft.png)(https://i.imgur.com/t9ZjCSZ.png)(https://i.imgur.com/3G28bfK.png)
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Fierce Week-end Fighting over France
(from the Morning Leader, 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/uRmXboa.png) (https://i.imgur.com/sXNN7Ju.png)
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"Fast Eddie", one of America's top race-car drivers and future ace of aces, proposes an elite Aero Squadron comprising motor racers.
(from the Crawfordsville Review, 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/Uj4eDBt.png)
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Fighting Fokkers
(from the Evening Independent, 11 April 1918)
(https://i.imgur.com/QpyVbzU.png)
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FIVE HUNDRED Zeppelins Ready to Raid
(from the Warsaw Daily Union, 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/J7Yqid4.png)
******************************************************************************************************************
Field Marshall von Hindenburg Hit
(from the Windsor Record, 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/oi5vTY8.png)
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The Canadian Call Answered by Collishaw?
(from the Montreal Daily Mail, 1915)
(https://i.imgur.com/nmc8NDV.png)
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US President's Son Joins Canadian Air Service:
(from the Post Express, 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/Uov2XNz.png)
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Tryggve Gran's Amazing Story
The Antarctic explorer and advisor to the failed Scott Expedition, who was the first solo flyer across North Sea, joins the RFC after using fake name. He allegedly shoots down Hermann Göring five months later; befriending him after war.
(from the Sunday Morning Star, 15 April 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/KhbIya8.png)(https://i.imgur.com/xJ2RQwZ.png)
(Photograph published in his 1919 Memoir, '"Under Britisk Flag - Krigen 1914-1918"
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German Zeppelins Successfully Bomb Chicken Coop
(from the Sydney Morning Herald, 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/3oABrx6.png)
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Fate of a Gotha... and its Flying Canine Co-Pilot
(from the Sydney Mail, 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/qp4pzKe.png)
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Fallen Figher Flown OUT of No-Man's Land
(from The Century, 1918)
(https://i.imgur.com/mjHptWj.png)(https://i.imgur.com/qBEuQwy.png)
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What a great story!
Willem
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Wonder if it actually happened... I searched briefly further for 'Captian Jaumotte', but didn't find anything significant. Good storytelling at least.
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Legendary Flyer Garros is Captured!
(from the Meriden Daily Journal, 1915)
(https://i.imgur.com/WDUJbcr.png)(https://i.imgur.com/C0KYOjL.png)
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Recalling a Duel in the Lafayette Flying Corps
After the war the narrator, Granville A. Pollock, became commanding officer of the NYPD Aviation Unit
(from the Toledo News-Bee, 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/9G8F9EJ.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/MUbnbs9.png)
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April 21 1918, of course saw the demise of a certain Rittmeister, but he was not the only German casualty by far as witnessed in this extract from the Casualty lists. A bad day for les sales Boches!
Sandy
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Apologies to those who've seen this one before - but it is the one day of the year I can re-post it!
Sandy
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Hi Sandy, may I ask what book this listing is in?
Willem
P.s. I don't mind at all that you repost this wonderful model ;)
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Thanks, Willem
It's another Grub Street publication.
Cheers. S
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Apologies to those who've seen this one before - but it is the one day of the year I can re-post it!
Sandy
Thanks for sharing this model of Richtofen's downed plane! News of his demise started trickling to the western press over the following days. Here are two of the first to surface on this day in 1918. More to follow tomorrow.
From the Bonham Daily Favorite:
(https://i.imgur.com/Pp1XJcH.png)
From the Warsaw Daily Times:
(https://i.imgur.com/d8v7Hbh.png)(https://i.imgur.com/GdGohqR.png)
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Emerging Details on Richtofen's Demise
(from the Montreal Gazette, on this day in 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/kg0cVeo.png)(https://i.imgur.com/S5a2vW3.png)(https://i.imgur.com/P3Oqynv.png)(https://i.imgur.com/geeGaOv.png)
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MEANWHILE IN MEXICO (Three Reports on the US Invasion...)
1. Your Tax Dollars At Work (from The Day, 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/GEoKurG.png)
2. Aviator Bribes Firing Squad, Escapes Across Border Clinging to Boxcar (from Aerial Age Weekly, 26 April 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/Oiih9br.png)
3. American Bird-men Break Record (from the Ingomar Index, 27 April 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/qfgyb7o.png)
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Richtofen's Mis-Identified Mistress and Killer
They even publish the woman's home address!
(from the Berkeley Daily Gazette 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/3aLGrGO.png) (https://i.imgur.com/gbKo9iv.png)
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Enjoy a Wine Tasting While Comfortably Watching Zeppelins Destroy Your Home:
(both from Aerial Age Weekly, 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/a6VNHMkh.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/n08WjQT.png)
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Quirky Air-Service Lingo
(from the Woodville Republican, 1918)
(https://i.imgur.com/OK5n9Pm.png)
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'Chateau Joe' Recalls First Flight Over the Front
(from the Newark Sunday Call, 1918 {click to enlarge})
(https://i.imgur.com/w2Nk49O.jpg)
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Planning for Yankee Planes 'Over There'
(From the Troy Sunday Budget, 1917):
1. (https://i.imgur.com/e0HRmpI.png). 2.(https://i.imgur.com/kFcQN20.png)
3. (https://i.imgur.com/L0UAqPt.png).
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Fokker Fighting Tactics
(from Popular Mechanics, April 1916)
(https://i.imgur.com/fsGhT5i.png)(https://i.imgur.com/2qYvnhXl.png)
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Anyone Ever Heard of This Austrian 'Ace'?
(from the Washington Observer, 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/5zvBjrL.png)
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Uncle Sam's Suicide Traps
(from the Meriden Daily Journal, 1916):
1. (https://i.imgur.com/43iZD7s.png) 2. (https://i.imgur.com/YyF6EsF.png)
3.(https://i.imgur.com/UjY75AG.png). 4. (https://i.imgur.com/cO8qhbhl.png)
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Brooklyn Boy Bags First Boche
(from the Toledo News-Bee, 1918; with a snippet about American ace J. A. Meissner (from Wikipedia):
"Piloting a French-made Nieuport 28, Meissner scored his first aerial victory over the Forêt De La Rappe on 2 May 1918; he was fortunate to survive, given the fabric was shredding off his top wing even as he scored. At any rate, the feat earned the Distinguished Service Cross and the Croix de Guerre."
(https://i.imgur.com/d7TSswB.png)
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Malone Missing
(from the Morning Leader, 1917)
Interesting anecdote on wikipedia how this Canadian ace rescued one of the pilots he downed from German artillery. He himself would be dead just one week later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Joseph_Malone
(https://i.imgur.com/nuoesXV.png)
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Raider of Loughborough Wrecked
Cited as the L20, technically this was Zeppelin LZ. 59.
(from the Glasgow Herald, 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/ARHW4iq.png) (https://i.imgur.com/WrEcRve.png)(https://i.imgur.com/1NGqVpb.png)
And from the Gettysburg Times, 1916:
(https://i.imgur.com/Len0Q5T.png)
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French Ace Flachaire Flips For Americans
This article assigned him 15 planes downed and forty unconfirmed victories, though it appears his official tally in the history books is only is eight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Flachaire). He would again serve in the French military throughout all of WWII.
(from the Gazette Times):
(https://i.imgur.com/dWiZqx0.png) (https://i.imgur.com/VBEKc6Y.png) (https://i.imgur.com/pcF6QT5.png)
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The Art of Flying
(from Greenberg Daily Tribune):
(https://i.imgur.com/cE4gc8w.png)(https://i.imgur.com/oYjaWFa.png)
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Targeting Taubes
(from Popular Mechanics, May 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/ECWrU7N.png) (https://i.imgur.com/d7H6nWQ.png)
p.s. Here's a link to the 2014 post by forum member 'andyw' of his CSM Taube: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=4317.0
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I'd love to know the significance of the markings on the Taube - I'm not sure I've ever seen anything except national markings on them.
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I'd love to know the significance of the markings on the Taube - I'm not sure I've ever seen anything except national markings on them.
I'm curious too, as I know little of German plane markings. Wonder if maybe they were painted in by whomever published the photograph?
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IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU - Bird Attacks Model Airplane
(from the Sunday Chronicle, 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/IkWlfTD.png)
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Brave Yankee Birds Abroad
(from the Toledo News-Bee 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/XsA2fAb.png)(https://i.imgur.com/TW3RTUJ.png)
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'WORLD'S KILLING CHAMPIONSHIP'! 'Human Hawk' Navarre Challenges 'Man Falcon' Immelmann to an Air Duel...
This may just be the best headline of the entire war.
(from the Toledo News-Bee, 11 May 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/aXINez3.png)
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Albert Ball is Missing
(from the Mount Airy News, 12 May 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/33iYuEv.png)
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Captive Brit Dumps Unbelted Boche During Loop?
(from the Evening Tribune, 13 May 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/jB6kmLX.png)
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I really enjoy reading all these stories PJ!
Willem
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I really enjoy reading all these stories PJ!
Glad to hear. I'm starting to understand how so many became enchanted by all these exploits right as they were happening.
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Twin TKO: Two Duelers Fall to Earth Wrapped in Flames
(from the Evening Independent, 14 May 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/NH9ZU46.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/AuZjYtl.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/L9G6LYT.png)
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Witness to Tragedy
(from the Washington Reporter, 15 May 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/C67xb12.png)
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I really enjoy reading all these stories PJ!
Glad to hear. I'm starting to understand how so many became enchanted by all these exploits right as they were happening.
I’m not posting, but I read all of them - thank you for taking the time.
I try to fold my mind into thinking flying was invented only a very few years ago when reading these snippets, but I don’t think I can bring up the sense of wonder people of the time must’ve had. Mixed with the insane danger of early aviation, even without someone shooting at you, must’ve made it an irresistable cocktail.
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I'm starting to understand how so many became enchanted by all these exploits right as they were happening.
Especially with the way the articles are written!
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Louis Strange's Strange Legend
Though not mentioned here by name, almost every survey of WWI British aviation recalls this pilot's true tale. More details via wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Strange
(from the Toronto World, 16 May 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/M8qzc7m.png)
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Nice find Paul!
Willem
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American First
This front-page article from rural Oklahoma on 17 May 1918, unwittingly reports America's first aerial victory of the war (which occurred one month earlier). A quote from the Wikipedia page on the 94th Aero Squadron tells the tale in hindsight:
"On a cloudy Sunday morning, 14 April, an alert was given and Lieutenants Douglas Campbell and Alan F. Winslow took off. A few minutes later, two enemy aircraft were seen moving through some clouds, and after a brief combat, Lt Campbell shot down one of the enemy and Lt Winslow forced the other down out of control. Both crashed on the ground. These were the first American air combat victories of World War I."
P.S. The two headlines at the bottom of the clipping suggest that there was also plenty action happening on the homefront.
(from the Guthrie Daily Leader):
(https://i.imgur.com/ey8ojU3.png)
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Aerodrome Braggadocio After Fighting the 'Flying Circus'
(from the Bridgeport Evening Farmer, 18 May 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/oFEv4Yh.png)
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Side-by-side Spotlights on High Society Aviators
Left: Theodore Marburg Jr. joined the RFC and nearly died on a recon mission in 1915 when his plane crashed and a wing strut pierced his knee. He became a one-legged flight instructor, and was imfamously denied entry to the US while attempting to procure a prosthetic replacement because he had previously sworn allegiance to the Crown in order to fight while the US maintained neutrality. He married a baroness (shown below) and, after the war, attempted life as a cattle rancher. He shot himself in the head after she abandoned him shortly thereafter.
Right: Elliott C. Cowdin, co-founding flyer of the Lafayette Escadrille at the late age of 30, became the first American to receive France's Medaille Militaire. However, the Escadrille's official historian later noted that his fellow pilots claimed 'Most of his flying was done in bars' and that he "obtained citations for work he had not done and victories he had not gained, by buying champagne for his Captains". In early 1917 Cowdin was discharged for being unfit to fly. His postwar years were spent playing polo and pursuing the playboy life.
(from the Wauwatosa News, 19 May 1916).
(https://i.imgur.com/ZPKnR49.png)
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The Art of Bombing
(from the Diamond Drill, Crystal Falls, Michigan, 20 May 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/MOC4AiR.png)
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***BREAKING NEWS***
(from the Evening Edition of the West Virginian, 20 May 1918 [more headlines to follow tomorrow]):
(https://i.imgur.com/fZSAehW.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/btdP4nD.png)
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More on Lufery's Demise
(from the Hawaaian.Gazette):
(https://i.imgur.com/ROuVu9C.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/VQdlXUE.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/LE6jUtx.png) (https://i.imgur.com/KpGyFOV.png)
p.s. Here's a shoutout to forum member 'coyotemagic' and his 2012 1/48 scale build of Lufbery's Nieuport N111: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=632.45
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Triple Header: Two Aces and an Olympian
Today's first report features American Aviator Stephen Potter who was shot down in flames by a plane piloted by Friedrich Christiansen, Germany's only seaplane pilot to earn the Pour le Merite. Potter was assigned to the British Royal Naval Air Station at Felixstowe. He has been credited as the first American naval aviator to shoot down a German seaplane. The US Navy honored Potter in 1943 by christening a Fletcher-class destroyer in his name (DD-538) ; it served beyond WWII, being mothballed in 1958. Christiansen went on to join the Nazi Party and was ultimately imprisoned for war crimes; dying only two days after the USS Stephen Potter was officially scrapped. The second report entwines the high-altitude victory of US athelete William H. Taylor, and the longwinded behind-the-lines victory of American ace David McKelvey Peterson, Flight Commander of the 95th Aero Squadron. Peterson died in a flying mishap just four months after the armistice.
(from the New York Tribune, 23 May 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/kxyk012.png)
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First Blood: Austrian Airplanes Attack Arsenal, Ancoma and along Adriatic
The first fighting between Austria and Italy occurred on this day in 1915 with coordinated bombing, though little damage occurred. Upon entering the conflict Italy had only 86 airplanes and 70 pilots at the ready; by war's end they had produced about 12,000 aircraft.
(from the Toledo News-Bee, 24 May 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/E4gI3eo.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Xjpr4bH.png)
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Men vs. Machines
Two incidents, a year apart, prove reminders that sometimes an airman's greatest foe was his own airplane and mechanical failure. The first involves two slightly differing dispatches about the British rescue of two German 'aeroplanists' sent to sea by engine trouble (respectively from the Star-Independent and the Perth Amboy Evening News, 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/fka0FWdl.png) (https://i.imgur.com/7nwn1Hul.png)
The second reports on how Bert Hall, of the Lafayette Escadrille, managed to fell a German plane after his own propeller started to fail, causing him to descend. Hall's backstory is interesting- he flew for the Sultan of Turkey against Bulgaria, barnstormed through Ukraine, and served with the French Foreign Legion in Morocco... all before the Great War. More on his adventurous life here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Hall
(from the New Britain Herald, 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/m0tEZcC.png)
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Guynemer - Boy Hero of France
An early American article focusing on France's newfound fascination with this legendary ace.
(from the Klamath Falls Evening Herald, 26 May 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/RNwUUvx.png)(https://i.imgur.com/j9TEHyN.png)
p.s. Here's a shout-out to rfindly who shared his 2020 1/48 scale build of the Nieuport Ni11, which Guynemer would have been flying at time this article was published: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11688.msg217829#msg217829
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Giving Up 3.5 Miles Up?
Tales of derring-do brought to you by the Toronto World (from 27 May 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/EmVTPRt.png)
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Navarre et Navarre - Twin Eagles Fighting For France
It is seldom remembered that the great French ace Jean Navarre's twin brother, Pierre, also flew in the Aéronautique Militaire.
(https://i.imgur.com/yctv69Dm.png)
This great read (from the Washington Sunday Star, 28 May 1916) shares their exploits and documents Pierre's hospital recovery following wounds sustained during an aerial victory while piloting a Nieuport 11 Bébé with Escadrille Spa.69. For this action he earned the Médaille militaire with the citation, "Le 8 mars 1916, a attaqué successivement à bout portant deux avions ennemis et a forcé le premier a atterrir précipitamment : au cours du second combat, a reçu trois blessures graves". The Frères Navarre seemed destined to become twin aces, but Pierre would be dead only 6th months later from a solo flying accident... the same manner in which Jean would die three years later:
(https://i.imgur.com/8ktprIQ.png)
Sidebar:
Speaking of twins, this newspaper image of the American Ambulance Hospital depicts a man standing aside Jean Navarre bearing an uncanny resemblance to a young Ernest Hemingway, who served as an ambulance driver on the Western Front; however, a quick study suggests the dates and locations do not align.
(https://i.imgur.com/Z80kqcet.png) (https://i.imgur.com/rwKZJB7t.png)
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A Busy Day Up in the Skies
(from the Deseret News, 1918)
(https://i.imgur.com/HlXvEch.png) (https://i.imgur.com/oxcJoB4.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/85jzKEc.png)(https://i.imgur.com/0EJwlbF.png)
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In Memoriam
Nine million combat personnel died during the Great War. Five million civilians died from military operations, occupation, hunger, and disease. Those events directly shaped this world we now share, and the model aircraft we build are miniature mementos of our collective human experience from part of that conflict. Today the United States honors its fallen veterans by celebrating Memorial Day. This simple two-sentence article offers a fitting parallel, as it tells of soldiers using an airplane's remnants to mark the final resting place of a lost comrade - a memorial happening in real time. His name is unknown, but he is remembered.
(from the Richmond Palladium and Sun-Telegram, 29 May 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/DzfabgT.png)
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French Penguins Learn to Fly
(from Popular Science, June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/ZxBzV48.png) (https://i.imgur.com/C8V0Zdj.png)
p.s. Here's a shout-out to forum member 'lone modeller', who shared his 1/72 build of a Bleriot 'penguin' back in 2014: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3216.msg53954#msg53954
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When Penguins Become Hawks
(from Popular Science, June 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/rkl0ylj.png) (https://i.imgur.com/EX7PMKt.png)
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Fighting in the French Fashion
(from the Twin City Star, 1918)
(https://i.imgur.com/xKqyY8Y.png)
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Count Baracca 'Drops' Thirty-Two Planes
From 3 June 1918 regarding Italy's Ace of Aces and the man who inspired Ferrari's famous logo. In the mere sixteen days he has left to live he will down two more enemy planes. A memorial still stands on the site where his body, reportedly with his pistol unholstered and a bullet in his brain, was found a few yards from his wrecked plane. More details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Baracca
(from the Portsmouth Daily Times):
(https://i.imgur.com/awQneQ7.png)
p.s. Here's a shout-out to forum member 'Andolio64' and his 1/32 scale build of Baracca's Nieuport Ni17 from 2015: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=4255.msg93488#msg93488
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Blackout in the City that Never Sleeps
(from the Seattle Star, 4 June 1918)
(https://i.imgur.com/5Ocadojh.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/wBMeXtRh.png) (https://i.imgur.com/JsjWrKCh.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/LWwGSXJh.png)
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Spotlight: Roy Brown, "Von Richtofen's Vanquisher"...
...or so he was credited officially by the Royal Air Force, despite his own combat report calling the confrontation 'indecisive'. Y'all know the rest. At the time of this publication, Brown had been recently released from hospital having recovering from influenza and nervous exhaustion. He will be assigned aerial instruction duties at Maerske Aerodrome until mid July when an airplane crash will return him to the hospital for another five months.
(from the Calgary Daily Herald, June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/OMbFAKjh.png)
p.s. It turns out that, in 2016, Roy Brown's cremated remains were reinterred in the Toronto Necropolis; just seven blocks from my apartment. I recently strolled over and found his new headstone near the main entrance.
(https://i.imgur.com/daV8ZKj.jpg)
p.p.s. Check out forum member squiffy's 2014 build of Roy Brown's Camel B7270: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=645.msg83990#msg83990
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Spotlight: George McCubbin, "Vanquisher of Immelmann"...
Here's a short photo-story on the 18-year-old boy who felled one of the great pioneers of aerial combat, taken while McCubbin was on furlough in South Africa nearly a year after the incident which earned him a DSO (though his name would be censored initially). More on Immelmann's demise to appear in the near future. Has anyone here built a model of McCubbin's plane?
(from the Sydney Mail, 6 June 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/FrAk8Gi.png)
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Talk of Italian Trimotor
Interesting short read on what must be the Caproni Ca.2/Ca.3. The storyline credits the original article as having been penned over a week prior, but this version was published on this day, 7 June 1915, by the Evening Star.
(https://i.imgur.com/X83Z9vc.png)
p.s. Bringing this old tale to life is the 1/72 scale diorama shared by forum member 'maulaula' in 2015, which shows not one but two Ca.3's at roost:
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=5177.msg91458#msg91458
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Let's not forget Ron Kootje's beautiful scratch build!
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=533.0
Willem
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Let's not forget Ron Kootje's beautiful scratch build!
Willem
Masterpiece
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ATTACK OF THE EINDEKKERS
News of Germany's supremacy in tactics and technology over the front spread around the world while the 'Fokker Scourge' was happening. Interesting to read here the mention of 'inherent stability'. It was a goal of early aeroplane design theory, and a particular triumph of de Havilland's BE.2 series of planes that entered service way back in 1912. Its very success in being a stable platform for reconnaissance became the BE's downfall by mid 1915... and the British kept them flying long after that.
(from the Oxnard Daily Courier, 8 June 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/RG3mAdn.png) (https://i.imgur.com/5O2refg.png)(https://i.imgur.com/8yGFQnH.png)
p.s. For a trip down memory lane, here's a link to the 2012 thread featuring everyone's eindekker builds: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=646.0
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Extraordinary Ordnance
Anyone know which plane might have dropped this bomb? Gotha?
(from the Spokesman-Review, 9 June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/cUYaz8c.png)
p.s. For anyone interested, here's a recent report on how they are still discovering finding unexploded bombs in France over100 years later: https://youtu.be/YNIBE64CAgs
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Fallen German Fliers
Here's a interesting inventory of top German aces and their kill counts. I wonder how these match up with the officially credited victories today?
(from the Spokesman-Review, 10 June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/tl6bSx5.png)
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Risk Lives. No Rules.
(from the Washington Herald, 11 June 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/MrCv99w.png) (https://i.imgur.com/k1QhWSJ.png) (https://i.imgur.com/iX7uEZf.png)
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Friendly Fire Fells Five Fliers in Fifty-Fighter Fray
(from the Spokesman Review, 12 June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/Agfv1Pl.png)(https://i.imgur.com/vIG5AJi.png)
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Frankreichs Kreigsflugzeuge (French Warplanes)
Here's an interesting early-war review of French aircraft (including Farmans, Caudrons, and Nieuports) and tactics found in a German-language newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland. The print is a bit faded... and in the old High German standard font... so good luck to those in need!
(from Der Deutsche Correspondent, 13 June 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/rWCSt3n.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/NOfub6J.jpg)
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How Our Forefathers Did It
(from Boy's Life, June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/t5A7nZ7.png)(https://i.imgur.com/5dtKJEj.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/KUP3laB.jpg)
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Operation Türkenkreuz
News of the deadliest bombing raid of WWI (and the first daylight raid over London), which occurred two days prior. Over 100 planes involved.
(from the Youngstown Vindicator, 15 June 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/uGyz3kv.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/o4zIDLv.png)(https://i.imgur.com/CGPd5cn.png)
Details from wikipedia:
"An attack on 5 June was diverted to Sheerness in Kent due to a poor weather forecast but a third raid on 13 June, taking off at 10:00 a.m., was the first daylight raid on London. As there had been little planning, early attempts to intercept the Gothas were ineffective. In England, 92 aircraft took to the air but few were able to climb high enough to engage the bombers. A Bristol F.2 Fighter of 35 (Training) Squadron flown by Captain John Cole-Hamilton with Captain C. H. C. Keevil as the observer, attacked three Gothas over Ilford but Keevil was hit by return-fire and killed instantly. British anti-aircraft guns near the coast managed to hit the aircraft of Captain T. Grant of 39 Squadron, who made a forced-landing at Rochford. As the Gothas flew on the crews could see aircraft taking off from airfields as they approached, the air peppered with smoke from anti-aircraft fire. Beyond Southend, the formation was approached by a Sopwith Triplane (114 mph (183 km/h), time to 10,000 ft (3,000 m), ten minutes) which fired at too great a distance to have an effect. Near Ostend, a British formation was spotted and one fighter made a head-on attack on a Gotha which was then attacked by a Sopwith Camel from the rear, hitting the aircraft with gunfire before the combined fire of several Gothas drove off the British fighters.
The raid caused 162 deaths and 432 injuries. Among the dead were 18 children, killed by a bomb falling on the Upper North Street School primary school in Poplar. The reason for the relatively large numbers of casualties seems to have been public ignorance as to the threat posed by aerial bombardment in daylight. Lieutenant Charles Chabot, a RFC pilot on leave, recorded that: "...Raids hadn't become a very serious thing and everybody crowded out into the street to watch. They didn't take cover or dodge". This was the deadliest air raid of the war and no Gothas were lost. News of the raid was received enthusiastically in Germany and Brandenburg was summoned to Berlin to be awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military honour. On taking off for the return journey, his aircraft had an [sic] failure; Brandenburg was severely injured and his pilot, Oberleutnant} Freiherr von Trotha, was killed."
p.s. Check out this Roden model by malaula of a Gotha G.IV that participated in Operation Türkenkreuz: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=6676.msg122423#msg122423
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It's fascinating to see a model depicting a piece of history as we read it - great detective work, PJ!
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On Your Marks, Get Set, Go...
By the way, adjusted for inflation the prize money equals about $1,150!
(from the Youngstown Vindicator, 16 June 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/RzqzrFc.png)
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Warneford Falls in France
News of his heroic deed spread fast. He had single-handedly destroyed a Zeppelin (LZ37) by bombing it from above (in his Morane Saulnier Type L 'Parasol'). Warneford's victory boosted morale throughout the British Empire. Then, only ten days later, he was dead. He was just 23 years old.
(from the Daily Kennebac Journal, 17 June 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/HGjwQvi.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Sqi0Hsvm.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/UJT85vB.jpg)
Check out rhallinger's 1/32 scale portrait miniature of Lt. Warneford: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11186.msg208744#msg208744
Along with his customized paper card model of Warneford's plane: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11062.msg204862#msg204862
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Ghost Riders in the Sky
(from the Nevada Silver State, 18 June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/0HvNjdT.png)(https://i.imgur.com/oilqT4p.png)
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"They go Up Tiddly Up Up, They Go Down Tiddly Down Down..."
(from the Youngstown Vindicator, 19 June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/mJ83TS8.png)(https://i.imgur.com/avWMVWD.png)
Bonus for anyone who recognizes the headline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPgS26ZhqZs
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Italian Plane Trounces Austrian Gun Float, Hollywood Style
(from the Youngstown Vindicator, 20 June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/Z6lsbzV.png)
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Japanese 'Ace' Jumps from Burning Plane at 9,000ft
You read it right. Though the Japanese aviator Kobayashi Shukunosuke's ace status is unverified and unlikely, he did fight and fall (literally) for France over the Western Front. He was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre. More info on the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army Airforce can be found here: https://en.w3we.com/wiki/Imperial_Japanese_Army_Air_Service
(Respectively from the Deseret News and the Montreal Gazette (21 June 1918), and the Herald of Asia (on 29 June):
(https://i.imgur.com/gTHT8l8.png) (https://i.imgur.com/rFk1Qcx.png) (https://i.imgur.com/Vulg7uj.png)
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Italy's top ace killed! America's top ace Killed! German Ace Loerzer Wounded!
A busy news day covering a bloody week.
(respectively from the Pittsburgh Press, the Toronto World, and the Morning Leader; 22 June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/oJGdB5a.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/jAl18Lw.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/CCM2duw.png)
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Whatever Works
(from the New York Tribune, 23 June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/17etBXI.png)
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Sikorsky Flees to France
Just one week after the Russian Provisional Government's failed attack on Germany, Igor Sikorsky, designer of the Ilya Murometz four-engine bomber, found himself in France, where he would continue his work as an aircraft engineer. Within months after the Armistice he would emigrate to America and re-establish himself as a pioneer in aviation design.
(from the Calgary Daily Herald, 24 June 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/Tad03od.png)
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"Girl" Aviator Shot Above Galicia
Though not named here, this news snippet notes one of the few female military pilots to see action in WWI. Nedeshda Degtereva also holds the distinction of becoming the first woman pilot to have been wounded in combat (as noted, while on a reconnaissance mission over the Austrian front in Galicia).
(from the St. Joseph News-Press, 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/hGwYkuM.png)
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Italian Airman Wins Night Duel
(from the Pittsburg Press, 26 June 1918):
Any thoughts on who this pilot might have been?
(https://i.imgur.com/xrGeWsS.png)
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German Plane Bombs Baltimore
Theoretically at least... (the American press has a long history of tall tales and paranoia!). Interestingly, they do cite the blackout that NYC actually experienced, which was reported here a few weeks back.
(From the Free Lance, July 1918).
(https://i.imgur.com/4mRKOZ3.png)(https://i.imgur.com/WCA4iXS.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/N3EiC5K.png)(https://i.imgur.com/kVLtE15.png)
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New French Plane
(from the Sydney Mail, 28 June 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/y59RWd9.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/3GNtG1R.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/VWwwKs8.png)
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Forgive my ignorance, all: what exactly is it? I don't recognise this machine.
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Forgive my ignorance, all: what exactly is it? I don't recognise this machine.
I was wondering too. Maybe a Dorand variant? The article may be exaggerating; 140mph seems pretty fast for 1916.
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Another Active Day Over the Western Front
(from the Gazette Times):
(https://i.imgur.com/49INpOo.png)
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Toffs Trek from Trenches to Turkish Baths and Back
"Oh! Oh! Oh! It's a lovely war..."
(from the Evening Record, 30 June 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/GPd3WCR.png)
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Handley Page In Action
(From the New York Tribune, 1 July 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/ysWIdNQ.png)(https://i.imgur.com/5DvEXk0.png) (https://i.imgur.com/8Ygayyh.png)(https://i.imgur.com/H868IR7.png)
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Funny how they misspell the name ;)
Willem
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Funny how they misspell the name ;)
Willem
The amount of times I read "Messerschmidt" growing up...!
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Vigorous Russians Victorious
Perhaps the legend is true... of the 85 or so of these bombers built throughout the war, only one was lost to enemy combat.
(from the Saskatoon Phoenix, 2 July 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/C6xgsX7.png) (https://i.imgur.com/6aI0yF8.png)
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ATTENTION LADIES! …and ‘EAGLETS’!
Now available - the latest summer fashion for 1917!
(from the Painesville Telegraph):
(https://i.imgur.com/c3MdIvl.png) (https://i.imgur.com/4t0gdYa.png)
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Spotlight: Eddie Rickenbacker
Here's a little excerpt on the exploits of America's Rising Star Aviator.
(https://i.imgur.com/oZbk45Z.png)
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Farman Hit 400 Times; Kept Flying!
(From Popular Science, July 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/QPzOFqc.png)
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Genet's Grave
Edmond Charles Clinton Genet was the first US aviator die following America's entry into WWI. Here are more details on his life and death (which occurred back in April) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_Genet
(from Popular Mechanics, July 1918)
(https://i.imgur.com/aU4ht5A.png)
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'Gimpers' Accuse 'Heinies' of Inflation
(from the Pittsburgh Press, 7 July 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/CculYUK.png)(https://i.imgur.com/1t4kZpl.png)
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Chivalry for an Ace Who Survived Only Four Months
(from the Providence Evening Tribune, 8 July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/d8Qowv5.png)
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Italian Air Instructor Breaks Own Rules, Pays Ultimate Price
The story goes that he initiated a nosedive at just 300 feet but could not pull out in time. He crashed on the same airfield later used by Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, and where Charles Lindbergh would begin his legendary TransAtlantic solo flight in 1927. Gianfelice Gino's name lives on as the the honorary title of the Sons of Italy Lodge No. 878, in Freeland, Pennsylvania.
(from the Evening Tribune, July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/Eic8K1o.png) (https://i.imgur.com/B2HkKF4.jpg)
(Banner image from the History of Freeland, PA website)
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Fighting in the Air (part 1 of 2)
(from Popular Science, July 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/8EEYVGp.png) (https://i.imgur.com/3E47xpL.png)
(to be continued tomorrow)
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Fighting in the Air (part 2 of 2)
(from Popular Science, July 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/aXfoaZO.png) (https://i.imgur.com/1CJHtqB.png)
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Very interesting articles Paul, thanks for posting them!
Willem
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My pleasure. Glad others are enjoying too.
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Spotlight: Guynemer vs. Boelcke
Check out the tweaked spandau he's using for a walking stick.
(From Popular Science, July 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/Dzc6jvB.png)
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No Parachute? No Problem.
Simply act like a 'drunken man or little child' right when you're about to hit earth.
(from the Warsaw Daily Times, 13 July 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/MoMkpak.png)
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Captured Illinois Airman Escapes Germans Five Times. Brooklyn Ace's Tenth Victory. French Squadron Commander Goes Missing. Romanian Airman Killed.
Host of updates today from the Sunday Star (14 July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/d6wG52V.png)
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Friendly Fire: Shot Down and Lived to Yell About It
WWI aviation histories commonly cite how, during the war's early years, soldiers on the ground would shoot at any anything flying overhead. Here's an intriguing article confirming such incidents did occur.
(from the Roundup Record-Tribune, 16 July 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/Y0xciUd.png)
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Hauptmann Wilhelm Reinhard Killed
Here's a snippet on the German ace and successor to Manfred von Richtofen as leader of Jagdgeschwader 1, who was killed during a test flight nearly two weeks earlier. Isn't that how George Peppard met his end in the 'Blue Max'?
(from the Calgary Daily Herald, 16 July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/69rcmFa.png)
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Ruse de Guerre - Disguised German Airplanes Attack American Observation Balloon
(from the Easton Free Press, 17 July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/O3UNk5u.png)
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Action in the Dardanelles
Here are two possibly related stories from separate sources of allied travails in Turkey, featuring a needy Nieuport.
(respectively from the Macon Beacon and the Nome Daily Nugget, 18 June 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/Cia8Dms.png)(https://i.imgur.com/0x15CcM.png)
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Mick Mannock Posthumously Awarded the Victoria Cross
Amazing post-script to this story from wikipedia:
"Mannock's Victoria Cross was presented to his father at Buckingham Palace in July 1919. Edward Mannock was also given his son's other medals, even though Mick had stipulated in his will that his father should receive nothing from his estate. Soon afterwards, Mannock's medals were sold for £5. They have since been recovered and are now owned by Lord Ashcroft; they are on loan to the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon. The Death Plaque was sold by his niece in September 2014 for £26,400 to a private buyer".
(from the Glasgow Herald, 19 July 1919):
(https://i.imgur.com/ijGrZ2L.png)
p.s. Check out forum member ondra's 1/144th scale scratch-built model of Mannock's SE.5a: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8583.msg157996#msg157996
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Entwined Airplanes Fall 6000 Feet; 'Vaccinated' Pilots Walk Away Unscathed
(from the Mitchell Capital, 20 July 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/YnXtxML.png)
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Poor Sportsmanship? Austrian Surrenders Mid Air, gets Escorted to Italian Aerodrome... Then Shot Down!
(from the Forest City Press, 21 July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/I0b3Yx6.png)
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Ballon Buster and Blue Max... Non-Combat Incidents Claim Two German Aces in Two Days
First to fall was Friedrich Friedrichs of Jasta 10. Ranking among Germany's top-scoring balloon busters and a candidate for the Pour le Merite, Friedrichs met his fate after the incendiary bullets loaded on his Fokker DVII spontaneously caught fire. Though he parachuted, his harness became entangled with his plane's tail and Friedrich was dragged to his death.
Hans Kirschstein of Jasta 6 died the next day. He received the Blue Max just three weeks before his demise as a passenger of a Hannover CL on a routine maintenance fight with an inexperienced pilot. A remarkable dogfight involving Kirschstein occurred earlier in March 1918, when a lone AW FK.8 (piloted by Canadian 2nd Lt. Alan McLeod, with observer Lt. Arthur Hammond) encountered nine Fokker Triplanes. The duo shot down four Fokkers until Kirschtein strafed them thoroughly, setting the FK.8 aflame. The rest of the story via wikipedia:
McLeod instantly pushed her over into a very steep side-slip, but the flames were scorching him, and so he jumped out of his cockpit on to the left wing and crouched low, with the joystick pulled hard over in his right hand. Then he smashed a hole through the fabric in the fuselage so that he could reach the rudder-wire with his left hand, and so he guided her towards the lines. In this way he kept the flames away from his wounded observer and prevented the aircraft from burning up. When the machine finally crashed in No Man's Land, the young pilot, not minding his own injuries, dragged his comrade from the burning wreckage and under heavy fire carried him to comparative safety, before collapsing from exhaustion and loss of blood.
Hammond was wounded six times and ultimately lost a leg. McLeod, wounded three times, earned the Victoria Cross. He returned to Manitoba to recuperate but soon died in the Influenza pandemic.
(from the Youngstown Vindicator, 22 July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/5Zg3rqv.png)
p.s. To underscore how bloody a war it was, note the unrelated story (upper left) of the Yank who had EIGHT horses shot from under him in one mission!
p.p.s.: Check out forum member RagIII's 1/32 build of Kirschstein's Dr.1: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=2890.msg221667#msg221667
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Who Knew? Liberty V12 based on Mercedes Motor
(from the Forest City Press, July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/tkTxunx.png)
p.s. Here's a link to forum member PrzemoL's 2020 build of a Taurus 1/32 Liberty Engine for his AMC DH.9a: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11389.msg212250#msg212250
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US Determines Bristol Fighter 'Overpowered' and 'Not of Military Value'
The War Department Bureau of Aircraft Production will instead focus on the S.E.5, the DH.4, and the Caproni.
(from the Washington Herald, 24 July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/DiTR8q8.png)
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I like the idea of a USAS Biff in the DH.4 "Dutch Girl" scheme...
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Critical Camels & Brindle Boy
Here's a little article on the demonstration of flying a Sopwith Camel off of a battlecruiser.
(from the Glasgow Herald, 25 July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/0tgiAqC.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/4dottR1.png)
p.s. Here's link to forum member Gisbod's 2017 build of a 1/32 WNW Ship's Camel: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8592.msg158076#msg158076
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Balloon Busting Ace of Aces Willy Coppens Bags Three in One Day
More from Wikipedia:
"...Coppens' record was spectacular. Between April and October 1918 he was credited with destroying 34 German observation balloons and three airplanes, nearly as many victories as Belgium's other five aces combined. Unlike most fighter pilots of World War I, who used .303 caliber or 7.92 mm guns, Coppens used a larger bore 11 mm Vickers machine gun...".
(from the Montreal Gazette, 26 July 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/CsOJIko.png)
p.s. check out forum member Lone Modeller's 1/72 build of Coppens' Hanriot HD.1 (converted from an Airfix Sopwith Camel way back in the 1970s): https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=9854.msg179621#msg179621
p.p.s. have a look also at MoFo's 3d-printed Drachen and observation baskets: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11808.msg239193#msg239193
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Blue Max Felled by Rookie on First Combat Flight
Carl Menckhoff had 39 confirmed victories when he encountered neophyte Walter Avery over Ville Nueve Sur Fere. Details from wikipedia:
During the ensuing dogfight, Menckhoff was shot down by American Lieutenant Walter Avery of the 95th Aero Squadron, United States Air Service. When Avery maneuvered onto Menckhoff's tail, the German ace cut his engine and dropped in a falling leaf pattern of zigzagging side-slips. Avery instantly did the same. When they recovered from the side-slips by switching their engines back on, Avery was in position to shoot Menckhoff down.
Captured by French troops at the crash site, Menckhoff was chagrined to learn that Avery was a rookie pilot on his first combat flight. Avery arrived at the crash site and respectfully refused to remove the Pour le Merite from Menckhoff's throat as a souvenir. Instead, Avery cut a fabric letter "M" from the crashed Fokker's covering as a keepsake before Menckhoff was led away by French soldiers.
Menckhoff remained a prisoner after the armistice, until he escaped to Switzerland and the safety of his in-law's castle (as one does).
(respectively from the Washington Reporter, Youngstown Vindicator, Meriden Daily Journal, Newburgh Daily News; 26-27 July, 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/kQbJGzR.png) (https://i.imgur.com/mYEVTQF.png)(https://i.imgur.com/sDjNSDf.png) (https://i.imgur.com/2deToU0.png)
In an incredible coda to this story: nearly ninety years later in 2007, Avery's daughter discovered that Menckhoff's son lived nearby in Washington D.C.; in a small ceremony, she returned her father's war trophy (the fabric 'M' cut from his Fokker way back in 1918) to his heir. Details here: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/may/11/20070511-102739-7444r/
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End of an Era
The Great War officially began today. Austria declared against Serbia, which was immediately defended by Russia. By week's end Germany, Britain and France would be drawn into the fray. Soon, more nations would also take up arms (and aircraft) against each other.
Pioneer pilots heeded the call to combat, ending overnight that romantic age of early aviation which was always fraught with risk, but maintained a certain sense of innocence. However, mankind's fascination with conquering the skies continued in new directions. Fittingly, I found two simple, side-by-side snippets that provide a poignant juxtaposition of the tragedy and triumph of two little boys who never knew each other but played out their passion for reaching the sky to the fullest on that last day before the dawn of war. Tens of thousands of men will follow their alternate paths over the next four years.
(from the Bridgepoint Evening Farmer, 27 July 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/Jp8PDyo.png)
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The First War in the Air
Here are two unrelated articles from day two of the Great War hinting at the potential impact of aircraft in the international conflict:
(from the Daily Gate City, 29 July 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/LOJjGCY.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/r5x7Fr8.png)
(and from the Richmond Palladium & Sun Telegram, 29 July 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/qSPDDFE.png)
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Battre le fer pendant qu’il est chaud!
(from the Evening World, 30 July 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/pdOgwyH.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/8Fioexj.png)(https://i.imgur.com/4GLqnT6.png)
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Checking in to let you know I really enjoy these snippets!
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Glad to hear. Finding them has been a fun journey for me.
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The Curious Call of Netheraven
Just a few days before England entered the Great War, this charming little anecdote about a quirky Royal Flying Corps custom appeared in the papers. I believe the aerodome at Salisbury Plain was home to Nos. 3&4 Squadrons immediately prior to mobilization. Soon thereafter is became a training squadron for fledgling pilots.
(From the Dakota County Herald 30 July 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/Ht3Jms4.png)
Here's pilot's-eye view of Netheraven taken just a few weeks before this article was published (from Flight, 5 June 1914):(https://i.imgur.com/4hlPenI.png)
Wondering if this old contraption might still exist over 100 years later I searched around and discovered that a similarly described gong was offered at auction back in 2009 for a mere £100-150. I would totally have bought that!
(https://i.imgur.com/TBSia32.png)
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Aww man, that would've been such a cool buy!
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Spithead Royal Review
Following a tradition dating back to the 14th century and as mobilization to war, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill assembled Britain's Grand Fleet for review by King George V in the summer of 1914. In what must then have been history's most grandiose flex of maritime muscle, hundreds of ships amassed, including: 55 Battleships, 4 Battle cruisers, 27 Cruisers, 28 Light cruisers, and 78 Destroyers. Making this event extra special was the appearance of the RNAS armada of seventeen airplanes, including 9 Shorts, 7 Farmans, 2 Royal Aircraft Factory BE's, and a Sopwith Bat Boat. Two airships also made an appearance.
(from the Boston Evening Transcript, 1 August 1914 [Kudos to the newspaper man who had the audacity/foresight to place the 'undertaker & embalmers' advert alongside this military article]):
(https://i.imgur.com/D3QyZI7.png)
p.s. History really comes alive today thanks to an attic hunter who, last year, discovered and digitized some forgotten film footage of the 1914 Fleet Review. It features one of the Short seaplanes (S.41) taxiing around. The action starts at the 13 sec. mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPgBszLCQb4
p.p.s. Here's an in-flight image of another Short at the Review (from Flight, 24 July 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/JxSKvQK.png)
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U.S. Uses New Nieuports
(from The Day, 2 August 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/de6F151.png)
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"THIS IS SURE DEATH"! "Whirlpool of Battle"! "First Duel in the Clouds"!
Sensational headlines mix fiction with fact today - particularly of the famous Roland Garros' false fiery death by ramming a Zeppelin. Garros did actually die in combat... one month before the war ended in 1918.
(respectively from the Seattle Star, the Washington Times, and the Daily Gate City, 3 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/imDe6vG.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/nDNg6xq.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/malCgd9.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/SElZYJq.png)(https://i.imgur.com/u9mVz75.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/YuWFx8S.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/8oC0Yz1.png)
p.s. Check our forum member przemoL's 1/72nd scale AZ Model build of Garros' 1915 Morane L: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=5219.msg92785#msg92785
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First Bomb Drop of War
One of the first mentions of aerial bombs being deployed.
(from the El Paso Herald, 4 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/alFeMXg.png)
Clearly the French were already at it too, though this contraption looks a bit dubious.
(from the Bridgeport Evening Farmer, 4 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/HMSyMYN.png)
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And in this Corner...
Here's a brief synopsis of the belligerents' air power as of week one.
(from the Cairo Bulletin, 5 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/La4h3Nm.png)
(and from the Watertown Weekly Leader, 4 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/FatQWXg.png)
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Mystery Agent Claims Air Mastery
(from the Grand Forks Daily Herald, 6 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/fL9vUYG.png)
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Airman's View Shared by Few
Taking a break from the sensationalist stories of the war's first week, this picturesque post describes the scenery still seen only by the smallest percentage of the population in those days.
(from the Evening Star, 7 August 1917)
(https://i.imgur.com/qVySnn8.png) (https://i.imgur.com/zwpEXmn.png)
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Albert Ball Posthumously Awarded the Victoria Cross
Word circled the world today of the London Gazette's July 22 announcement the Captain Ball had been awarded Britains highest honor for 'most conspicuous and consistent bravery'.
(from the Sydney Mail, 8 August 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/iQurrDQ.png)
p.s. For anyone who may have missed it, check our forum member macsporran's recent 1/32 scale Special Hobby build depicting Albert Ball alongside his Nieuport XVI (his favorite mount): https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13104.msg244306#msg244306
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Ground Fire Sets Russian Aviators Aflame
(from the Montreal Daily Mail, 9 August 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/qnWur6v.png)
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Turkish Aviator Sinks Allied Sub
This brief report appeared in a number of newspapers this week, though none offered further detail. If this story is verified could it be the first sinking of a sub by an airplane?
(from the Washington Evening Star, 10 August 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/ObxfOW1.png)
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Are You Fit to Fly?
(from the Middletown Transcripts, 11 Aug 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/oEwGLqo.png)
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Dog is My Co-Pilot
(from the Turner County Herald, 12 August 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/e5nt2gz.png)
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Bulletproof Birdman
Clipped ten times, his plane riddled with holes... but still completes mission.
(from the Spokesman-Review, 13 August 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/OKOgYjL.png)
p.s. More details about this lucky day come from the book Montana & The Sky c/o the Internet Archive:
Harwood was assigned to the 12th Aero Squadron, flying in Salmson 8 observation aircraft... Military records show that Benjamin P. Harwood exhibited extraordinary heroism in action near Chateau Thierry, France, on July 5, 1918. He volunteered as a gunner to fly protection for a photo airplane, at which time he engaged several enemy aircraft and, with his pilot, successfully protected the photo airplane, which was thereby able to accomplish the mission. Harwood was severely wounded in the engagement, but with the pilot was able to return to our lines despite the fact that their airplane had been riddled by enemy fire. For this engagement Ft. Harwood received citations including the Distinguished Service Cross, the Croix de Guerre, the War Medal of the Aero Club of America, and the Purple Heart.
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LEAGUE OF DEATH! French Fight Club Suicide Squad
(from the Eugene Register-Guard, 14 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/o2GQkB2.png)
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Cheaters Never Win
(from the Ludington Daily News, 15 August 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/Gf4nboS.png) (https://i.imgur.com/urWH0oO.png) (https://i.imgur.com/CBjaNZj.png)
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The French and the Furious
(from the Carroll County Democrat, 16 August 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/hJR9yZ1.png)
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"Archibald? Certainly Not!"
Though 'archie', the British slang for anti-aircraft ordinance, hadn't yet become vernacular, here's an early article on its potential effectiveness in limiting air power.
(from the Topeka Daily State Journal, 17 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/fvmXPkU.png)
The term originates from the chorus of a song popular in pre-war music halls:
“Archibald – certainly not
Get back to work, sir, like a shot
When single you could waste time spooning
But lose work now for honeymooning
Archibald – certainly not.”
For more backstory, check out this great WWI etymologist website:
https://languagesandthefirstworldwar.wordpress.com/2017/06/06/archibald-certainlynot/#:~:text=The%20widely%20accepted%20story%20is,by%20George%20Robey%20in%201911
(from Fraser and Gibbons, 'Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases', 1925 [screenshot via Languages and the First World War):
(https://i.imgur.com/3NfTE9L.png)
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Noted German Fliers Killed
'Leo Wenhardt', the top ace listed here, is actually Erich Loewenhardt (Löwenhardt), Germany's third-highest-ranking ace of the war. He was credited with 54 confirmed aerial victories and died the week before this article was published.
(from The Sun, 18 August 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/AJ8lzwY.png)
More on Loewenhardt's last day from wikipedia:
"On the 10th, flying despite a badly sprained ankle, Loewenhardt launched his yellow Fokker D.VII on a mid-day sortie leading a patrol heavily weighted with rookie pilots. He encountered No. 56 Squadron RAF and shot down a Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a over Chaulnes, France at 1215 hours for his 54th victory. In the aftermath of the combat, he collided with another German pilot, Leutnant Alfred Wenz from Jasta 11. Loewenhardt's Fokker's landing gear slammed the upper right wing on Wenz's D.VII. Both pilots' planes were equipped with parachutes and both pilots bailed out. Erich Loewenhardt's chute failed to open and he fell to his death."
p.s. Check out forum member RAGIII's 2013 WNW build of Löwenhardt's yellow fokker: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=2454.0
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Say Wha?
One pilot... four machine guns... what are the other fifteen tiny crew members doing?
(from the Abilene Weekly Reflector, 19 August 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/F1gKU8f.png)
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Badass Brit Repeatedly Stands Aeroplane on Tail to Shoot Straight Up
(from the Tensas Gazette, 20 August 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/e4HUumH.png) (https://i.imgur.com/XO0XFhE.png)
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Badass Frenchman Intentionally Loops Through Hail of Groundfire
(from the Adams County News, 21 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/Dg6KSfH.png)
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Russian Rookie on First Flight Volplanes Across Lines with Dead Engine
(from the Adams County News, 22 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/sBt51Jt.png)
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British Fleet's Seaplane Feat
Today we receive news of history's first successful (sort of) sinking a ship by an airplane using a torpedo, which occurred during the Gallipoli Campaign on 12 August 1915. The pilot was Flight Commander Charles Edmonds (future Air Vice Marshall), of 3 Wing RNAS, flying the prototype Short 184 from the seaplane carrier HMS Ben-My-Chree. It was later learned that the stricken Turkish troop transport had already been torpedoed by a British submarine's (HMS E14), so full credit could not be attributed; however, five days later, Edmonds successfully attacked another Turkish ship, the first to have been sunk entirely by this method. More details from airwar1914-1918.wordpress.com:
“I glided down and fired my torpedo at the steamer from a height of about 14 feet and range of some 300 yards, with the sun astern of me. I noticed some flashes from the tug … so presumed she was firing at me and therefore kept on a westerly course, climbing rapidly. Looking back, I observed the track of the torpedo, which struck the ship abreast the mainmast, the starboard side. The explosion sent a column of water and large fragments of the ship almost as high as her masthead. The ship was about 5,000 tons displacement, painted black, with one funnel and four masts. She was lying close to the land, so cannot sink very far, but the force of the explosion was such that it is impossible for her to be of further use to the enemy.
The feat is all the more remarkable because the weight of the torpedo means that the Short Seaplane can only get into the air with a perfect combination of calm seas, light breezes and an engine running to its absolute limits, giving the aircraft an endurance of only about 45 minutes."
(from the Topeka State Journal, 23 August 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/O3hugOK.png)
p.s. Check out forum member macsporran's 1/48 scale build of this exact plane (and its torpedo): https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11403.msg212037#msg212037
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Russian Diplomat Disses American Military Might
(from the San Jose Evening News, 24 August 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/wC1Hm2D.png) (https://i.imgur.com/hfleNVL.png)
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Two British Airmen Awarded the Victoria Cross
First up is Britain's first-ever ace, Captain Lanoe Hawker, whose 'three kills in one day' feat, which he accomplished on 25 July 1915 while patrolling Passchendaele in Bristol Scout C #1611 (with a machine gun mounted at a 45° angle to avoid his propeller), was still a rare achievement in 1915. Check out forum member przemoL's 1/72 scale MAC Distribution build of the Bristol that Hawker flew on this day: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3922.0. Hawker fought until November 1916, when he was felled in a legendary dogfight with Manfred von Richtofen.
(from the Glasgow Herald, 25 August 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/8qCcKly.png)
Next to be 'gazetted' is Captain John Aiden Liddell, who, on July 1915, was flying Royal Aircraft Factory RE.5 reconnaissance plane #2457 on his second-ever sortie over the German lines. Though RE.5s were not normally equipped for combat, on that day Liddell's observer, Second Lieutenant Richard Peck, loaded #2457 with a Lewis machine gun and spare service rifle.
(from the Supplement to the London Gazette, 20 August 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/V8P0Uq7.png). (https://i.imgur.com/rPDUGRV.png)
The second photo below shows the mortally wounded Liddell being eased out of his plane by the ground crew of an allied aerodrome. Check out his tartan trousers, which must date to his previous service with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on the Western Front. Ironically, though Liddell would be dead by month's end, #2457 survived the melee and remained in service as a Royal Flying Corps trainer into 1916. Liddell's medals were auctioned by Spink & Sons in 1997 for £85k and are now in the Lord Ashcroft Collection: https://www.lordashcroftmedals.com/collection/john-aidan-liddell-vc/(https://i.imgur.com/cPZwsq0.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/R4YqtZn.jpg)
p.s. Here are some images of my 1/72 scale Roseplane vacuform build of this very plane (c. 2005):
(https://i.imgur.com/xg6nrEh.png)(https://i.imgur.com/DCQzxu7.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/BuQDZMa.jpg)
More pics here if anyone cares to see: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13023.0
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A great way to add to the story, PJ - and a lovely model!
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A great way to add to the story, PJ - and a lovely model!
Thanks man! It was a fun one to build. Painted largely with layers of brushed pastels as I recall. Sadly, it was accidentally destroyed by the cleaning lady a long time ago.
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First US Army Air Service Aviator to Bag an Enemy Plane Gets Shot Down, Becomes POW
As noted here back in May, Alan Francis Winslow of 94th Aero Squadron partnered with fellow Hat-in-the-Ring-Gang flyer Lt Douglas Campbell (America's first ace) to share the first US Aviation Services air victories on April 14, when they respectively shot down an captured German airmen from Jasta 64w. Details from http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com:
On Sunday morning... they were on alert at Gengoult Aerodrome near Toul, France. German planes were reported in the area and the two U.S. pilots, completely inexperienced in aerial combat, took off in their Nieuport 28s. Almost immediately they saw two German aircraft and attacked them directly over the flying field at less than 1,000 feet altitude, in full view of not only the Americans at Gengoult Aerodrome but also the French citizens of Toul. Winslow shot down an Albatross D.V and a minute later Campbell destroyed a Pfalz D.III. They were both back on the ground in a matter of minutes. This initial fighter combat by the U.S. Air Service, although probably successful due as much to luck as skill, convinced the French people that the Americans were "super-human."
Winslow's superhuman status proved ephemeral when he ironically suffered the same fate just three months later. He is erroneously reported below as an ace and having been killed, but Winslow actually survived the war as a prisoner and lived until 1933, whereas Campbell went on to greater fame and lived all the way up to 1990.
(from the Urbana Daily Democrat, 26 August 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/0XkWnEa.png)
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Italian Air Power
(from Aero & Hydro, 27 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/nLn4knJ.png)
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Airplanes Useless
(from the Pittsburgh Free Press, 28 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/rBHMKqv.png)(https://i.imgur.com/Z4kSLWo.png)
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Airships Waste of Money
A second day negative news on the impact of aviation in the war.
(from the Glasgow Herald, August 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/DlaVDkG.png)(https://i.imgur.com/ZJH5ZWg.png)
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Fast Fashion
French 'birdmen' strut in their summer furs.
(from the Topeka State Journal, 30 August 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/FGl5YpW.png)
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England Urgently Increases Air Force
Just one month at war the scale of what will be needed comes into focus.
(from Aero & Hydro, 31 August 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/L2UM3DL.png)
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Zeppelins Raid Coney Island in "Aerial Night Attack"!
Well, not really... but this must certainly be one of the first WW1 aircraft model dioramas ever built.
(from Popular Science Monthly, September 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/5rhDnCc.png) (https://i.imgur.com/344HymZ.png) (https://i.imgur.com/nnuZRtW.png)
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The Teen-aged Grim Reaper
Grandson of a Serbian prime minister, Pierre Marinovich gained ace status at age 18 and was ultimately credited with twenty-one confirmed aerial victories. The Parisien primarily flew with the "Reapers" of Escadrille No. 94. It's possible that the downed 'prince' referred to in this article was German ace Harry von Bülow-Bothkamp, who was P.O.W.'ed in July 1918, but lived to become an ace all over again serving with the Luftwaffe in WWII. In contrast, Marinovich, like so many aces to survive the Great War died soon thereafter in a flying accident. Almost seems cliché. His body is entombed in Père Lachaise Cemetery not far from Chopin, Modigliani, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, and Jim Morrison.
(from the Grand Forks Herald, 2 September 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/yXc2zx6.png) (https://i.imgur.com/2OCjV97.jpg)
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Spotlight: Fighting Three-Deckers
(from Popular Science, September 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/SsM5rfW.png).(https://i.imgur.com/JjPdel1.png)
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Revered Role: Seaplanes Seek Submarines
(fromo the Toronto World, 4 September 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/clZ4kd0.png).(https://i.imgur.com/T0Deor5.png)
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I'm glad Carl Dienstbach mentions an 'airhole' since it's pretty obvious he's mostly talking out of his own airhole regarding the 'fast' (!) Triplane with it's streamlined disk wheels!
Sandy
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Hahahaha
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Reversed Role: Submarine Sinks Seaplane
(from the Boston Evening Transcript, 5 September 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/nH9zjdC.png)
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Electrified Lewis Gun
(from the Carlisle Independent, 6 September 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/OJpK419.png)
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Top Ace's Low Point
That time Billy Bishop crashed through the roof of someone's home and landed in their living room...
(from the Prescott Journal Miner, 7 September 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/Fsf1aql.png)
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Luftstreitkräfte Anticipates American Army Air Service
(from the Evening Independent, 8 September 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/jLD3VWA.png)
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Russian Rams Austrian Albatros in First Ever Aerial Combat Victory
Major news today from the eastern front where Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov (the pioneer aviator and reputedly one of the first to loop the loop), rammed an enemy plane head on. The historic event, which occurred on August 25, is believed to be the first air victory though it resulted in the death of all involved when their wrecked planes tumbled to earth. Details from wikipedia:
During the Battle of Galicia on 25 August 1914 (by the Old Style calendar still used in Russia), after trying various methods on previous occasions unsuccessfully, he used his Morane-Saulnier Type G (s/n 281) to ram the Austrian Albatros B.II reconnaissance aircraft of observer Baron Friedrich von Rosenthal and pilot Franz Malina from FLIK 11. Eager to destroy enemy aircraft, he probably intended to hit it with a glancing blow but damaged his own aircraft as much as the enemy's and both planes crashed. As was common for the time, Nesterov was not strapped in and he fell from his plane, dying of his injuries the next day. The Austrian pilot and observer also died. The town of Zhovkva (currently in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine), located near the battle, was renamed Nesterov in his honor in 1951.
(from the Spokane Daily Chronicle, 9 September 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/I8D2erp.png)(https://i.imgur.com/aS98lyF.png)(https://i.imgur.com/TymJDsL.jpg)
p.s. check out forum member ianb's 1/72 build of the Amodel Nieuport IV, of the type Nesterov first looped in: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=1198.msg18799#msg18799
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Richtofen's Last Flight
(from the Evening World Daily Magazine, 10 September 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/JlzxNcY.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/tqTtxiC.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/woPjhBn.png) (https://i.imgur.com/U5Jl91p.png) (https://i.imgur.com/xv4RjUX.png)
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'Music of Bullets' and Misinformed Chivalry
Today's headline announces the death of Harold Buckley Willis, flyer for the Lafayette Escadrille and the designer of their famous 'Sioux Warrior' insignia. Willis was felled in aerial combat (likely by Lt. Wilhelm Schulz of Jasta 16b) on 18 August 1917. Like a scene out of a future Hollywood movie, word of the loss was exchanged between belligerents via messages dropped by lone airmen over rival aerodromes. The trouble with this poignant interaction? Willis never died. He reveals the true tale himself in a letter written within a Westphalian prison camp (c/o wikipedia):
"I will tell you how I happened to be the first in the Escadrille to be taken alive — a dubious distinction. We were protecting a group of bombing planes on a daylight raid some distance in enemy territory. Suddenly we were attacked by a rather energetic patrol of monoplaces, and a general mix up ensued. One of our planes in front of me was attacked and I was able to 'crock' the German — short lived satisfaction. The monoplace was protected by two others which in turn attacked me from behind riddling my machine. To continue in a straight line was fatal so I did a renversement and attacked — my only defense.
Immediately, of course, I was separated from our group, which continued. It would not have been so bad had my motor not been touched at the first volley. It worked only intermittently causing loss of height. We had a wild fight almost to the ground. I did all sorts of stunts to avoid fire on the line of flight. The enemy flew well. We missed collision twice by inches. I was badly raked by cross fire; music of bullets striking motor and cables. Toward the end my wind-shield was shattered and my goggles broken by a ball which slightly stunned me. I had an awful feeling of despair at the thought of the inevitable landing in Germany. As I neared the ground I had an instant's desire to dive into it — saw a wood in front of me, jumped it and landed instinctively on the crest of a hill. One of the Germans flew over me waved his hand turned and landed followed by his two comrades.
All saluted very politely as they came up — young chaps perfectly correct. My machine was a wreck thirty bullets in the fuselage motor and radiator exactly half of the cables cut tires punctured and wings riddled. It was a beautiful machine and had always served me well. Too bad!
The aviators took me to lunch at their quarters where I awaited a motor which took me to a prison in a fortress. One always expects to be either killed or wounded — never taken. So I had left the ground in two sweaters no coat and with no money. Confess I cried like a baby when I was finally alone in my cell. The first three days were terrible. One is not glad to be alive, especially when one wakes, forgets for a moment where one is, and then remembers. Pleasantest are the nights, for one always has vivid dreams of home or the Front. You can understand how wearing it is, to be helpless — a sort of living corpse — when there is need of every one. I try not to think of it."
Then, after fourteen months a prisoner and only five weeks before war's end, Willis escaped from captivity disguised as a German guard. He crossed the Rhine and returned to Paris via Switzerland then returned to the front. Willis subsequently served in WWII and lived until 1962. His memoirs were recently published in 2019.
(from the South Bend News-Times, 11 September 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/cSojyhJ.png)
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Dummy Bombs
Found this odd snippet illustrating the practice of 'bombing' (rather than shooting?) a stationery decoy plane strung between two cliffs. Not sure why the military needed to conduct this experiment over a highway but my sympathy goes to the apparently oblivious family out for their Sunday drive in the motorcar directly beneath.
(from Popular Science Monthly, September 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/v4gTjd0.png)
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Flying Freuline?
A possible precursor to the 'Night Witches' of WWII, this article recounts vaguely the discovery of a female flyer's body in the wreckage of a German plane. News of a Russian female combat pilot, Nedeshda Degtereva, was posted here several weeks back. Can anyone identify this pilot, or confirm this story?
(from the Eugene Register-Guard, 13 September 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/wfXqhbg.png)
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French Ace Attacks Aviatik, Discovers Pistol Camera
Found, no less, by the legendary Jean Navarre. Based available information, his discovery likely was made on 19 May 1916, when he shot down a German Aviatik C over Chattancourt, France. This event also earned him the singular status of becoming the first Allied ace credited with 10 victories.
(from Popular Science Monthly, September 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/cW8gmPA.png)
And here's an example of a similar gun discovered by the British a year later when, evidently, it was still considered rare enough to be newsworthy.
(from the Washington Times, 19 November 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/Yd48c16.jpg)
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Used Planes for Sale!
(from the Aerial Age Weekly, 16 September 1919):
(https://i.imgur.com/ZDmguQw.png)
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British Find Yet Another Way to Keep B.E.2 Alive
Here's one more reincarnation (the 'E' in 'B.E.' stood for 'Experimental') of Geoffrey De Havilland's ancient brainchild that was birthed way back in the first weeks of 1912. B.E.2 offspring remained operational into 1919.
(from Popular Science Monthly, September 2016):
(https://i.imgur.com/6cy7Zcu.png)
Bonus: Here's some original motion picture footage of thus aircraft in action: https://youtu.be/qL0MyAX1a60
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Canada Warns American Birdmen Not to Cross Border
(from the Spokane Spokesman-Review, 17 September 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/B6aCkzV.png) (https://i.imgur.com/8JiDYHo.png)
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Londoners Advised to Keep Calm and 'Dodge' Bombs
(from the Boston Evening Transcript, 18 September 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/cS96PhI.png)
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New Russian Record While RNAS Tanks German Trawlers
Two unrelated articles in today's issue of the Greensburg Daily Tribune (19 September 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/l0940N7.png)
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Medusa Meets Charlie Chaplin
Here's an interesting picture story on early nose art.
(from the Illustrated War News, 20 September 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/H3xPSoI.jpg)
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Punctuality Proves Fatal Flaw
(from the Meriden Daily Journal, 21 September 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/KKMhBk8.png)
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Aeroplane Lights Army's Way
This early war article paints a vivid picture of how airplanes, before they became armed, were used for spotting and signalling.
(from the Easton Free Press, 22 September 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/wpseXlf.png)
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No Occupation on Earth Compares
(from the Clinton Mirror, 23 September 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/vKmbaHu.png)
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Austrian Aeronauts Swamp Sub then Rescue Entire Crew
Thrilling adventure in the Adriatic when two Lohner L flying boats spotted the French submarine Foucault of Cattaro (present day Kotor).
(from the Topeka State Journal, 24 September 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/q84ZGJ0.png)
More from wikipedia:
"On 15 September 1916, while on patrol off Cattaro under the command of Lt. L. Devin, Foucault was spotted under the surface by two Austro-Hungarian Lohner L seaplanes. These were L132, flown by Lts. Konjovics and Sewera, and L135 (Lts. Zelezny and Klimburg). The two planes bombed Foucault, scoring hits which forced her to surface. Unable to dive and without power, Devin ordered her to be abandoned and scuttled. All her crew escaped without casualties. The seaplanes landed and took the crew prisoner, holding them until the arrival of an Austrian torpedo boat. This incident was the first instance of a submarine at sea being sunk by air attack."
History comes alive again here with forum member Tim Mixon's recent post on his 1/72 'Wings 72' vacuform build depicting one of the exact planes from this historic event: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13282.msg247190#msg247190
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Fighting Big Guns with Wireless
(from Popular Science, September 1917):
(http://i.imgur.com/1iqpSPB.png) (https://imgur.com/1iqpSPB)
Click here for the full article: https://books.google.com/books?id=gikDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA443&lpg=PA443&dq=%22hugh+battleplane%22&source=bl&ots=22Yv24_hEW&sig=ACfU3U0wANcY9KSnzIkn8ckYOuUknCkGUw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZ9sjhq7H6AhXtFFkFHSIVBcMQ6AF6BAgGEAM#v=onepage&q=%22hugh%20battleplane%22&f=false
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I would love to see a photo of Hugh Battleplane!
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I would love to see a photo of Hugh Battleplane!
Me too! I did search for that on flyingmachines.ru but no luck. Another aviation mystery waiting to be solved.
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Canadian Killed Fighting Zeppelin
(respectively from the Ottawa Journal and the Ottawa Citizen, 26 September 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/zrvQcAA.png) (https://i.imgur.com/6DU08vM.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/0KMQpMA.jpg)
(image c/o Canadian Virtual War Memorial)
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Italian Ace Tours America in Caproni Bomber
(from the St. Petersburg Daily, 27 September 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/ui9Igpo.png)
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Kurt Wintgens Killed
Credited as the first fighter to shoot down an enemy aircraft with a synchronized gun, the Blue-Max recipient recalled the event in a letter excerpted in Cross & Cockade (Summer 1985):
"I had flown to the Front a couple of times without seeing an opponent, until yesterday evening when the big moment came. Time: 6:00 o'clock. Place: east of Lunéville. Altitude: between 2,000 and 2,500 m. Suddenly I notice a monoplane in front of me, about 300 m higher. And at the same moment he had already dived in front of me, fiercely firing his machine gun decently. But as I, at once, dived in an opposite direction under him, he missed wildly. After four attacks I reached his altitude in a large turn, and now my machine gun did some talking. I attacked at such a close distance that we looked each other into the face. After my third attack he did the most stupid thing that he could do — he fled. I turned the crate on the spot and had him at once, beautifully, in my (gun)sight. Rapid fire for about four seconds, and down went his nose."
Wintgens is believed to have been shot down into no-man's land by French ace Alfred Heurteaux flying an early SPAD S.VII.
(respectively from the St. Joseph News-Press and the Glasgow Herald [somewhat blurred]; 28,29 September 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/FiVX4y3.png). (https://i.imgur.com/94dZ9zN.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Et1NmcL.jpg)
(image via wikipedia)
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German Giant Tricked into Trap at 20,00ft.
The plane in question is described as a Rumpler, but I wonder if this was a Friedrichshafen G.III?
(from the Saskatoon Phoenix, 29 September 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/5zUUZ1d.png) (https://i.imgur.com/VVvRsk1.png)
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Inside a Death Chamber
(from the Fulton County News, 30 September 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/cBayDq9.png)
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Lucky Charms
(from The Day, 1 October 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/GGopU1I.png) (https://i.imgur.com/oikTf4Z.png)
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Building Warplanes 'Brings Out Good Qualities' in Kids
(respectively from the Oxnard Daily Courier and Popular Mechanics, October 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/6XKm3KW.png) (https://i.imgur.com/iBuq4i2.png)
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Werner Voss Vanquished
Attacked by eight aces. Hits every oppponent. An overview of his final patrol from wikipedia:
"Flying a silver-blue Fokker Dr.1, he singly fought James McCudden, Keith Muspratt, Harold A. Hamersley, Arthur Rhys Davids, Robert L. Chidlaw-Roberts, Geoffrey Hilton Bowman, Reginald Hoidge, and Richard Maybery. After he fell in solo opposition to those eight British aces after a dazzling display of aerobatics and gunnery that put bullets in his every opponent, he was described by his preeminent foe, Victoria Cross winner James McCudden, as "the bravest German airman". The pilot who actually killed Voss, Arthur Rhys-Davids, wished he had brought him down alive."
(from the Bisbee Daily News, 3 October 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/3WON9IM.png).(https://i.imgur.com/xS99gsM.png).(https://i.imgur.com/6Qqbn6M.png)
p.s. Check out forum member crouthaj's 1/32nd scale build of the Fokker flown in Voss' final combat, alongside a signed Sanke card: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11271.msg209283#msg209283
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'Speed Scouts' Exceed 175mph?
Maybe misconverted metrics, but a nice little spotlight on Nieuports.
(from Popular Mechanics, October 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/Idyc0Ss.png)
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Splendid Gotha Design
(from Popular Mechanics, October 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/atkQnuu.png)
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Ace Loewenhardt Confirmed Dead
Loewenhardt's loss was referenced in a recent article on German aces. This article was published two months after he was reported missing.
(from the St. Petersburg Daily News, 6 October 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/clLP7VP.png)
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World-Famous Aviator, Grahame-White, in 'Supreme Charge' of Aviation Strategy
Claude Grahame-White was a major influence in early British Aviation. Trained to fly by Louis Bleriot himself, Grahame-White became the 6th aviator to be certified by the Royal Aero Club. He won several early aero races and, during a 1910 trip to the US, landed his plane unannounced on the White House lawn. Grahame-White established a flying school and airplane manufactory (now part of the RAF Museum) at Hendon outside London; the aerodrome was commandeered by the War Office in 1916. In the first weeks of the conflict he flew the first night patrol mission against German raiders. His private life, tinged with occasional scandal, was also regularly reported on.
(from the Telegraph Herald, 7 October 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/dqEpJOo.png)
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Splendid Gotha Design
I for one have always liked the G.IV above all other Gothas - splendid is a terrific term to describe it!
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I for one have always liked the G.IV above all other Gothas - splendid is a terrific term to describe it!
I wonder if anyone's done a survey poll of which country produced overall the most elegant vs. ungainly aircraft. I'd argue for France & Germany in the lead; Italy & Austria somewhere in the middle; Britain and Russia trailing. USA = honorable mention.
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Fritz Rumey Falls
The death of Germany's sixth-highest-scoring ace of the Great War received minor mention in the allied press this week in 1918. One of only five pilots to have been awarded both the Pour le Mérite and the Prussian Militär-Verdienstkreuz (Military Merit Cross), in his last month of life Fritz Rumey shot down sixteen opponents. He was killed dogfighting over Neuville-Saint-Rémy on 27 September after his plane collided with an SE.5a flown by British ace Lieut. George Edgar Bruce Lawson. Rumey plunged to his death while his parachute failed to open. Lawson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this encounter, the citation for which read (c/o wikipedia):
"...he attacked fifteen Fokker biplanes that were harassing one of our bombing formations, driving down one in flames. He then engaged a second; in the combat the two machines collided, and the enemy aeroplane fell down completely out of control. Although his machine was badly damaged, Lieutenant Lawson successfully regained our lines."
(respectively from the Daily Star, the Tägliche Omaha Tribüne, and the Alaska Daily Empire (Oct 8-9):
(https://i.imgur.com/XfOQ193.png).(https://i.imgur.com/typo0sM.png).(https://i.imgur.com/VZPlAzo.png)
Check out forum member Glenn Boss' newly minted 1/72-scale Eduard build of Fritz Rumey's colorful Albatros D.V, which was posted on the eve of the 104th anniversary of the Ace's death: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13365.msg248388#msg248388
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Was is Das Für ein Groß Doppeldecker?
Und warum hat es drei flieger?
(from Popular Mechanics, October 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/FXBMn0n.png)
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Work Hard, Play Hard
Here are two unrelated but insightful reports on the intense lifestyle of German Aviators on the Western Front. First, we learn of their impressive six-to-one kill ratio (assisted by anti-aircraft fire). Next, we hear of their demands for higher pay. Intentional or not, the second snippet records that their complaint arises not from the high cost of living... but rather the 'cost of high living'! Noch ein Bier, bitte!
(respectively from the Evening Star and the West Virginian, 10 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/OoPCEYw.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/YPoHf80.png)
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Welcome to the Jungle
After being shot down in German-occupied Africa, this unlucky/lucky Irishman had to endure days of mosquitos, thorny underbrush, crocodiles and a lion... all while nursing three broken ribs and a fever!
(from the Vernon County Censor, 11 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/ARg91rO.png).(https://i.imgur.com/nID8vCw.png).(https://i.imgur.com/9sD1irV.png)
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Shot in the Back. Blinded by Burst Propeller. A 'Perfect Hurricane' of Shrapnel.
And they all survived.
(from the Deseret News, 12 October 1915)
(https://i.imgur.com/WReqXXN.png)
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Lady Killer
Here are two spotlights on little-known aviatrix A. H. Heinrich, an American who flew for Italy during the war. I'm not certain, but she appears to be posing possible in an American Burgess Type O 'Gunbus'. Thirty-six of these were ordered by the Royal Naval Air Service; the first of which flew at Hendon in August 1915. The plane was considered inferior with only a few relegated as trainers. The rest went into storage, and evidently the last six were never even unpacked!
(respectively from the Iron County Register and Illustrated War News, 11-12 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/DY4lY8p.png).(https://i.imgur.com/C5ZdFjT.jpg)
More derring-do in the news today features Alyn Bryant who gave up aviation for diving and aided in the Black Tom cleanup effort. For those who aren't familiar with this event, it was one of the largest man-made non-nuclear explosions in history. From wikipedia:
"The Black Tom explosion was an act of sabotage by agents of the German Empire, to destroy U.S.-made munitions that were to be supplied to the Allies in World War I. The explosions, which occurred on July 30, 1916, in New York Harbor, killed four people and destroyed some $20,000,000 ($500 million in 2022 dollars) worth of military goods. This incident, which happened prior to U.S. entry into World War I, also damaged the Statue of Liberty."
After this event the Statue of Liberty's torch was closed to the public for seventy years, only reopening after restoration in 1986.
(from the Imperial Valley Press, 13 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/eG5vKqi.png)
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Burn or jump - what will you do?
In that era before standard parachutes, every flier must have pondered this dilemma whenever called to combat. Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) was forced to choose at 15,000 ft. over England on the first midnight of October 1916. Mathy, veteran of more dirigible missions than any other airman, has been described as the 'most daring and audacious of all the Zeppelin raiders'. Yet over time even he became understandably apprehensive. "It is only a question of time before we join the rest", he once wrote. "Everyone admits that they feel it. Our nerves are ruined by mistreatment. If anyone should say that he was not haunted by visions of burning airships, then he would be a braggart."
Mathy was commanding R-Class 'Super Zeppelin' LZ 72 (navy designation L 31) following a London incursion when he was spotted by Major Wulstan Joseph Tempest of the Royal Flying Corps. Tempest was patrolling in his BE.2c as searchlights revealed Mathy's position fifteen miles away. Tempest immediately pursued. More on their fateful meeting (via wikipedia):
"As he [Tempest] approached his fuel tank pressure pump failed, and he was forced to use the hand pump to keep his engine operating. He eventually closed with the airship, running the gauntlet of [British] anti-aircraft fire. Approaching from the bows he fired a burst into her, then dived underneath firing another burst, seeing his incendiary bullets ripping through the airship's fabric skin, before turning to make another pass from the tail. He momentarily saw a red glow illuminate the Zeppelin from within "like an enormous Chinese lantern" before flames erupted from the bows. Tempest spun away to avoid being hit by flames and debris as the airship plunged to the ground, crashing at Potters Bar. Exhausted by his exertions and the bitter cold Tempest crashed his aircraft on landing, cracking his skull against the butt of his machine gun. The next day he travelled to Potters Bar to survey the wreck of L.31, but the area was cordoned off by the Army, and he was obliged to pay a shilling to see the wreckage from an adjoining farm."
Their encounter was reportedly witnessed by tens of thousands of Englanders. As for Mathy's ultimate decision (via gwpd.org): "...his last act had been to leap clear of the falling inferno rather than wait for the crash. His body was found some way from the wreckage of the ship, half-embedded in the corner of a field". For further narrative, read this thrilling account (and inspiration for today's tagline) by Tom Morgan at hellfirecorner: http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/pottersbar/pottersbar.htm
Today's news records the King of England's honoring of Tempest's achievement; plus a front page featuring the wreckage of R-class Zeppelin LZ 76, which was downed over Essex a few days earlier (respectively from the Evening Star and the Pensacola Journal, 14 & 16 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/mM0BupB.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Odyxbua.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/EGF3VQv.png)
Bonus (above): an unknown artist's depiction of the moment of Mathy's dilemma while Tempest, simultaneously facing the same predicament, desperately evades the collapsing carnage.
Extra bonus: original film footage of both Zeppelin wrecks can be seen here: https://youtu.be/QjpfHOf2Fu0.
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100-Plane Battle Blocks Daylight
Report on a huge aerial action above the town of Obendorf-on-Neckar, home to the German arms manufacturer Mauser.
(from the Washington Herald, 15 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/kl4QQ7t.png)
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Stars in the Sky
Spotlights on two American aces today. The legendary Frank Luke (who was already dead when this story went to press) will reappear here in future articles; meanwhile, here's an incredible anecdote on the lesser-known but much-longer-lived Arthur Raymond Brooks (abbreviated from military-historyfandom.com):
Circa 1985, Mr. Brooks (age 90), was visiting the National Air and Space Museum's restoration facility in Silver Hill, Maryland. Upon entering a storage hangar as part of the tour, he spotted a tattered World War I vintage SPAD XIII airplane, the type he flew during the war. As he drew nearer, he was astonished to discover it was his very aircraft. He climbed into the cockpit and was immediately approached by a restoration technician who advised him in a very stern manner that these aircraft are delicate pieces of American history and visitors are not permitted to touch, much less sit in. When Mr. Brooks explained that this was his airplane, the technician’s first thought was of a doddering old veteran, longing for the glory days of yesteryear. While Mr. Brooks' speech and external mannerisms were befitting of a nonagenarian, his mind was as sharp as it was 30 or 40 years past. He spoke to the technician as if reading from a history book about the last time this aircraft was in action over France. Included in the lesson was the name and serial number of the plane, which was not readily visible. The technician was aware of the aircraft's history and asked the old gentleman to stay right where he was while he summoned the NASM curator emeritus, Paul E. Garber. Less than two years after this meeting, Ray Brooks' fully restored SPAD Smith IV was unveiled with great fanfare at the NASM's 'Great War in the Air' exhibit (Gallery 206). Mr. Brooks was a guest of honor at the ribbon cutting ceremony.
(from the Spokane Daily Chronicle, 16 October 1918:
(https://i.imgur.com/yrwY00u.png) (https://i.imgur.com/QibRaVq.png)
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Bird Carcasses
Today we're treated to two unrelated pictorials showing the scavenged remnants of a German two-seater and a French R.E.P. monoplane. These 'trophies' must still have been seen as novelties by ground troops during the conflict's opening months.
(from Aero & Hydro, 17 October 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/jEfRdiw.png) (https://i.imgur.com/h9SWL9M.png).
I've always been fond of the less-remembered clean-lined R.E.P., which was designed and produced by Robert Esnault-Pelterie, who also invented and patented the 'joystick' control column. His parasol version was similar in span and horsepower to its contemporary competitor, the Morane-Saulnier L; however, the R.E.P. featured tubular steel construction of simplified triangular cross-section, which contributed to it weighing nearly 200 lbs. less. If anyone cares to see, here's a 1/72 R.E.P. Parasol in R.N.A.S. livery that I scratch built back in 2004. Had I been aware of this old news photo then, I would have approached the build differently. In retrospect, my desperately low-budget attempt at scenery in the last image (simply dried dill from the kitchen spice rack sprinkled atop an upholstered chair seat photographed outdoors) doesn't look too bad.
(https://i.imgur.com/H2d0grk.png). (https://i.imgur.com/ZrzNDTt.jpg)
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What Goes Up...
(from Popular Science, October 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/hfMGgpQ.jpg)
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World-Famous Aviator, Grahame-White, Executed for Espionage
He was a regular subject of the British Tabloids and was just reported on here ten days prior in a 1914 article noting his role in developing British Air Strategy.
(respectively from the Rochester Sentinel and the Evening News 18-19 October 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/bjBJTMi.png).(https://i.imgur.com/ITyevdo.png)
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He wasn’t though, he passed away in Nice at 79 years of age :)
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World Famous Aviator, Grahame-White, Personally Denies He's Dead
As fellow forumite torbiorn noted yesterday, one can't always trust what one reads in the paper!
(from the Easton Free Press, 20 October 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/dOPtVro.png)
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I love stuff like this ;D
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American Aviator James Doolittle Killed in Action
This headline is actually true... but who knew there were two? Here are excerpts from a lengthy obituary of the seldom-remembered James R. Doolittle, who flew with the Escadrille de La Fayette in France. He was unrelated to the legendary James H. Doolittle of WWII fame who also flew for the U.S. during WWI (though not overseas).
(from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 20 October 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/XgggiS0.png).(https://i.imgur.com/1mQfhJQ.png).(https://i.imgur.com/QqZgK1Q.png).(https://i.imgur.com/lwEzLgf.png).(https://i.imgur.com/ki7WXPN.png).(https://i.imgur.com/5Di10a7.png).(https://i.imgur.com/dLyH0yB.png).(https://i.imgur.com/IqrixMR.png).
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'Guynemer' Falls 10,000 Feet
Another dubious war story here. Gotta say, that sure looks like René Fonck to me... I suppose they read whatever news they could get back then in Tombstone, Arizona. I wonder if there are any valid recollections confirming this event actually happened.
(from the Tombstone Epitaph, 22 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/TDEufRh.png)
Check out forum member Will Levesley's 1/72nd-scale Eduard build of Guynemer's Nieuport Ni-17 of Escadrille N.3 from 1916:
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13241.msg246606#msg246606
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Completes Call of Duty in Crippled Aircraft
(from the Detroit Times, 23 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/QiOi2y6.png)
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Spotlight: The German Air King
Two articles, exactly one year apart, spotlight the legendary ace and pioneering tactician Oswald Boelcke. The first describes one of his double-victory days (possibly 16 October 1916), at the point when Boelcke was the world's leading ace. The second article retrospectively reveals a reputed relic from Boelcke's plane... though his Albatros was primarily wooden and the spelling of his name differs from his signature.
(respectively from the the Hawaiian Gazette and the Evening Star, 24 October 1916/1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/RorUhKb.png).(https://i.imgur.com/RIciFiL.png)
Check out forum member crouthaj's 1/32nd-scale build of Boelcke's Albatros D.II, c. autumn 1916: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11269.0
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"Bird Friend of Bird-Men"
Interesting glimpse of a Lewis gun mounted diagonally from the starboard side of the cockpit.
(from Illustrated War News, 25 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/VYMGZ8N.jpg)
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"You Are Going Out to Inflict Death, Not Avoid It"
Here's an account on flying and gunnery tactics, including one of the earliest written uses I've yet seen of the phrase 'Hun in the Sun'.
(from the Morning Leader, 26 October 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/oTRiCUs.png)(https://i.imgur.com/ea9Kmpw.png)
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War Progress in Flying (pt.1)
Here's the first installment of two articles by Karl/Carl Dienst, whose writing on aviation began in the 1890s
(from Popular Mechanics, October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/7SMvRjt.png).(https://i.imgur.com/msuIilt.png)
Check out forum member dirk's 2012 1/32nd-scale WNW build of a similar presentation F.E.2b as illustrated above: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=962.msg14317#msg14317
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War Progress in Flying (pt.2)
Second installment of two articles by aviation writer Karl/Carl Dienst.
(from Popular Mechanics, October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/Zs2JJ45.png).(https://i.imgur.com/BBbdGnW.png)
Noticing the flock of Royal Aircraft Factory birds in the last image, check out Mike Norris' recent 1/32nd Lukgraph build of B.E.2c 2635: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13001.0
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Aviator Almost Kills Kaiser
(from the Albuquerque Morning Journal, 29 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/bTutl2j.png)
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'Father' of German Air Force Falls
Oswald Boelcke's name again spans multiple headlines this month as news of his demise over the Western Front immediately spread. The 25-year-old died ironically not from enemy gunfire but from a mid-air collision with his best friend- fellow ace Erwin Böhme (who survived). Boelcke's fate reminded me of our recent article announcing Fritz Rumey's death, which was also caused by collision (with British ace G.E.B. Lawson) rather than gunfire. This got me wondering how many of the Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte's top flyers were actually killed by enemy guns during the Great War. A quick survey of wikipedia's 'List of World War I flying aces from Germany', suggests that this happened to only three of Germany's top twenty (Richtofen, Voss and Müller)... a remarkable statistic. Oswald Boelcke's influence on the history of aerial combat is epic (despite the last article's headline erroneously dubbing him as merely a 'one-time elevator man'). Many of the tactics enshrined in his 'Dicta Boelcke' endure today.
(respectively from the Lakeland Evening Telegram, the Tonopah Daily Bonanza, the Daily Gate City, Constitution, and the New York Sun; 30 October 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/8e9BOhc.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/EuZfh97.png). (https://i.imgur.com/av5LBcF.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/szUc3gp.png). (https://i.imgur.com/udGP8E6.png)
Check out forum member Kreston's 1/32-scale vignette depicting Boelcke (by Model Cellar): https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=7707.msg141784#msg141784
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Action Over Land and Sea
(from the Arizona Republic, 31 October 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/YMkpeXy.png)
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Italian Ace Injured
Anyone ever heard of this signore? The closest match from the Bongionvanni Commisison List of Italian aces that I could deduce is Alessandro Buzio, who was injured during the Battle of the Piave River during a ground accident in the Summer of 1918, though he is listed as having flown with 76a Squadiglia.
(from the Telegraph-Herald, 1 November 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/XVxeUR6.png)
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Feeling Lonely at Altitude?
No problem, simply 'switch off your engine... for a talk"!
(from the Fargo Forum, 2 November 1919):
(https://i.imgur.com/QNasggK.png)
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American Squadron 'Fights' for Freedom... and New Swimming Pool
This full-page advertisement was placed on this day in 1918 by the airmen at Taylor Field, which was the first military flying facility in the state of Alabama (established in late 1917 after the US joined the conflict). The purpose of this 'greatest exhibit of flying ever witnessed in the South' was to raise funds not for war bonds but rather... to build themselves a 'badly needed' pool. Alas, the Armistice would occur just five days before this great 'Aerial Circus' was to be held, presumably dashing their noble dream. Just five months later, in April 1919, the airfield was shut down.
It would seem that these aspiring aviators neither got the chance to fly overseas nor take a collective plunge at home before the war was called off... however, the wikipedia entry on Taylor Field notes: "All the former hangars and structures of the military airfield have been torn down, though the remnants of a swimming pool remain"!
(from the Birmingham Age Herald, 3 November 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/62VUbit.png)
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Boelcke's Burial: Brits Honor Enemy While Comrade Swears Revenge
Despite the British having sent a wreath for Boelcke's casket, this graveside cry was allegedly uttered by Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen, the commanding general of the Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte, and winner of the Pour le Merite, even though he was not directly involved in air combat. Leith-Thomsen's son was already a POW having been shot down over England. Clearly he never forgot this oath, since he served the Nazis in WWII as General der Flieger, even though by that time he had gone blind.
(respectively from the New York Sun and the New Britain Herald, 4 November 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/WrJ6yqM.png).(https://i.imgur.com/99UGR4x.png)
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'Prince of Pilots'
This spotlight on maverick French ace Charles Nungesser mentions little and misspells his name, though it does succinctly summarize his two renowned traits: an accumulation of accolades and a penchant for pain. Regarding the latter, wikipedia quotes a medical summary of his many wounds:
"Skull fracture, brain concussion, internal injuries (multiple), five fractures of the upper jaw, two fractures of lower jaw, piece of anti-aircraft shrapnel imbedded [sic] in right arm, dislocation of knees (left and right), re-dislocation of left knee, bullet wound in mouth, bullet wound in ear, atrophy of tendons in left leg, atrophy of muscles in calf, dislocated clavicle, dislocated wrist, dislocated right ankle, loss of teeth, contusions too numerous to mention."
Yet he never stopped flying. Nine years after this article was published, Nungesser was last seen flying westward over Ireland in a failed attempt to cross the Atlantic... just two weeks before the American Charles Lindberg achieved his triumphant 'Lindy Hop' in the opposite direction.
(from the Evening Star, 5 November 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/hQ2r7bY.png)
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British Airmen Rescue Fallen Flier Then Traverse Egyptian Desert
Here's an interesting tale from the lesser-known Sinai & Palestine campaign of the Middle Eastern Theatre involving a daring flight by No. 30 Squadron, RFC following the bombing of a Turkish airfield. I'm guessing this was achieved in a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E. variant, though I'm not certain.
(from the Anchorage Daily Times, 6 November 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/tU4aWtu.png)
As a bonus, from the AWM archives, here's the view of the aerodrome at Kantara, Ismailia (El Qantara today) that these three airmen would likely have seen upon their return, along with a view inside their repair hangar:
(https://i.imgur.com/QmzCZMt.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/z25Ysp2.jpg)
And from a 1/72-scale perspective, here's a build of mine depicting a converted B.E.2b sent to join No.30 Squadron in Ismailia, Egypt, where it was operated against the Turks in defense of the Suez Canal throughout 1915. I recall my 'diorama' was another low-budget affair comprising some brown fabric draped over a cardboard box and sprinkled with a mix of curry and mustard powder with a pinch dried fennel.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZJCr7uLl.jpg) . (https://i.imgur.com/pSrrbiMl.jpg)
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Pigeons, Chickens and Crows Employed As Aerial Early-Warning System
(from the Spokesman-Review, 7 November 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/AhWi5yF.png)
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Trouble and Triumph Through Twenty-One Thousand Feet
The unnamed aviator noted in this almost-unbelievable combat story must be none other than William George Barker, the "most decorated war hero in the History of Canada, the British Empire, and the Commonwealth of Nations" (according the plaque on his tomb). The legendary dogfight tore up the sky over the Western Front on 27 October 1918. It resulted in Barker 'single-handedly' earning the Victoria Cross, though it took him months to recover from his grave injuries. Ironically, Barker, like several other Great War aces reported on here, died not during combat, but from a simple flying accident.
(from The Sun, 8 November 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/AzAdTR5.png) (https://i.imgur.com/f2ptEK9.png)
And here's a modern recollection excerpted from acepilots.com:
"He took off in his Snipe, #E8102, started for England... Over Bois de Marmal, he first encountered a Rumpler 'C' two-seat recon plane. Its skillful pilot and observer/gunner kept him at bay, and the gunner hit Barker's Snipe. Eventually Barker circled away and, relying on his accurate gunnery, fired from 200 yards, killing the gunner. He quickly scored more hits on the now-vulnerable Rumpler, breaking it up in the air. But in his focus on his victim, he missed a Fokker that got behind him. The Fokker's gunfire smashed into his right leg. Although badly injured, Barker was able to get into a circling contest, which only ended when his bullets struck the Fokker's gas tank, setting the plane afire.
At this moment, Barker's... found himself in the midst of a flight of Fokker and Albatros biplanes patrolling at high altitude. Spandau guns opened up from every direction and another bullet smashed into his other leg. Somehow, he managed to shoot down two of these opponents before he fainted and went into a diving spin. The rush of air revived him and he came to, still in the midst of German fighters. As they all fired at him, he selected one opponent and flew right at him, guns firing. As they closed, he blew it apart and then realized that his left elbow had been hit too.
Virtually crippled, with three limbs shattered, he passed out again. For a second time, he revived amidst enemy aircraft, now quite low. Incredibly, he dispatched another DVII. As he struggled to reach the safety of the British lines, a German bullet struck his gas tank. Luckily, it didn't catch fire and Billy switched over to reserve. Seconds later, the Snipe crash-landed, skidding sideways and then flipping over. The men of a Scottish infantry regiment, who had witnessed his epic aerial battle, pulled him from the wreckage... Barker had claimed another six victories."
Check out forum member Will Levesley's 1/72 Eastern Express build of Barker's Sopwith Snipe that also survived this legendary dogfight: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12998.msg242497#msg242497
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Machine Gun Duel
In contrast to yesterday's news chronicling perhaps the last great aerial battle from the last few weeks of the war, here's an article from 1914, when the conflict was just a few months underway and aerial combat was still somewhat of an uncodified novelty. This duel involved the legendary aviation pioneer Louis Paulhan who taught himself to fly in 1909 an was among the first ten Frenchmen to obtain a pilot's license.
(from the Brattleboro Daily Reformer, 9 November 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/exwLgQN.png)
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American Aviation Pioneer Falls Flying For Russia
He flew the plane from which the first parachute jump was made (March 1912). He was the world's first airline airplane pilot (January 1914). He test-piloted the prototype Curtiss 'Jenny' (July 1915). And for a year Tony Jannus was stationed in Sevastopol training Russian pilots how to fly... until he plunged into the Black Sea when his Curtiss H-7 suffered engine trouble on 12 October 1916. His body was never found.
Since 1963, the Tony Jannus Award for 'outstanding achievement in scheduled air transportation' has been awarded annually; past recipients include Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Chuck Yaeger, Richard Branson and Captain Sulley (hero of the 'Miracle on the Hudson').
(from the Fayette Falcon, 10 November 1916; badass image ℅ wikipedia):
(https://i.imgur.com/Vmo4RDz.png) (https://i.imgur.com/vKoQu48.jpg)
Check out this 1/48 scale Lindberg build of a Curtiss Jenny shared by forum member ermeio: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=6106.msg111180#msg111180
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Good News / Bad News
From the same front page of Frank Luke's home-state newspaper we're given two exciting headlines. First, revelation that the World War is over. We're also informed that Luke, who was America's second-highest-scoring ace in their Expeditionary Force, has been awarded the Medal of Honor. Luke was one of only thirteen aviators to earn 'ace in a day' status during the conflict. America's top ace, Eddie Rickenbacker would note (℅ wikipedia):
"He was the most daring aviator and greatest fighter pilot of the entire war. His life is one of the brightest glories of our Air Service. He went on a rampage and shot down fourteen enemy aircraft, including ten balloons, in eight days. No other ace, even the dreaded Richthofen, had ever come close to that."
Amazingly, though Luke had been killed in action back and buried by the Germans back in September, he was still being erroneously reported as missing by the American press. This article suggests he was being held prisoner. The full story of Luke's legendary last flight would not be revealed for another week or two.
In this same article, we also told of a war medal going a few other notables, including the Italian nationalist poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, who made his now-famous 1200-kilometer 'Flight over Vienna' (in an Ansaldo SVA) to drop 50,000 copies of his own propaganda poem. More on that story here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_over_Vienna
(from the Arizona Republican, 11 November 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/A6EkILw.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/CnEeJ0W.png)
Check out forum member Mike Norris' 1/32 scale Hobbycraft build of Luke's Spad S.XIII: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=9691.0
And here's forum member xan's 1/48 scale Ansaldo SVA: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12846.msg239482#msg239482
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Saved by Whiskey and Soda
Who knows what is fact or fiction in this article, but it's a great tale of how the La Fayette Escadrille was spared from annihilation by a Gotha raid during the supposed first attack on the American flag on the Western Front. 'Whisky' and 'Soda' were, of course, the two famous lion-cub mascots belonging to the squadron. I wonder if anyone has ever written about all the wonderful Great War Mascots? Sargeant Stubby is my personal favorite.
(from the South Bend News-Times, 12 November 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/Nh0tzzT.png) (https://i.imgur.com/fLJgD1t.png) (https://i.imgur.com/k4UBXIz.jpg)
Check out this blurb on Whiskey and Soda from a website for the recent documentary film, which includes a trailer: https://thelafayetteescadrille.org/whiskey-soda
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Three Volleys for the Dead
The demise of the German ace Kurt Wintgens was reported here a few weeks back. Today's headline covers his dramatic burial; which, per the flyer's request, occurred near as possible to where he fell. Hundreds attended. Wreaths were dropped by air. Several Blue-Max recipients joined the funeral procession, including: Ernst Freiherr von Althaus, Walter Höhndorf, Hans-Joachim Buddecke, and Wilhelm Frankl. Within eighteen months all but Althaus (who ceased flying in 1917) would also be dead in the ground.
(from the Clarksburg Daily Telegram, 13 November 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/sYtsKoC.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/IT2bxBA.png)
I couldn't find any completed examples for Wintgen's plane in the forum, but here member rhallinger's 1/32 WNW scale build of Buddecke's Fokker E.III: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11986.msg226157#msg226157
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Brit Grabs Bullet Out of the Sky
Probably another tall tale today, though still a fun read.
(from the Smyrna Times, 14 Nov 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/izlwF0E.png)
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'Supremely Grotesque... Riotous Orgy'
Here's what reads like a snobbish art critic's opinion of German camouflage schemes.
(from Popular Mechanics, November 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/6q5xIMQ.png). (https://i.imgur.com/j1Z3tc7.png)
And for your viewing pleasure here's a 'fantastic kaleidoscopic' Albatros by forum member drdave (1/32 scale WNW): https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11844.msg220661#msg220661
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Inside a Gotha Gun Tunnel
(from Popular Science, November 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/vakdc4g.png)
Check out forum member ClayMore Guy's 1/48 build of a Gotha G.IV which features a good view of the gun tunnel: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12767.msg237877#msg237877
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Clearly this reporter is all mixed up, but here's a little profile on the Caudron R.4, with an early example of nose art. Apparently no one on the forum has posted a build of this machine... another under-appreciated plane!
(from the Meridian Times, 17 November 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/01usgbZ.png)
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A Great War Caudron with a fuselage? Heresy! ;D
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Night-Fighting Farman
Alas, despite being on a few wish lists, this seems to be another airplane that no one has posted a build on the forum!
(from Popular Mechanics, November 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/1ARmYq9.png)
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«Signal rockets»? Those are le Prieur rockets aren’t they? Maybe the journalists were just guessing or asked to write that.
And yes, tempting subject.
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«Signal rockets»? Those are le Prieur rockets aren’t they? Maybe the journalists were just guessing or asked to write that..
I do believe, yes!
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Thirty Aces Killed
(from the Flushing Daily Times, 19 November 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/aT3Y8al.png)
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Attacked By 'Arrows'
Here's a article on the early use of French flechettes. Ongoing use of such anti-personnel ballistic weapons remains controversial today. For more insight and images, here's a relatively recent article on WWI flechettes from The Vintage News: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/03/03/the-flechettes/?chrome=1
(from the Daily Capital Journal, 20 November 1914)
(https://i.imgur.com/JJPmPRT.png). (https://i.imgur.com/agjyMh0.png). (https://i.imgur.com/dQcCnfF.png)
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Zero Becomes Hero When Clumsy Chump KO's Champ
(from Popular Mechanics, November 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/YkmZe46.png)
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Extra Horsepower Required For Desert Crossing
Here's a lonely B.E.2c making its way across Egypt.
(from the Illustrated War News, 22 November 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/2WfGSti.jpg).(https://i.imgur.com/z25gq5Q.jpg)
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Lonely? It's got lots of friends! ;D
So. Who's going to build a dio of this with the Roden - or LukGraph! - kit?
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Lonely? It's got lots of friends! ;D So. Who's going to build a dio of this with the Roden - or LukGraph! - kit?
Haha, true! There are so many diorama-worthy photos of WW1 planes in transit our there. This one's a good candidate:
(https://i.imgur.com/dx6yebV.jpg)
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Titanic Triplane
Here's a full-page feature on Italy's Caproni Ca.41 bomber. About fifty of these things were produced. Alas, this seems another plane which has yet to appear in model form here on the forum.
(from Popular Scinece, November 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/WRSGyJ9.png)
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Slinging and Signaling Seaplanes
Following upon a news article here from August, here's a good view of a Short Admiralty Type 184 being slung from the deck of the British Royal Navy seaplane tender HMS Ark Royal.
(from the New York Tribune, 25 November 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/M2JUutk.png)
Check forum member IanB's 1/72 Aeroclub build of a folded Short 184: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=6956.msg127811#msg127811
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"...Such a Splendid Cause"
Frank Luke recently made headlines here (back on the 11th) when news of his disappearance reached the press on the same day the armistice was signed. However, it was not until this day in 1918 when his death was formally acknowledged in Luke's homestate paper. It was another front-page story, for Luke, the son of a Prussian immigrant, was already a locally renowned hero. This article itemizes his remarkable string of victories that spanned the last few weeks of his 'splendid cause'.
(from the Arizona Republican 26 November 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/m3WFBpV.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/5NfujdV.png). (https://i.imgur.com/KpyWVFv.png). (https://i.imgur.com/VP28Sou.png)
Check out forum member gomidefilho's 1/100th paper-card model of Luke's SPAD 13C1: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=9142.msg166587#msg166587
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Ball Works Overtime, Earns Bonus
This article recounts how British airman Albert Ball was simultaneously awarded the Distinguished Service Order with Bar for multiple same-day engagements flying multiple planes morning and evening against hostile aircraft. In one attack he reputedly broke up a formation of Roland C.IIs using Le Prieur rockets intended for observation balloons. At this time, during the fall of 1916, Ball was Britain's top-scoring ace with 31 victories. He was subsequently sent on leave to the homefront where he was hailed a national hero.
(from the Sydney Morning Herald, 27 November 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/09PakgC.png)
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One-Legged Officer Flies For Germany
There's an 'eindekker' joke in here somewhere...
(from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 28 November 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/U0qJPGx.png)
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Over the Front
This simple article from the sixteen-month-old war unwittingly touches upon all the aspects that make this microcosm of WWI aviation such an interesting history to study: the evolution of fighting tactics in a wager for month-by-month supremacy, the introduction of new technology in real time, the race for more powerful engines, ever-increasing firepower, adaptive ingenuity in the field, plus the individual struggle of man vs. man (and sometimes man vs. machine).
(from the Hickory Daily Record, 29 November 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/m5wmPbA.png)
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A fascinating story, but is it true? Or, rather, is the name correct as a quick Google search comes up with nothing.
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A fascinating story, but is it true? Or, rather, is the name correct as a quick Google search comes up with nothing.
Are you referring to the one-legged flyer? Names (particularly foreign ones) were indeed commonly misspelled in these old articles. I also scanned google with no success... I don't readily have access to German newspapers so didn't investigate further. There was a 1916 article back in May on Theodore Marburg Jr., an American aviator who lost a leg in action then became a flying instructor (though he didn't return to combat), so perhaps there's potential to this story. For now I'm leaving it in the 'questionable' category!
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"One never knows when one goes up when or where or how one may descend"
Following yesterday's synopsis on conditions above the Western Front, here's a good read from a German perspective over the Eastern Front, namely Galicia (now largely Ukraine). One takeaway here seems to parallel themes from future conflicts - that there never a shortage of men but rather materiel. Though clearly a pilot is always kept busy, this observer astonishingly admits to having it so easy being unopposed in the sky he brings a novel aboard to pass the time!
(from the Daily Gate City, 30 November 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/hnIHyRt.png). (https://i.imgur.com/vEmFQtd.png). (https://i.imgur.com/Kwn4sLb.png)
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A fascinating story, but is it true? Or, rather, is the name correct as a quick Google search comes up with nothing.
Are you referring to the one-legged flyer?
Sorry, yes!
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World's First Female Military Pilot Heads to the Front
And this wasn't even the first war she volunteered for. While Eugenie Mikhailovna Countess Shakhovskaya wasn't Russia's first female 'aviatress' (that credit goes to Lydia Zvereva) she was an early bird, having first flown in 1911. Her public offer to serve as a pilot in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912 (the first conflict to involve aircraft in combat) was twice denied but when the Great War erupted Shakhovskaya again appealed... which brings us to today's news. Evidently her request was approved by Tsar Nicholas II (her cousin), who assigned her to the aviation detachment of Kovno Fortress (now Kaunas, Lithuania).
From here Shakhovskaya's story goes sideways. Reputedly she was shortly thereafter dismissed from active service, accused of being a spy, arrested, and sentenced to death. Tsar Nicholas apparently intervened again and Shakhovskaya's sentence was commuted to life in prison. Freed during the revolution, she then supposedly became a member of the newly formed Soviet secret-police organization Cheka. She is said to have become addicted to narcotics, possibly deriving from pain-killers prescribed pursuant to plane crash she survived in 1912, which killed her instructor and rumored lover Vsevolod Abramovich (pictured aside her below). By 1920 Shakhovskaya was dead. Some reports claim she was killed in an opium-fueled gunfight with a colleague.
(respectively from the Evening Public Ledger and the Bridgeport Evening Farmer, 1 December 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/VaX1DRK.png). (https://i.imgur.com/IYa86Ed.png)
More details about this pioneer aviator's short but dramatic life (which aided today's backstory) can be found here on Aerotime Hub: https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/27441-Princess-spy-aviatress-the-life-of-Evgeniya-Shakhovskaya
And if anyone cares to revisit, here's a link to our earlier snippet on Nedeshda Degtereva, the first female aviator to be wounded in combat: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg245511#msg245511
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Tom Gunn: China's Top Gun
San-Francisco-born Tan Gen (commonly called Tom Gunn), became the first Chinese-American aviator when he began flying 1911. By the summer of 1912, Gunn was flying demonstrations for the public including military officials of the newly born Republic of China; which, in 1915, would offer him a captain's commission to head their Air Force. Interspersed with stints in Honolulu and Manila over the next two years, Gunn is said to have made more than 800 flights and carried more than 300 passengers in the Pacific region. Today's news article, similar to yesterday's tale of Princess Shakhovskaya, echoes the shifting tides of revolutionary politics as Gunn somehow found himself out of official favor and with a bounty on his head. Tan Gen reportedly remained a target for assassination and at one point he was doused with acid. He was killed in a suspicious 'rickshaw accident' in 1925.
(from the New-York Tribune, 2 December 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/iWSt7dt.png)
A few more details on Tom Gunn's life can be read on warbirdsnews: https://warbirdsnews.com/aviation-museum-news/tom-gunn-exhibit-pacific-aviation-museum.html
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"Kichthofen's Traveling Circus"
While we're on the topic of trusting old news articles and of names getting lost in translation...
(from the East Oregonian, 3 December 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/pPoPsZJ.png)
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"There was nothing for me to do but fight, and my hands were full..."
Helmet cleaved by gunfire... and he survives. Shot through mouth; bullet lodges in throat... and he survives. Nosedives unconscious 8,000 feet into the ground... and he survives. Leaps from window of a speeding prisoner train... and he survives. Scavenges behind enemy lines for 72 days... and survives. Electrocuted by charged-wire fence... and survives. This is just part of Lieutenant Patrick Alva O'Brien's fascinating biography. He began flying in 1912 and was one of a handful American aviators to fight over Europe in the Royal Flying Corps (via Canada) before the U.S. joined the conflict. He reportedly was the first American pilot to escape from a German prisoner camp (while captive he witnessed his best friend get shot down from the sky above him). This excerpt from O'Brien's memoir Outwitting the Hun paints a picture of his final night flight:
I realized that my only chance lay in making an Immermann (sic) turn. This maneuver... brought one of their machines right in front of me, and as he sailed along barely ten yards away I had "the drop" on him, and he knew it. His white face and startled eyes I can still see. He knew beyond question that his last moment had come, because his position prevented his taking aim at me, while my gun pointed straight at him. My first tracer-bullet passed within a yard of his head, the second looked as if it hit his shoulder, the third struck him in the neck, and then I let him have the whole works and he went down in a spinning nose dive. All this time the three other Hun machines were shooting away at me. I could hear the bullets striking my machine one after another. I hadn't the slightest idea that I could ever beat off those three Huns, but there was nothing for me to do but fight, and my hands were full. In fighting, your machine is dropping, dropping all the time. I glanced at my instruments and my altitude was between eight and nine thousand feet. While I was still looking at the instruments the whole blamed works disappeared. A burst of bullets went into the instrument board and blew it to smithereens, another bullet went through my upper lip, came out of the roof of my mouth and lodged in my throat, and the next thing I knew was when I came to in a German hospital the following morning at five o'clock, German time. I was a prisoner of war!
Today's article shines the first light the public was to receive about his ordeal. Once free, O'Brien was celebrated. He received an audience with the King of England. He was awarded the Military Cross 'in recognition of gallantry in escaping from captivity whilst a Prisoner of War'. Back home a book deal, a lecture-circuit tour, and a Hollywood movie brought wealth to match his newfound fame. Yet despite defying death so many times, just three years after O'Brien's great escape... he killed himself. Felled by domestic strife after only a few months of marriage. His suicide note read in part, "To the five armies I have been in... to all the world and to adventure, I say good-bye." As the old saying goes, 'with war there are victims but with love there are only volunteers'. Like so many of history's intriguing characters, O'Brien's has largely faded from memory; however, relatively recently (in 2007) a memorial was dedicated in his honor.
(from the Daily Missoulian, 3 December 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/n8vple3.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/h8WAZas.png). (https://i.imgur.com/pJpDVcX.png). (https://i.imgur.com/cEOBXM7.png)
Make time for yourself today to read more from Pat O'Brien's well-written memoirs as shared on Humanities Texas: https://www.humanitiestexas.org/news/articles/firsthand-account-lieutenant-pat-obrien-world-war-i-pow
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Berlin Barely Beats Being Baptized By Britain's Biggest Bomber
Literally "in the 11th hour"! The first three production examples of the V/1500 'Super Handley' (first flown in May 1918), were ready to roll with 'tons of trinitrotoluol' on the very last night of the war. Some accounts say these beasts were literally being taxied on the airfield exactly when news of the armistice reached the ground crew of 166 Squadron. However, this article makes no reference that newsworthy detail, and it may be an exaggeration. Below right is the ordinance slated to equip the V/1500... though that last 3300 lb 'S.N. Major Bomb' never did anoint its adversary.
(from the Topeka State Journal, 4 December 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/V6ax6Dm.png). (https://i.imgur.com/TYgXVO8.png)
It seems that the Handley Page V/1500 is yet another plane for which no completed build exists here, but check out forum member Rookie's in-progress account of his entirely scratch-built 1/32-scale behemoth: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11018.0
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Parnall's Pudgy Pontoon Plane
Here's a grainy but great little spotlight on the Parnall Panther. First flown for the British Admiralty in 1917, this two-seater was designed to fold in half for easy storage aboard ship. Like the Handley Page V/1500 from yesterday's headline, the Panther missed seeing service before the armistice. Ultimately 150 were produced and the type remained in service through 1926, with a couple being sold to Japan and the United States. Alas, here's yet another obscure but interesting WWI-era plane that has yet to appear in model form here.
(from the Alaska Daily Empire, 5 December 1921):
(https://i.imgur.com/T24GdmE.png)
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Fighting With The Flying Circus
(from Popular Science, December 1918):
(http://i.imgur.com/Uw3JX7H.png) (https://imgur.com/Uw3JX7H) (https://i.imgur.com/r6zZdGO.png)
Check out forum member kkarlsen's super-cool 'Flying Circus' diorama, which I am guessing is 1/32nd scale(?): https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11049.0
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Plucky Pilot Crashes Plane Then Hijacks Train!
Another fun read of a downed aviator making a run for the border... this one perhaps of questionable provenance.
(from the Devils Lake World and Inter-ocean, 7 December 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/3SJGxRu.png). (https://i.imgur.com/TSGAJFL.png). (https://i.imgur.com/J03uubd.png). (https://i.imgur.com/ph0gzkJ.png)
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Eagle of Trieste Takes on Two
This brief article records another aerial victory by Gottfried Freiherr von Banfield, who was of the Great War's few flying-boat aces. It is noted that four airmen were aboard the downed plane - suggesting it was Caproni bomber. Banfield was the most successful Austro-Hungarian naval pilot, having been credited with nine confirmed (and eleven unconfirmed) kills. In the year this article was penned, he was awarded the newly founded Large Military Merit Medal with Swords. He was further honored in 1917 with the Military Order of Maria Theresa (he became the last person in history to wear this medal). 'The Eagle of Trieste' lived all the way to 1986.
(from the South Bend News-Times, 8 December 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/Vj2IMgS.png)
Check out forum member lone modeller's scratchbuilt 1/72-scale Hansa-Brandenbuerg CC, as flown by Banfield later in the war: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=7474.msg137554#msg137554
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To the Bitter End
No famous names or amazing tales of derring-do today. Just two news articles from the same newspaper, one year apart, reminding us of the grim realities that so many unnamed men faced each time they took to the skies.
(respectively from the The Sun, 9 December 1914 and 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/RhJUbZc.png).(https://i.imgur.com/3ZwjWwj.png)
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Lost British Flyer Lands in Germany... Asks for Directions to Gotha Base... Proceeds on Raid
(from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 20 December 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/GSuAgpi.png)
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Fainted Flyer Awakens Inverted (and Other Hair-Raising Tales)
(from the Richmond Palladium and Sun-Telegram, 11 December 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/BBneZH2.png) (https://i.imgur.com/dRxZNvO.png) (https://i.imgur.com/FaJHVlg.png)
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Hotdogging American Crashes Albatros D.III into Ukranian Palace
Edmund Pike Graves went to his grave stunting in the sky over Lemberg (known today as Lwów/Lviv; the second-largest city in Western Ukraine) in celebration of the city's defense from the Russians. Mariam C. Cooper, Grave's fellow pilot in Poland's Kościuszko Squadron, and the future director of the original King Kong, was an eyewitness. He recalled:
"Graves was circling over the city, showing off his aviatic art, but was circling too low. Being over Potocki Palace, at an altitude of two hundred feet, he performed a so-called “double barrel”. This is one of the most difficult maneuvers acrobatic pilots do. Aircraft was too weak for such performances; right wing of the airplane broke up and fell to the ground. Graves never lost his presence of mind in danger. In the blink of an eye he could still grab a parachute and jump out of the falling machine. However, he was too low - the parachute failed to open and unfortunate Graves fell on his head and was killed instantly."
Potocki Palace nearly burned to the ground; eleven years passed before it was fully restored. Today it houses Ukraine's National Art Gallery (presently closed due to the current Russian conflict). While largely forgotten, Graves embodied the classic American aviator profile: scion of well-to-do New England Family, Ivy League graduate, fearless flyer with risk-taking bravado, rushed to join the Royal Flying Corp before the US entered the conflict. His thirst for action led him, following demobilization after the Armistice, to immediately volunteer for the Polish-Soviet War. And that is how Edmund P. Graves wound up in the cockpit of a German Albatros on that fateful day.
(respectively from the Washington Journal [12 December], the Norwich Bulletin [2 December], and the Atlanta Semi-Weekly Journal [9 December]; 1919):
(https://i.imgur.com/rtYpna1m.png) (https://i.imgur.com/vN6ohQZ.png) (https://i.imgur.com/a1Cfinbm.png).
Check out forum member hadzi's 1/72nd-scale Pegasus build of an Oeffag D.III in service with Kościuszko's Squadron: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=2875.msg47739#msg47739
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Italian Ace Downs Austrian Observation Balloon...by Flying DIRECTLY THROUGH IT
Talk about going in deep... singed Drachen fabric was reportedly still clinging to Giovanni Ancillotto's Nieuport when he returned to 77a Squadriglia's airfield! Ancillotto, a pioneer night fighter, is also a member of the '27 Club', having died five years after the war in a car accident.
(respectively from the Saratoga Sun and the South Bend News-Times; 13, 9 December 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/GiV7C9P.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/dmpnm4i.png)(https://i.imgur.com/blNhOIA.jpg)
Check our forum member Dirigible-Al's superlative scratch-built 1/72nd scale Drachen Balloon: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3765.msg241679#msg241679
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"Racing Yacht of the Air"
Which sounds glamourous, except this 'yacht' is engineered to kill you. Brilliantly detailed drawing by the way.
(from Popular Science, December 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/2ALHcbn.png)
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German Giant to Carry Passengers
Comparable to the Handley Page V/1500 that was spotlighted here recently, two of these reisenflugzeuge were flying before the war's end, though they dropped no bombs. Despite this article's enthusiasm, this plan never took flight either.
(from Aerial Age Weekly, 15 December 1919):
(https://i.imgur.com/PqseDNK.png) (https://i.imgur.com/S8X41gW.png) (https://i.imgur.com/t6LzDe3.png)
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L'As la Jambe de Bois
We recently read an unconfirmed report of a one-legged German flyer serving at the front (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg249995#msg249995). Today's news from France provides us the real deal. Paul Albert Pierre Tarascon, known as 'The Ace with the Wooden Leg' became an amputee after a plane crash way back in 1911. Tarascon joined the French military in 1901 and was already in his mid-thirties when earned ace status. He ended the Great War with 12 confirmed and 10 probable victories. Tarascon later fought in the French Resistance and lived until 1977.
(From Fair Play, 16 December 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/CXN6At0.png). (https://i.imgur.com/VQFvSwh.jpg)
More on this airman's life, including some color profiles of the Nieuports/Spads he flew over at as1914-1918.net: http://www.as14-18.net/Tarascon
Meanwhile, check out forum member 1/144_Nut's tiny 1/144 scale diorama of Tarascon's already tiny Nieuport 11: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=10118.msg183532#msg183532
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When Pigs Fly
Today's news covers one of the most significant aerial missions of the Great War.
(Respectively from the from the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Tulsa Daily World, 16-17 December 2016):
(https://i.imgur.com/88zh3hU.png) (https://i.imgur.com/1NlFehC.png)
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Royal Flying Corpse
Hauptmann Oswald Boelcke's death (in October 1916) was reported here recently. His name headlined again on this day in 1918, after a collection of his flying reports circulated in the press. One story recounts Boelcke flying closely alongside a comatose British pilot... whose plane remained circling in the air with stubborn calm. More from Hauptmann Boelcke's Feldberichte:
"I was astonished at the opponent's tenacity. I must have long since really finished him off, but he flew on in the same way, around in a big circle. Finally it became apparent. I said to myself the fellow is long since dead and the machine is held on course by the rubber cords on the steering mechanism being in the right-hand position. Therefore I flew right up next to him and saw the occupant slumped over to the right, lying dead in the fuselage. In order to know later which of my shot-down aircraft this one was (as it indeed had to come down), I noted the [rudder serial] number -- 7495 -- pulled away from him and then took on the next one."
Thanks to Boelcke recalling that plane's serial number, we know that plane was a Martinsyde Elephant flown by Second Lieutenant Stephen Dendrino of 27 Squadron. Interestingly, historians note that Dendrino actually wasn't yet dead at the stick but survived his encounter with Boelcke (and his subsequent unconscious crash landing) to briefly become a PoW; though ultimately dying of his wounds. Thanks to the internet, we even have a photo of the wreckage of Dendrino's Elephant.
(respectively from the Washington Times, the Rogue River Courier, the Norwich Bulletin; 18-19 December 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/MTy5Bfe.png). (https://i.imgur.com/JM88HRU.png). (https://i.imgur.com/nPmiCaE.png). (https://i.imgur.com/fGouSWh.png)
"Eroberte Kampfflugzeuge durch Bölke" (image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/drakegoodman/8452763782)
Check out forum member Old Man's 1/72 Martinsyde Elephant 7494, which served far away in the Middle East but was only one serial number away from the Dendrino's plane on the assembly line: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11004.msg202745#msg202745
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American Escapes From Behind Enemy Lines By Staging a 'Maverick: Top Gun' Move
Today's news gives us a proper Hollywood ending courtesy of U.S. Naval Aviator H.J. White, who, while making his fourth attempt to escape Germany, crept along an aerodrome, stole an unguarded enemy airplane, and flew home. A quick web search didn't yield much information on 'H.J. White', though the photograph below was found of a man with that name posing with Charles Lindbergh in 1928. Other stories attached here include one of another airman being bayoneted while attempting to escape over the lines, and of a lost airman finding himself in the wrong corner of France.
(respectively from the Jamestown Weekly Alert and the Free Lance; 19, 21 December 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/LhD2yCe.png). (https://i.imgur.com/jzzDWVP.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ztKiKIk.jpg)
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Sugar Addicts
Save your sugar to serve aviators!
(from the Era-Leader, 20 December 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/r8NKrH7.png). (https://i.imgur.com/tjBsVxU.jpg). (https://i.imgur.com/k5URbGM.png)
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American Earns Ace Status By Capturing a Rumpler Mid Air
Sharp shooting during a dawn patrol enabled Charles Biddle to force land an opposing observation plane behind allied lines. Biddle hailed from one of Philadelphia's founding families (settled in 1630), he was graduated from two of the Ivy League Universities (Princeton and Harvard Law) before the joining the Lafayette Flying Corps in 1917. More on his flying feat from that morning of 16 August 1918, recounted by the man himself:
"I went after him once more and coming up under his tail, gave him a good burst at short range… this time I did better, for I got the observer in the stomach, shot the band of cartridges on his gun so it would not work, shot the synchronizing gear of the pilot’s gun so that it was put out of commission, and another bullet stopped the motor. [With no defense, a dying observer in the rear cockpit, a wounded pilot and far from his lines, the Rumpler was forced to land on the Allied side. The American pilot circled, then landed nearby to assist in the capture of the crew.] “I walked over to the German machine and they had just taken the observer out of the cockpit and laid him on the ground. He was a fine big strapping fellow, twenty one years old, and looked like a gentleman. It gave me a very odd feeling to stand there and look at that dead boy whom I had never seen before, stretched out with two or three of my bullets through his stomach, his fast-glazing eyes staring wide open.”
(From Boy's Life, December 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/tlB3r4J.png)
More on Biddle, along with an build update on a full-scale flying replica of Biddle's SPAD, can be read this recent issue of Invader Magazine, the Official Publication of the 13th Bob Squadron Association (Vol. 40 No. 1, 2022): https://13thbombsquadron.net/INVADER_Vol_40_Issue_1_2022.pdf
Check out forum member Matti's 1/48th scale Special Hobby build of Biddle's SPAD VII his time in the Lafayette Escadrille: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12147.msg226462#msg226462
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American Aces Propose New Air Force
Charles Biddle headlines the news again today (albeit one year later) alongside F.E. Kindley (the man who ended Lothar von Richtofen's flying career), J.A. Healy (the future technical advisor for the movie 'Wings', which won the first-ever academy award for Best Picture in 1927); and J.A. Meissner, who headlined here back in May. Their joint mission was to convince the U.S. congress to create an air force independent of the army... something that would not happen until after the Second World War in 1947. A second snippet here notes the U.S. aces still actively serving one year after the armistice.
(From Aerial Age Weekly, 22 December 1919):
(https://i.imgur.com/s1xKPEj.png)
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When Elephants Fly
I guess these things really do look like elephants. Something I can now never unsee.
(https://i.imgur.com/1KyBgzT.png). (https://i.imgur.com/wsLrB08.png)
Check our forum member malaula's award-winning largely scratch-built diorama of a Caquot in action: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=5480.msg97929#msg97929
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Brisfit's Record Height Induces Frostbite
Pilot Rudolph 'Shorty' Schroeder has an interesting backstory. He learned to fly while working for exhibition fliers between 1910 and 1916, including Katherine Stinson, who was billed as the “Schoolgirl of the Air”. He was an early enlistee of the U.S. Army Signal Corps aviation section October 1916. He was the chief test pilot at McCook Field, where he insisted on the development of a free-type parachute pack as invented by Floyd Smith and, in 1919, was the first U.S. air service aviator to wear one. He was credited with being the first to fly with a supercharged engine and the first to open a night-flying school. He spent much of his career in commercial aviation, working variously for Ford, Curtiss-Wright, and United. In 1945, Schroeder was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for experiments in high-altitude flying.
(from the Lodi Sentinel, 24 December 1919):
(https://i.imgur.com/l2QHxO6.png). (https://i.imgur.com/AfRdOK1.png)
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Bleriot Ho Ho!
(https://i.imgur.com/c2IB8Pv.png)
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Lone German Aviator Bombs Dunkirk on Christmas Day... with Christmas Cards
Frohe Weihnachten!
(from the Evening Tribune, 4 January 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/3Q3hvKK.png)
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American Aviatrix Attempts to Enlist
Katherine Stinson, who received brief mention here three days back, headlines today with her wish to join the war and fight over the front. Stinson began flying in 1912 when she was just fifteen years old. She was the fourth female pilot licensed in the U.S. As an international exhibition flyer (billed as the 'Flying Schoolgirl' and 'America's Sweetheart of the Air') she is said to have looped-the-loop 500 times. Despite her experience and enthusiasm, the U.S. government maintained its ban on women flying in combat (which would not be lifted until 1991). Stinson instead left for Paris and joined the Red Cross as an ambulance driver.
(from the Lodi Sentinel, 28 December 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/ZTllwGY.png). (https://i.imgur.com/h9izCeQ.png)
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High-Altitude Affects Airmen
Here's an early report on impact of altitude on fighter pilot performance
(from the Daily Republican, 28 December 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/VN5dMUV.png). (https://i.imgur.com/OABRT7q.png)
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Navy's Secret Nancy Outed
In recent weeks we've read of two giants that were flying during the war but were too late to the party to see front-line action: Britain's Handley Page V/1500, and Germany's DFW R.II. On this day in 1918, the world was introduced to America's giant Curtiss NC-class aircraft. It may not seem as big, but the 'Nancy' shared the same 126-foot wingspan as the 'Super Handley' (the DFW's was 115ft).
As hinted here, just two weeks after the armistice NC-1 set a record by flying with fifty-one people aboard. Who knows where they sat. In May 1919, three of the first four NC's set out to cross the Atlantic. The plane pictured here didn't make it; neither did NC-3... though it did water-taxi the last 200 miles of high seas to the Azores. But NC-4 did - earning the distinction of being the first plane to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. It survives to this day (image below from the NASM website).
(from the Sunday Star, 29 December 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/eGFH23P.png). (https://i.imgur.com/XlvnCF6.png)
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Night Owls and Monsters
(from the Washington Times, 30 December 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/iH3C2NX.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/VqV4krN.png) (https://i.imgur.com/gXRX79n.png)
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Castle's Monkey Bar
Where better a joint is there on the Western Front to ring in the new year of 1917? Where else in the world can you be served imported hooch by a trained-monkey bartender while getting blotto alongside the godfather of 1910s 'social influencers'? Vernon Castle, an Englishman living in America, had inherently more swagger than any Royal Flying Corps officer's swagger stick could imbue. He learned to fly in 1915, then immediately volunteered for the the RFC. He reputedly flew 300 combat missions [seems like a lot], felled two hostile planes, and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre (War Cross) for heroism.
But Castle was renowned well before that. He and his ballroom-dance-partner wife, Irene Castle, were nationally famous social trendsetters. They toured America and introduced the latest dance crazes. They were the original Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (in fact, that couple starred in a biopic of the Castles in 1939). The Castles were also patrons of African-American culture; among other fad dances, they codified and popularized the foxtrot, the most enduring dance of the jazz era. It's only natural that Vernon Castle would bring that party atmosphere with him to the war. Too bad he never got his lion.
(from the Clarksburg Sunday Telegraph, 31 December 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/X4Sn3W7.png). (https://i.imgur.com/dA0BAK0.jpg)
Sidebar: Based in New York, Vernon Castle's other 'partner' was the pioneering black bandleader and composer James Reese Europe, who was the among the very first black musicians to make records, including blues and jazz tunes (all before 1920). Interestingly, Europe also joined the war, enlisting in the all-black 'Harlem Hellfighters' infantry regiment, which fought on the front lines France. There, Europe formed a regimental band and is credited with having introduced jazz to France. Europe is largely forgotten today, partly because his career was tragically cut short when he was stabbed in the neck by his own drummer during the intermission of a performance in 1919, and because the records he made were shellacked using the Pathé system, which cannot be played on conventional phonographs. Thankfully in the late 1990s someone invented a machine that could digitize Europe's old records. For your listening pleasure, here's a 1919 recording of Europe's song, 'On Patrol in No Man's Land', which he penned in hospital while recovering from a gas attack, and which he recorded just weeks before his death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzc2SxA4rbc
Check out forum member pietro's scratch-built Curtiss JN-4 Canuck, which is similar to the one photographed behind Castle above: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=5995.msg108595#msg108595
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Lone London Raider Repelled
With the war less than half a year old, even the sight of a single hostile airplane was apparently enough to draw thousands of people to witness the fireworks on Christmas Day, 1915.
(from the Dakota Farmer's Leader, 1 January 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/kgx9GoJ.png)
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Germany's First Blue Max Strikes Again?
This wire from the Western Front identifies the German victor of this aerial battle as 'Lieutenant Ingelmann'. As we've learned, the press frequently mistranslated in those days... assuming this aviator is actually Max Immelmann, this story could relate to his combat over Valenciennes from two weeks prior, on 15 December 1915, when he downed a French-built Morane Parasol in British service (3rd Squadron; serial 5087; manned by 2nd Lt. Alan Victor Hobbs and Captain Charles Edward Tudor-Jones). If factual, then this seventh victory (the article notes he had six previous) would be the combat that made Immelmann Germany's leading ace, ahead of Oswald Boelcke. He would be awarded the Pour le Mérite just ten days after the publication of this article.
(from the Albuquerque Morning Journal, 2 January 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/nnJi10M.png)
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Invisible Aeroplanes
Here's a blurb on early German experiments in 'stealth' technology.
(from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 3 January 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/ekgq0iF.png)
More details on these developments along with a few photos of a cellon-surfaced Fokker can be found here: https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/german-stealth-aircraft-wwi/
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Lost and Found
Two conflicting reports from the same page of the same newspaper alert us first of the death but then of the recovery of Flt Lt Francis E T Hewlett, who participated in the legendary Christmas Day Cuxhaven Raid (more on that later this week) but was presumed dead after having disappeared over the North Sea on the return trip. Hewlett has an interesting back story because he was taught to fly by... his mom.
In 1911, Hilda Beatrice Hewlett (shown below alongside a B.E.2c) was the first British woman to earn a pilot's license. She taught her son Francis later that year. Alongside Gustave Blondeau, Hewlett also operated Britain's first flying school, at Brooklands, where T.O.M. Sopwith was a pupil. The two also created the aircraft manufacturing business, Hewlett & Blondeau Ltd., which built Farmans, Caudrons and Hanriots under licence. Just three months ago, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigstone opened the RAF's Hilda B Hewlett Centre for Innovation, named in her honour.
Following his lost-at-sea rescue, Francis Hewlett went on to earn a Distinguished Service Order.
(from the Alaska Citizen, 4 January 1915)
(https://i.imgur.com/65VpzNJ.png). (https://i.imgur.com/lvhQSf9.jpg)
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Frontline Fisticuffs for Fallen Fighter
Some crazy stories originating from the eastern front today.
(from the Montreal Gazette, 5 January 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/AKDJgrm.png). (https://i.imgur.com/sofJzz0.png)
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Cuxhaven Weihnachtsangriff
The Royal Navy's Christmas Day aerial raid on Germany's Kaiserliche Marine became major news across Britain immediately after the event was made public. The story was still reverberating in the far reaches of the Empire on this day nearly a week after New Years, 1915. Nine various early Short Folders set forth from the seaplane tenders HMS Engadine, Riviera, and Empress. Seven completed the mission; six came back. The final Folder, Short 135, fell into the North Sea due to engine trouble; though, as we know from two headlines ago, all aviators ultimately returned without casualty. Much like the Doolittle Raid of WWII that was also hampered by compromise, the Cuxhaven mission's strategic impact was nominal (they did not hit the Zeppelin sheds they were initially targeting), though it majorly boosted public morale and it promulgated the potential for ship-borne aircraft to impact naval strategy. A virtual boatload of imagery depicting the raid circulated in the press over subsequent months, imbuing a sort of legendary aura that persists somewhat today. Some of the more fanciful interpretations are included below. All said, the raid was of novel historic significance. In 1915, Flight magazine noted"
"The Cuxhaven raid marks the first employment of the seaplanes of the Naval Air Service in an attack on the enemy's harbours from the sea, and, apart altogether from the results achieved, is an occasion of historical moment. Not only so, but for the first time in history a naval attack has been delivered simultaneously above, on, and from below the surface of the water."
(from the Sydney Mail, 6 January 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/yJX6hQr.png). (https://i.imgur.com/V0TpjXi.png).
(https://i.imgur.com/GKrUDL5m.jpg). (https://i.imgur.com/IRQutvUm.png). (https://i.imgur.com/BGCoDxim.jpg)
I mean, who wouldn't want to enlist in the RNAS or at least build a model airplane after seeing all this drama?
P.S. To anyone curious as to the whereabouts of the newly christened HMS Ark Royal (the first purpose-designed seaplane carrier) - being just a fortnight old, it was already being kitted for its voyage to the Dardanelles in support of the coming Gallipoli campaign. Its flock included two more Short Folders, a handful of Sopwiths, and two Wight Improved Navy Planes (the subject of my latest scratch build project). More on their story in future headlines!
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Bring Me the Head of 'Captain Kettle'!
What other British aviator more deserved the prestige of having a bounty on his head than future Air Commodore Charles Rumney Samson, C.M.G., D.S.O., A.F.C., R.N.? Though he never attained 'ace' status, Samson exemplified that generation's spirit of pluck and innovation which makes studying WW1 aviation so fascinating. When it comes to making history, the guy got the job done.
In 1911, he was one of the first four officers selected for pilot training by the Royal Navy, earning Royal Aero Club aviator's certificate, no. 71, on 25 April after only six weeks of flying. He was the first person to fly an aircraft from a moving ship. He helped establish the first naval flying station (at Eastchurch). He was a pioneer in aerial wireless communication, bomb dropping and night flying. Sampson led the flight at the historic Spithead Royal Review in the summer of 1914 (reported here back in August). After the fall of Antwerp and the recall of some British forces to England, Samson reportedly used 'the slightest appearance of fog as an excuse not to cross the channel'. He then went to command the first British armoured vehicles used in combat and led the successful raid on the Zeppelin sheds at Dusseldorf. He dropped Britain's first 500lb bomb (flying a French pusher) and other uncanny field-improvised ordinance during the Dardanelles campaign. In his 1928 book 'The War in the Air', author H.A. Jones recalled how Sampson bombed an enemy submarine to no avail then returned to attack it with his rifle.
No wonder the Germans were offering £1,000 (nearly $160k today) for Samson's demise. But they never caught 'Captain Kettle' (named after the fictional 'master of fortune' action character in a popular series of short stories by C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne), and Samson went on to perform further feats. Evidently British naval brass wasn't particularly fond of Samson either as he was called on the carpet more than once over various criticisms... but that's news for another day.
(from the Anderson Intelligencer, 7 January 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/oYI6zLO.png)
More on Samson's terrestrial exploits via wikipedia:
"In the late summer of 1914, with too few aircraft at his disposal, Samson instead had his men patrol the French and Belgian countryside in the privately owned cars some of them had taken to war. The first patrol comprised two cars, nine men, and one machine gun. Inspired by the success of the Belgians' experience of armoured cars, Samson had two RNAS cars, a Mercedes and a Rolls-Royce, armoured. These vehicles had only partial protection, with a single machine gun firing backwards, and were the first British armoured vehicles to see action. Within a month most of Samson's cars had been armed and some armoured. These were joined by further cars which had been armoured in Britain with hardened steel plates at Royal Navy workshops. The force was also equipped with some trucks which had been armoured and equipped with loopholes so that the Royal Marines carried in them could fire their rifles in safety. This was the start of the RNAS Armoured Car Section."
Check out forum member jknaus' build of the Meng 1/35 scale Rolls Royce armored car: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=10187.msg185338#msg185338
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False ID Fail
With dubious early-war reporting like this, no wonder ground troops fired at any airplane... friend or foe.
(from Popular Mechanics, January 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/oIGEMnE.png)
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'El-Schahin' Attacks
Another apparent case of mistaken identity today; this time in the Dardanelles. The 'Turkish aviator' referenced in this clipping is likely German ace Leutnant Hans-Joachim Buddecke, who first made the news here in a November 1916 article where he was reported as walking in Kurt Wintgen's funeral procession. Buddecke arrived from the Western Front in December 1915 to serve with Ottoman FA 6 against the Royal Naval Air Service. Flying mainly a Fokker E.III (which he described as 'my yellow bird with the black threatening eyes', Buddecke was credited with four confirmed and seven unconfirmed kills during his first assignment in Turkey. For his efforts he was award the the Pour le Mérite that April, and is said to have been personally awarded the Gold Liakat Medal by Enver Pasha.
Interestingly, Buddecke spent part of his youth in the United States and learned to fly before the war at the same flying school as Katherine Stinson, who headlined here back on December 27. He joined the '27 Club' when he was killed in combat in March 1918.
(from the Sunday Vindicator, 9 January 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/45K5qJ0.png)
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New York 'Aeroplane Militia'
Here's a story from the American homefront showing the governor of New York's six-year-old daughter christening a Curtis Model F Flying Boat for the state's Naval Militia. Over 150 of variants of the Model F were built. Most flew in America, with some flying in Russia and Italy. Still in existence today, the NYNM's website notes:
"1916 saw the establishment of the United States Naval Reserve Force. Unfortunately, only those persons with prior Naval service could affiliate. This left the Naval Militias as the only avenue for landlubbers to become sailors. The National Defense Act of 1916 resulted in the creation of the National Naval Volunteers, which the New York Naval Militia joined en-masse. 1916 also saw the formation of a Naval Militia Marine Company. The Militia Marine Company was the first in the Nation and predated the United States Marine Corps Reserve program by four months. In addition, the donation of a hydroplane, by patriotic citizens, marked the beginning of the Naval Reserve Aviation Program."
(from Popular Mechanics, January 1918 {left}):
(http://i.imgur.com/v0ETLnA.png) (https://imgur.com/v0ETLnA). (http://i.imgur.com/niS8FLh.png) (https://imgur.com/niS8FLh)
With woodgraining effect reminiscent of these images, check out forum member Tim Mixon's current in-progress build of Esoteric's 1/72nd scale Curtiss F Boat: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13501.0
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Losing the Woman of My Heart
Alongside the torpedoing by U-32 of the British battleship HMS Cornwallis, today we receive news of the loss of the second aviation vessel sunk by enemy action during the Great War (first was the HMS Hermes in October 1914). One of several ships to bear the name, HMS Ben-my-Chree (Manx Gaelic for 'Woman of My Heart') was a relatively speedy packet steamer converted for use in 1915 by the Royal Navy as seaplane carrier. Ben-my-Chree's flock included the little-remembered Sopwith Type 860, Sopwith Schneider and Baby single-seaters, along with Short Type 830 and Type 184 floatplanes (including the one Flight Commander Charles Edmonds famously torpedoed a ship with while taxiing).
After serving in the North Sea then the Dardanelles, Ben-my-Chree became for a time the flagship of the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron at Port Said, Egypt. The ship's final engagement occurred January 1917, upon return to the Turkish coast under the command of the redoubtable Charles Rumney Samson (who headlined here four days ago). This summary of the ship's demise via talesfromhistoy.com:
"On the 20th of December 1916, French troops occupied the Greek island of Kastellorizo hoping to use it as an advance base against the mainland Ottoman positions. Understandably irritated by the French trying to put up a base the Ottoman army secretly sent an artillery battery of four 155-millimetre (6.1 in) and twelve 77-millimetre (3.0 in) under the command of Mustafa Ertuğrul Aker which set up his guns in range of the French position where he waited for the right moment to strike. Arriving on the 11th of January she [Ben-my-Chree] would anchor in the harbour that faced the mainland In full view of the artillery battery. Mustafa Ertuğrul Aker would open fire about two hours later, hitting the carrier with his third shot. Subsequent shells disabled her steering and started a fire in her hangar that spread across her upper deck. Soon the crew was ordered to abandon ship after about forty minutes of the bombardment using the only remaining operable motor lifeboat. One officer and four enlisted men were injured, but no one was killed. The Ottomans continued their bombardment for five hours until HMS Ben-my-Chree listed to starboard and sank in shallow water. After this event no Navy ever send a carrier type ship near enemy controlled lands again."
Later that day the captain and chief engineer reportedly returned to the scene to rescue the ship's mascots... a cat and dog which had both survived the attack. The wreckage was raised and salvaged for scrap a few years after the armistice.
(from the Butte Daily Post, 11 January 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/ax9QUzz.png)
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In the Hands of the Enemy
Hey, that would be a fun theme build... captured planes in foreign markings.
(from The Aeroplane, 12 January 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/5MEXioY.png)
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Armored Monoplanes vs. Flocks Swarming 'Monsters'
(from the Daily Gate City, 13 January 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/fFDyGXY.png). (https://i.imgur.com/YXgQn1Y.png)
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Back From the Dead, Again
Today's story covers three American aviators of the Lafayette Escadrille on return from the Front. All were reported dead multiple times. Ironically, William Thaw and Elliott Cowdin survived the war (though both would be gone by 1933). Only Norman Prince fell in action... he died later in 1916, after a crash landing upon return from the '100-aeroplane' raid on the Mauser works in Obendorf (reported here back on 15 October).
(from the Pacific Farm Record, 14 January 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/xhaKPfU.png). (https://i.imgur.com/8Tbtprv.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/yYliO9I.jpg)
(image: Cowdin, Prince, Thaw on 23 December 23 1915; via wikipedia)
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Max Müller Falls
He was Bavaria's highest-scoring ace of the Great War. By October 1917 Max Müller was second only to Manfred von Richthofen as the 'highest scoring ace still at the front'. He inherited leadership of Jasta Boelcke after Walter von Bülow-Bothkamp was killed on 6 January 1918. Müller's tenure lasted three days. Here's an account of his final flight (c/o rogersstudy.co.uk.com):
"On January 9th 1918 Max Muller left the aerodrome at Marke in Albatros D Va 5405/17 leading six other Albatros Scouts and headed for the lines, an RE 8 from 21 Squadron was engaged on a photographic reconnaissance in the Paschendaele area. Muller soon saw this machine and led his unit on to it in a formation attack. The pilot of the RE 8, Captain G Zimmer, saw the seven Albatros Scouts approaching and manoeuvred his machine to allow his observer, Second Lieutenant H Sommerville, to get a good burst into the leading Albatros at very close range. The Albatros, after firing at the RE 8, veered off and began to glide away; then suddenly it burst into flames and fell out of control. The pilots of Jasta Boelcke saw their leader's aircraft fall in flames and as they watched they saw Muller detach himself from the burning machine to fall to his death near the ruins of Moorsledge at 12.50hr. "
Wikipedia notes has that Müller’s body was found hit by a single bullet 'between the first and second button of his tunic'. In early 1919, he was posthumously approved for the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph, backdated to 11 November 1917. Thus in death, he became a non-hereditary knight, Max Ritter von Müller.
Interesting that this article, which originated in German papers, says Müller died due to a defective engine... rather than return fire from a lowly R.E.8.
(from the Youngstown Vindicator, 15 January 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/QSj1MzO.png)
Check out forum member rcboaterbill's recent post featuring a 1/72 albatross flown by Müller : https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13547.msg250915#msg250915
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Britain's Favorite Ballad
(from Trench and Camp, 16 January 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/bvxSBEO.png)
I'll bet these lyrics will be familiar to many. I've you've never heard the melody in 'close harmony', here's a snippet of it in a scene from an old 'Young Indiana Jones' episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av_vjm4hgi4
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Topsy Turvy Birdmen Feast
They sure knew how to party back then. This wild dinner, which featured an upside-down Bleriot chandelier and model airplane centerpiece, honored Bentfield Charles Hucks, the first Briton to loop-the-loop and the inventor of the Hucks Starter device. Hucks spent some time over the Western Front with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant but was of ill health and died of pneumonia shortly before the armistice.
(from the Edmonton Journal, 17 January 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/op0pBgz.png)(https://i.imgur.com/2c0KHo1.png)(https://i.imgur.com/IYqZbWq.jpg)
Check out forum member Sarcococca's 1/48-scale diorama depicting 94th Aero Squadron scene involving an Eduard SPAD XIII and a Skala Ford Model T converted into a Hucks starter: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12443.msg232972#msg232972
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Italian Seaplanes Raid Prosecco and Trieste
(from the Pierre Weekly Free Press, 18 January 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/Rw9IJyD.png)
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Déjeuner sur l'aile
There was no story to accompany this image, but it wonderfully captures a man in a moment's rest between sorties. He appears at ease on the wheel of what looks to be a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter (presumably either a SOP. 1A.2 or 1B.2. The Strutter was the sixth-most-produced aircraft of the Great War. Between 4,200-4,500 were built in France.
(from the Mohave County Miner, 19 January 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/HgU24Vp.png)
Check out forum member coyotemagic's 1/48 scale build of Roden's Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=6996.0
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Pilot's View of Poison-Gas Attack
Difficult to discern the details in this image taken from a Russian observation plane, but this depicts a gas attack on the Eastern Front. The first use of chemical weapons in this form occurred in April 1915, on the Western Front. Here's a brief eyewitness account of that event (c/o theworldwar.org):
“A panic-stricken rabble of Turcos and Zouaves with gray faces and protruding eyeballs, clutching their throats and choking as they ran, many of them dropping in their tracks and lying on the sodden earth with limbs convulsed and features distorted in death.”
An estimated 1.3 million casualties were caused by gas attacks during the Great War, resulting in approximately 90,000 fatalities.
(from the Lakeland Evening Telegraph, 20 January 1916)
(https://i.imgur.com/FzjtpG1.png)
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Spies and Lies
Today's story comes from American Aviator Bert Hall, one of the seven original members of the Lafayette Escadrille, who became famous for writing about (and embellishing) his exploits. Like most involved in the espionage game... how can you know who is ever telling the truth? From Hall's wikipedia entry:
"...he was greatly disliked by his comrades. Besides having an abrasive personality, he was known to be a liar. According to this book [Autobiographies of the Lafayette Escadrille] Bert Hall did get four confirmed kills [this article credits him with six] in the LS and several medals and was the squadron adjutant. But he was a four-flusher, a liar, a deserter and a good poker player who could read his opponents. And usually cleaned the table."
Well after the Great War, Hall spent time in jail after some shady dealing of surplus American warplanes in China before the formation of the Flying Tigers.
(from the Seattle Star, 21 January 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/bI4OpvW.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/oTbpRHM.png). (https://i.imgur.com/DsDk5wL.png). (https://i.imgur.com/PFYfgpK.png)
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Fokker Fear
Though the 'Fokker Scourge' had yet to be coined by the press when this headline was published, it had already been underway for several months. German air superiority significantly impacted British and French operations. Per wikipedia, just eight days before this article:
"RFC HQ issued orders that until better aircraft arrived, long and short-range reconnaissance aircraft must have three escorts flying in close formation. If contact with the escorts was lost, the reconnaissance must be cancelled, as would photographic reconnaissance to any great distance beyond the front line. Sending the B.E.2c into action without an observer armed with a Lewis gun also became less prevalent. The new tactic of concentrating aircraft in time and space had the effect of reducing the number of reconnaissance sorties the RFC could fly."
(from the Daily Capital Journal, 22 January 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/4hWvCyp.png)
Check out forum member miamiangler's 1/32 WNW Fokker E.III from the scourge: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3194.msg53509#msg53509
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Sky Battleships and Flying Fish
(from the Sunday Telegram, 23 January 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/4ARZO4V.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ScBk4mm.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/mVLvf4U.png)
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Fokkers Force Change in Fighting Tactics
(from The Age, 24 January 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/KoO0HA6.png)
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Radiator Saves Aviators
Just a few months before Brigadier General John J. Pershing would lead the American Expeditionary Force to the Western Front, he was leading another army expedition across the U.S. Southwestern border into Mexico in pursuit of revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa. The pilot and passenger named in today's story (I believe of the 1st Aero Squadron flying a Curtiss JN-3 or R-2) had gone missing and became the subject of much press coverage over the preceding week. Stranded nine days in the Mexican desert, they survived by drinking radiator water... until even that ran out.
The too-weak-to-walk passenger was Harry Gore Bishop, who would soon be appointed the rank of brigadier general when he joined Pershing 'over there', as did the 1st Aero Squadron. Bishop went on to have a distinguished military career but shot himself in the head after being forced to retire in 1934. Ironically, Pershing never caught Pancho Villa, who was assassinated in 1923, presumably by political enemies.
(from the Phillip Weekly Review and Bad River News, 25 January 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/TINpxQj.png) (https://i.imgur.com/0rZQOZl.png) (https://i.imgur.com/YmMTXvQ.png) (https://i.imgur.com/2Pm69on.png)
(Cartoon illustrated by Clifford Berryman)
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Godfather of US Air Force... Also Invented Muzak!
Anyone who has ever endured soulless instrumental music pumped into an elevator lift, a dentist's waiting room, a supermarket, or a shopping mall can thank Major General George Owen Squier. But before he was aurally bombarding American consumers he was pioneering aerial bombardment:
"Squier was instrumental in the establishment of the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps, the first organizational ancestor of the US Air Force. He also was the first military passenger in an airplane on September 12, 1908 and, working with the Wright Brothers, was responsible for the purchase of the first airplanes by the US Army in 1909. From May 1916 to February 1917, he was Chief of the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, the first successor of the Aeronautical Division, before being promoted to major general and appointed Chief Signal Officer during World War I. In 1922, he created Wired Radio, a service which piped music to businesses and subscribers over wires. In 1934, he changed the service's name to 'Muzak'." (via wikipedia)
In honor of this great pioneer, here's an hour and a half of vintage Muzak to keep you all productive at your workbenches. Now ask yourself - which can you endure longer, this stuff... or paint fumes?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFH1ryYTDB4
(from the Casper Daily Tribune, 26 January 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/fL4EAQL.png)
P.S. Now that your listening to your Muzak link, here’s more from Wikipedia:
“In the 1950s, it gradually became public knowledge that Muzak was using music to manipulate behavior. There were accusations of brainwashing, and court challenges. However, its popularity remained high through the mid-1960s. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to pump Muzak into the West Wing, and Lyndon B. Johnson owned the Muzak franchise in Austin, Texas. NASA reportedly used Muzak in many of its space missions to soothe astronauts and occupy periods of inactivity.”
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Samson Strikes Again
Following our recent spotlight on Charles Rumney Samson of Britain's Royal Naval Air Service (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg251298#msg251298), here's a great full-page photo of the Commander (well, at least his head), 'commencing an ascent' in his favorite steed, a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2.a. The Germans had already announced a bounty on this head when this photo was published.
(from the Illustrated War News, 27 January 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/LvZ1hEQ.jpg)
P.S. Looking closely at the rudder, one can discern that this is R.N.A.S. aircraft serial number 50, the current subject of forum member lone modeller's in-progress 1/32nd scale scratch build. That's a maze of rigging to look forward too. Check out his updates here: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12749.0
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Russian Paratroopers Practice Raid
As parachutes were not commonly employed among pilots during the Great War this blurb on paratroop deployment is of particular interest because of its early date. A quick googling didn't yield anything further on this reported event, but here are other two other relevant anecdotes (per wikipedia, though with sparse citations):
"Constant "Marin" Duclos was the first French soldier to execute a parachute jump on November 17, 1915. He performed 23 test and exhibition parachute drops without problems to publicise the system and overcome the prejudice aviators had for such life-saving equipment. The first operational military parachute jump from 1600 feet was logged in the night of August 8/9 1918 by Italian assault troops. Arditi Lieutenant Alessandro Tandura [it] jumped from a Savoia-Pomilio SP.4 aircraft of the Gruppo speciale Aviazione I [it] piloted by Canadian Major William George Barker and British Captain William Wedgwood Benn (both Royal Air Force pilots), when Tandura dropped behind Austro-Hungarian lines near Vittorio Veneto on a reconnaissance and sabotage mission, followed on later nights by Lts. Ferruccio Nicoloso and Pier Arrigo Barnaba."
(from the Youngstown Vindicator, 28 January 1916):
\(https://i.imgur.com/ZWlIONl.png)
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Russians Smash Zeppelin
Here's another blurb of Russian interest, again with scant backstory. This airship's identity in unknown (LZ28 maybe?). A New York Times headline on this event describes particular craft as 'also a sea boat built to rise on from the water'.
(respectively from the Clinton County Times and The Press, 29-30 January 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/hL17pcP.png) (https://i.imgur.com/dXllzRr.png)
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Your Journey is Sure to Be Crowned with Success
An inspiring advertisement.
(from Die Stabilisierung der Flugzeuge, 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/uX3tNF8.png)
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Parisian Planes Powerless Against 'Queer Freaks'
Though France's Armée de l'Air was unable to thwart a Zeppelin's bombs due to heavy fog during this night raid, the attacking airship, LZ49, was actually clipped by ground fire and force landed in Belgium that morn.
(from the Albuquerque Morning Journal, 31 January 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/32bRgEc.png). (https://i.imgur.com/9GmSvyk.png). (https://i.imgur.com/REKbZHi.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/q80MyXx.jpg)
(image ℅ wikipedia)
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Hurling to Earth
News snippets noting minor aerial combats were appearing fairly regularly by early 1918, when the U.S. was fully engaged in the conflict. Names were seldom included. When they were provided they were often the same dozen usual suspects... already famous fliers who are still celebrated today. Sometimes we're given insight to an obscure aviator, as is the case with one of today's subjects - Austen B. Crehore. Crehore joined the Lafayette Flying Corp in July 1917 and was flying with the 'Grim Reapers' of Escadrille SPAD 94, where he was best mates and frequent wingman with Pierre Marinovich when this incident occurred. He never attained ace status but he did earn the Croix de guerre with two palms, and the Legion d’Honneur.
Ironically, Crehore's only aviation related injury was cause by curious bystanders just months after the armistice during the 'New York to Toronto First International Air Race (story via wikipedia):
"He departed Mineola, New York (on Long Island) in an Ansaldo S.V.A. (Ansaldo A.300) and was by far the leader of the first leg of the air race. As he approached the first fuel stop in upstate New York the hordes of onlookers and admirers, not understanding about airplanes, ran out on the airfield as he approached the landing strip to greet the leader. Crehore had no choice but to pull up out of his landing procedure to save the lives of the onlookers, and crashed into a group of trees. The accident nearly killed him and very few of the people present understood that they caused the crash until they read the papers the next day. Crehore spent more than three months recovering from numerous broken bones."
(from the Republican Farmer, 2 February 2018):
(https://i.imgur.com/a7NiY5N.png)
p.s. check out the subtle woodgraing and shadowing of forum member xan's 1/48th scale build of an Ansaldo SVA, similar to what Crehore crashed in: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12846.msg239482#msg239482
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'Billard' Bags Bombing 'Barons'
Here's another obscure aviator that made the papers on this day in 1918. We are given only a last name, which I couldn't trace to anyone. Eugene Bullard, the American flying for France, comes to mind though. This incident would have occurred at the twilight of his flying career, though it may be possible.
(from the Evening Star, 2 February 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/HgA26n1.png)
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Lonely Loney Gambles on Gamble
Shivering in Lifeboat 14, Miss Virginia Bruce Loney became an orphan, and America's youngest millionairess, after waiving her final farewell to her parents who were left aboard the RMS Lusitania as it slipped below the waterline on the afternoon of 7 May 1915. She was just fifteen.
"It all happened so quickly. When the Lusitania was torpedoed, I was in my stateroom. I had no idea what had happened, but joined in the rush for the deck. There, everything was in confusion. My father went down to get some lifebelts and returned with a number, which he distributed around, but did not keep one himself. They stood at the perimeter of the crowd on the port side boat deck when her father noticed a space in lifeboat 14 that was about to lower... [and] ordered me to get in. I protested, but finally obeyed. It was the last lifeboat launched from the ship. The lifeboat was overcrowded and was only a few yards from the Lusitania when the big liner went down. Suction from the sinking vessel caused the lifeboat I was in to capsize. With other passengers in the boat, I was drawn ever so far down in the water. When I reached the surface again, there was nothing to be seen of the Lusitania. People were struggling in the water all around me. I swam to another lifeboat, which was not far away, and was pulled aboard." (via rmslusitania.info)
Fast forward only two years and the teenaged Miss Loney found what she thought might prove further salvation when she became engaged to American naval aviator Robert Howard Gamble, 10 years her senior. Before long the marriage ended in scandal with Mrs. Gamble suing her husband (and winning) for theft and fraud relating to her inheritance. A quick web search revealed little of Robert Gamble's aviation career other than that he was stationed for some time at the Naval Reserve in Jacksonville, Florida.
(from the Arizona Republican, 3 February 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/PSOfgrn.png)
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Congresman Quits to Command Caproni
Even more remembered today as the mayor of New York with an airport named after him, Firorello LaGuardia resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives (where he governed the Greenwich Village district) to join the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps in July 1917. He reputedly left the occupation field blank on his application card so as not to be prevented from enlisting. In due course he was assigned to command an airfield in Foggia Italy, where Americans were trained to fly Caproni bombers and SIA 7's in support of the Regia Aeronautica:
"The first American bomber pilots left Foggia for the front on June 15. They were attached to Italian bomber squadrons at Padua, Verona, and Aquila to gain experience and augment understrength units. After flying four or five missions with experienced Italian pilots, they were given command of a CA-450 or CA-600 and an Italian combat crew. King Victor Emmanuel III came to Padua to visit the airmen and had La Guardia as his dinner guest at a former monastery near the front. He was promoted to major Aug. 8, and managed to fly five combat missions in the Caproni in September. His total combat time logged was 10 hours and 20 minutes. As the war ended, US pilots on the southern front were withdrawn and the combat division headquarters was closed Nov. 19. Eighty American pilots served with the Italians. The greatest number at the front at any one time was 58. They took part in 65 missions and flew 587 hours of combat operations." (℅ airandspaceforces.com)
LaGuardia was reelected to congress within weeks of the Armistice, and became mayor of New York City in 1934.
(http://i.imgur.com/oO4QD8J.png) (https://imgur.com/oO4QD8J). (https://i.imgur.com/06N3tpw.jpg)
(image via Flickr, LaGuardia standing at left before a Caproni CA.3)
Check out forum member gomidefilho's 1/100-scale paper-model build of a Caproni CA.3: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=5076.msg119114#msg119114
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Teenage Polo Player Scores Twice
Turns out there's a bit of a theme this week on the exploits of obscure American fliers. Today's story shares the news of Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., who was renowned in pre-war polo circles, yet was an eighteen-year-old newbie aviator on the Western Front in 1918, flying for the Lafayette Flying Corps. His name would make headlines again several months later after he was shot down behind enemy lines, but lived and escaped to freedom. Hitchcock became the youngest American flyer brevetted in the war.
Evidently, F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of the Great Gatsby, modeled the character Tom Buchanan on Tommy Hitchcock. Hitchcock also made an impact in the Second World War, where he again served in the United States Army Air Force and was instrumental in the development of the P-51 Mustang. He actually died while piloting one during testing. Not a bad way to go.
According to wikipedia, a quarter century after his death, Hitchcock's children loaned his Millbrook, NY farm (just a 30-minute drive from the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome) to Timothy Leary from 1963 to 1968, and it became a nexus of the psychedelic movement.
(from the Tonopah Daily Bonanza, 5 February 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/s8x8RTV.png)
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'Old Eagle' Soars to New Record
Bruno Langer was awarded 8,000 Deutsche marks for this record-breaking endurance feat of February 3rd. The Alte Adler, as the 800 or so pre-war German aviators would later come to be known, first flew in 1912 (earning pilot's license no. 203). He participated in several competitions and was awarded twice in 1913 for other record-setting achievements.
Alas, Langer did not have much time to enjoy his earnings. After the outbreak of war in August 1914, he and his pfeil doppeldekker were assigned to the Eastern Front, flying long-range reconnaissance missions. Just two months later, while flying south-east of Nowogeorgievsk, he was shot down and reportedly was killed on the ground in a gunfight with a Cossack unit.
(from the Hawaiian Gazette, 6 February 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/5XFvhw4.png) (https://i.imgur.com/qCpeIJQ.jpg)
(image ℅ wikipedia)
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More Love-and-War Melodrama
Follow news earlier this week of an ill-fated aviator romance (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg252200#msg252200), here's another story, this time with a happy ending (despite the bittersweet headline). Today's tale relates to Reginald Morse Charley, and Englishman who learned to fly in America (Aero Club certificate #486) but joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. He was posted to No. 54 Squadron, the first RFC Squadron equipped with the Sopwith Pup, which deployed to France in December 1916. Charley earned a Military Cross for his first aerial victory in which he downed an observation balloon while piloting a Pup. He gained ace status shooting down five Albatros variants over the next several months.
Slawter and Charley did marry in late 1917. He lived to be 94.
(from the Albuquerque Morning Journal, 7 February 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/KxyGl7Q.png). (https://i.imgur.com/VSrfb0B.jpg)
(image ℅ armedconflict.com)
Check out forum member Faf's 1/32 WNW build of a Sopwith Pup: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11515.msg214725#msg214725
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10,000 German Rubber Hunters...
...and other fun facts about the German Aircraft Industry
(from the El Paso Herald, 9 February 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/lMGGR9u.png)
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Espionage Employed in Aerial Ambush
Few facts are shared in this story, but it offers insight to an early attempt at organized fighting tactics, when the the war was still just six months old.
from the Vilas County news, 10 February 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/InTmYqY.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/t0O55Qd.png) (https://i.imgur.com/yUbsSAW.png) (https://i.imgur.com/aKF4FRO.png)
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'New' French Fighter
Here's a close-up of France's 1916 answer to the Fokker - the Farman MF.11, which had been flying since 1913.
(from the Evening Public Ledger, 11 February 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/RDguSkJ.png)
Check out forum member Borsos' in-progress 1/48th scale scratch-build of a similar Farman depicted as it was just a few weeks after this photo was published: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=6980.30
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Hydroplane Scatters Army
Today's snippet doesn't tell much, but I'm guessing the 'panic'-inspiring plane referenced was a Nieuport 6H from the French seaplane squadron stationed near Port Said. On 16 Februrary 1915, J. G. Maxwell, Lieut.-General, Commanding the Force in Egypt (disparaging the quality of British airplanes) noted in a dispatch:
"The French Hydroplane Squadron and the detachment Royal Flying Corps have rendered very valuable services. The former, equipped with hydroplanes with floats, ran great risks in undertaking land reconnaissance, whilst the latter were much handicapped by inferior types of machines. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, they furnished me regularly with all information regarding the movements of the enemy."
Has anyone built a model of one of these? It's definitely on my to-do list. For more info on the Turkish attack on the Suez Canal, which began the week prior to this article being published, read here: https://www.naval-history.net/WW1Battle1502SuezCanal.htm. For background French Seaplane operations in the Mediterranean, here's another good read: https://aegeanairwar.com/articles/the-french-seaplane-squadron-at-the-dardanelles
(from the Nome Daily Nugget, 12 February 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/63QqHEL.png). (https://i.imgur.com/noY9MdL.jpg)
(image via aegeanairwar.com)
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British Brave 'Banks of Snow' Snow to Bombard Belgium
(from the New-York Tribune, 13 February 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/BpqcWCk.png). (https://i.imgur.com/RiGSXZ7.png)
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World Famous Aviator, Grahame-White, Gravely Injured
(from the Barre Daily Times, 14 February 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/2dioit1.png)
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World Famous Aviator, Grahame-White, Personally Denies He's Gravely Injured
As noted last October (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg249052#msg249052), this poor chap really just cannot catch a break with the British tabloids...
(from the Daily Gazette, 14 February 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/Tx0ftkw.png)
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Turks in Training
Here's a relatively detailed article on a subject less covered by the press. For further reading, here's a synopsis of Ottoman aerial developments during the Great War: http://turkeyswar.com/aviation/development-of-turkish-aviation/
(from the El Paso Herald, 25 February 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/LEh2lNY.png) (https://i.imgur.com/uLX2ozc.png)
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Austrian Airman Assassination Attempt
Today's news, from two sources, describes a failed 'hit' on French Prime Minister Aristide Briand as part of a series of raids. According to the second article, Archbishop Ferrari had been tipped off in advance about the Austrian incursion, which he communicated to local authorities. Evidently someone went to Confession that week! Though Briand avoided this so-called 'barbaric excursion', the bombing raid left fifty people wounded and twelve dead.
(respectively from the The Sun and L'Italia, 16 February 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/lnOwjUC.png) (https://i.imgur.com/V2AUeM0.png)
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Frustrated Fight: Nieuport vs. Rumpler
(from the Evening Star, 17 February 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/S9MOebt.png) (https://i.imgur.com/2OTxMI6.png)
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Castle's Last Dance
Vernon Castle, who headlined here alongside his bartending pet monkey in a New Year's Eve article (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg251050#msg251050), was again nationwide news on this day in 1918. This time for his burial. Castle had been killed three days earlier in a stateside training accident (his monkey survived). More details on their final flight (℅ wikipedia):
"On 15 February 1918, over Benbrook Field, a training field near Fort Worth, Texas, Vernon took emergency action shortly after takeoff to avoid a collision with another aircraft. His plane stalled, and he was unable to recover control before the plane hit the ground. He died soon after the crash, aged 30. Vernon was the only casualty. There is a street in Benbrook, Texas, named in his honor, with a monument dedicated to him. According to the monument at the crash site, "Neither the other pilot, his student cadet, nor Vernon's pet monkey, Jeffrey, were seriously injured." Vernon was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. The grieving memorial figure kneeling on the grave was created by Irene's friend, the American sculptor Sally James Farnham.
(respectively from the Seattle Star, the Birmingham Age-Herald, and the Oklahoma City Times; 15, 17-18 February 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/FSJydzS.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Yqql9gR.png) (https://i.imgur.com/Q77E4Mp.png) (https://i.imgur.com/mCYsPt5.png) (http://i.imgur.com/rr2dhEs.png) (https://imgur.com/rr2dhEs) (https://i.imgur.com/5IcHDvt.png) (https://i.imgur.com/AkuaEuv.png) (https://i.imgur.com/ZMX4hda.gif)
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'A' is for Armor
Here's a photo essay featuring a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2a reputedly loaded with armor plating. If this is the case, it most likely would not have helped the plane's sluggish 72mph top speed. That might explain this observer's frustrated look.
(from the Grand Forks Daily Herald, 19 February 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/EIsXNHl.png)
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Air Power Over the Aegean
Today's headline records the start of the allies' ill-fated Dardanelles campaign and the British Royal Navy's failure to 'force the narrows', which began 19 February 1915, with the bombardment of Ottoman forts at Cape Helles and Kum Kale. In the hundred years since, scholars have debated this military action's unintended impacts on world history, but today our focus on a very small part of the first day's enthusiasm. This article only vaguely references 'aeroplanes and seaplanes' but, thanks to the surviving logbook of the newly christened HMS Ark Royal (which arrived on scene two days earlier), we know the identities of the planes that saw action on this day. Nestled in the hold of the two-month-old purpose-built seaplane carrier were one Short Folder, three Sopwith Type 807's, a couple of Sopwith Tabloids, and my personal all-time favorite: two Wight A.1 Improved Navyplanes. With the war just six months old this gaggle were envisioned and employed primarily for observation and artillery spotting, but ultimately also light bombing.
(from the Bryant Daily Eagle, 20 February 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/7Q8a6da.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ikCbhce.png) (https://i.imgur.com/jR50Jqh.png) (https://i.imgur.com/WDvnhN4l.jpg[/img [img]https://i.imgur.com/qVQApYKl.jpg)
Several of of Ark Royal's seaplanes were in the air that day. Troubles began immediately and continued for the duration of the campaign. The March 19 entry from the Ark Royal's logbook (original here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/oldweather/ADM53-34098/0046_0.jpg), along with the following recollection, gives evidence of the Royal Navy's struggle to bring new technology and tactics to war:
"On 19th February Flt Lts N S Douglas and E H Dunning take Ark Royal’s third “Type 807” folder floatplane No.922 on a first Sopwith mission against Turkish land forces defending the Dardanelles. Their orders are to reply ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question ‘Are two guns of No.1 battery nearer to barracks than cliff?’, then spot onto No.1 Fort for HMS Inflexible at 4,00ft if possible but 3,00ft further off if necessary. The mission is not a success as the wireless telegraphy set short-circuits probably due to spray getting into the set during the take-off. Photograph... shows the machine and crew being hoisted back aboard Ark Royal. " (text and image via kingstonaviationorg)
Only twelve Sopwith Type 807 'Folders' where built. Though little remembered today they saw action across the British Empire. Below is my 1/72 Joystick vacuform build of Sopwith #920 that was featured in the March 2004 issue of WWI Aero Magazine (my 15 minutes of scale-modeling fame). This particular plane was constructed ten days before #922; it served in East Africa with the RNAS and in Mesopotamia with the RFC.
(https://i.imgur.com/mwu2QNFl.jpg). (https://i.imgur.com/PWwhEVpl.jpg)
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Captured German Pilot Interrogated
(from the Evening Star, 21 February 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/CGjQ3Ja.png)
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Lone Brit Attacks Twelve Rolands
I wonder if this story my be an exaggeration. Assuming it has some basis of truth, any clue as to who this pilot might be? Interesting little second article on the German use of the stall tactic to escape combat.
(from the Dakota County Herald, 22 February 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/4GzDs1X.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/bicKCRZ.png) (https://i.imgur.com/MZtI9Sm.png) (https://i.imgur.com/dhk3VQF.png).
The article doesn't say which 'Rolands' were involved, but check out forum member Umlaufmotor's 1/32 WNW Roland C.II (a type that was flying when this article was published), which features some convincing wear and weathering: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13147.0
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Ambush in the North Sea
Before dawn, 15 March 1918, two Curtiss H-12B's took wing from the Seaplane Experimental Station at Felixstowe. Their assignment: escort a convoy of merchant vessels supplying beef between England and Holland. Manning the turret gun of one flying boat was Ensign Albert Dillon Sturtevant, an American Ivy Leaguer in British service. Nearly halfway home they were ambushed by a flock of Hansa-Brandenburgs (presumably W.12's):
(respectively from the Knoxville Independent and the Watchman & Southron, 23 February 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/68zwIpV.png) (https://i.imgur.com/fUaR63o.png) (https://i.imgur.com/zTvMKu6.jpg)
"The flight continued uneventfully with nothing in sight except choppy seas.... the two machines roared along about eight hundred yards apart. Suddenly dropping out of the low clouds, right between the two flying boats, ten German seaplanes dove and, in a carefully orchestrated ambush, separated into two wolfpacks. Each went after a flying boat. Faux {the other plane's pilot}, on the western, homebound side of the attackers, immediately turned toward England. He dropped his depth charges to lighten his load and then plunged down within a few dozen feet of the sea. Not having had time to retract his radio antenna in the sudden evasive dive, its end struck the surface and tore away. Unable to call for help, he could only flee for home. Three German machines chased Faux for several miles before turning back to join the attack on Purdy's lone aircraft.
With the German fighters between him and home, Purdy {piloting Sturtevant's plane} threw his flying boat full throttle on a due south course. He had no hope of outrunning his attackers. The buzzing German seaplanes darted in, two by two, guns blazing. Sturtevant at the nosegun and the engineer and navigator to the rear fired off burst after burst at their attackers who came sweeping in from below and above, bow and stern. The running gunfight continued southward. Purdy kept trying desperately to turn toward the safety of England. Each time he banked, the seaplanes darted in like ravenous mosquitoes stinging the soft underbelly. The flying boat was being drawn ever closer to the enemy strongholds along the Belgian coast.
Whether by radio signals or sheer misfortune for the British flying boat, another German squadron flew out from the shore. Although the men on Purdy's ship could not know it, the leader of the German squadron, Oberleutnant Friedrich Christiansen, was one of Germany's most feared airfighters. With his arrival, the game was over. The flock of German aircraft raked the lumbering British hotel until the oil and gas tanks burst. Her canvas and wood hull caught fire, and she rolled over and fell into the sea. The triumphant Germans circled over the wreckage several times and then left it burning on the water.
Later that afternoon, Christiansen returned and found the wreckage still afloat. Three men clinging to the debris waved to him. He circled overhead, but the seas were running dangerously high and on the horizon he could see British destroyers patrolling. He did not dare land. Christiansen, like many pilots of the war, came from aristocratic origins and was steeped in the chivalrous tradition of respecting his foes. His opponents, once downed, were victims in need of aid. Seeing the helpless survivors, he would, he later reported, have landed to ferry them to safety, had he not feared for his own safety. He expected that their comrades would come to their rescue. The next day, though, when he came out to the site of the wreckage again, all signs of it along with any survivors had vanished. "
(Marc Wortman, The Millionaire's Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys who Fought the Great War and Invented American Airpower, p. 160-162)
Sturtevant is said to be the first American naval aviator to die in combat during the Great War. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and three U.S. Navy ships have since been named after him. Evidently some time after the Armistice, Sturtevant's father travelled to Europe and directly contacted Friedrich Christiansen (who headlined here back on May 23 for shooting down another American in another flying boat) in a vain attempt to learn more of his son's fate.
Check out forum member lcarroll's 1/32nd-scale WNW diorama of Christiansen's Hansa-Brandenberg W.12 at Zeebrugge in 1917: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8358.0
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U.S. Looking for Leather
Clearly the Germans weren't the only ones scrounging secondhand (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg252362#msg252362) in the war effort to supply their aviators.
(from the Donaldsville Chief, 24 February 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/Pm5YoiJ.png)
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Lost Germans Land at English Aerodrome; Politely Ask for Petrol
(from the Rogue River Courier, 25 February 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/uau2aLL.png)
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Observation Airplane Saves Entire Army
The decoration of two anonymous airmen by Kaiser Wilhelm II made international news today. This article is a good reminder of the influential tactical role aircraft played during the opening phases of both sides of the war before the stalemate of trench warfare. Anyone have an idea as to who these iron-cross recipients may be?
(from the Hawaiian Gazette, 26 February 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/9PrRgBf.png)
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Popped over Champagne
This supposed live-action photo of a British aviator by a German anti-aircraft gun is claimed as authentic, though I have my doubts. I also searched for 'Lieutenant Ferrick' in the RFC personnel database on www.airhistory.org.uk, but found nothing. Regardless, it imprints a clear reminder that Great War aviators faced all sorts of perils while in the air... even from the ground. I suppose there's no greater example of this than Richtofen's final flight.
(from the Tombstone Epitaph, 27 February 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/ySxnYQC.png)
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Churchill Soars in a Sopwith
Not just any Sopwith; rather, one that the First Lord of the Admiralty chose especially for himself.
"In late 1913, Churchill’s eye was caught by a scaled up version of the Tabloid known as the “Sopwith Sociable” because the two-man crew was seated side-by-side rather than in tandem... Churchill liked the design of the Sociable because the aircraft would permit the First Lord to inspect the fleet from the air. He therefore requested that the RNAS place an order for the Sociable and in December 1913 dictated the general specifications... Among the Admiralty’s requirements outlined in the contract were that the accommodation should be “roomy” and the seats especially upholstered in leather, widely reported to have been specified by Churchill for his own comfort."
Churchill joined Lt. Spenser Grey for this quick blip only three days after the Sociable's first flight. The plane was assigned serial #149 and thereafter became unofficially known as Sopwith 'Churchill'. Despite praise in the press (The Aeroplane noted, "It is an excellent piece of work throughout.”) only this one example was constructed.
(from the Atlanta Georgian, 28 February 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/7CuqsQZ.png). (https://i.imgur.com/xH1BiqX.png)
When Britain joined the war, the Sociable/Churchill crossed the Channel with No.3 Squadron, where it was stationed in Belgium and was fitted with an extra fuel tank and a bomb rack. An interesting anecdote of one mission is recalled by H.King in Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 (Putnam):
"Dates and details of raids at this period are difficult to determine with absolute accuracy; but that Spenser Grey 'lost' a bomb from No.149 seems well-founded; this projectile supposedly having vibrated off the 'pipe-rack' holder provided for it, together with an additional number of other bombs. C. G. Grey... related the circumstances which followed 149's return to Antwerp (having got itself ‘completely lost’)... ‘When Spenser Grey and Newton-Clare... landed they saw a vacant space in the pipe-rack which showed that one of the bombs had vibrated itself off. They only hoped that it had fallen in Germany and not in Belgium. 'After dinner they were sitting in the lounge of their hotel - war was a comfortable game in those days - when an excited Belgian staff-officer dashed in and told them that a complaint had come from the Dutch Government that one of the Allied aeroplanes had dropped a bomb in the city of Maastricht, and had blown up a school and some houses and had killed a lot of women and children, and that the Dutch Government were seriously contemplating declaring war on Belgium. Spenser turned to Newton-Clare and remarked 'That must have been a damned good bomb.'"
Alas, 149's operational career was short as, needing repair, it was abandoned to advancing German troops during the fast-moving early phase of the war. It was formally struck off charge in late October 1914. This single plane also had a third nickname. The Grub Street Dictionary of International Aircraft Nicknames, Variants and Colloquial Terms, notes the following: "...the one-off Sopwith two-seat biplane of 1914 was also referred to as the Tweenie (the contemporary term for a 'between floors' maid) as it came between the RFC's 80hp three-seater and the Tabloid in Sopwith's current family". Somewhere in storage I've a set of 1/72 wings completed and a few other details for this bird. Maybe one day I'll bring it to life.
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Bad Day for the Allies
(from the Bisbee Daily Review, 03-01-1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/ULcuQS9.png)
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Forgotten Airfield
For those who may not know, immediately south of Manhattan in New York Harbor, near Ellis and Liberty Islands, is a spit of land known as Governor's Island. Though I live most of the year in Manhattan, I never knew Governor's Island was tricked out with an airfield during the Great War. Looking at the image below, one can see the Statue of Liberty waving on the horizon. Not sure what the contraption is on the left but those look like a pair of Curtiss JN's in the background. This airstrip is long gone, but I believe at one point Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia (who headlined here on Feb 5) once tried to put a national airport on Governors Island. That sure would have made getting into the city so much quicker! For another bit of (debatable) trivia, a webpage dedicated to the island (governorsilandguide.com) claims "the first time an airplane flew over water" occurred here when Wilbur Wright lashed canoe to one of their Flyers in October 1909. Details:
"Wilbur sent a letter to Orville with the precautions he’d take before going to Governors Island: 'So I have gone back to my old plan of mounting a canoe under the center of the machine, well forward… Of course, I do not expect to come down, but if I do I will be reasonably safe'. The plane was shipped to Fort Jay and assembled on the Island. As the legend goes, a few days before the flight, Wilbur Wright went into a hunting and sporting goods store on Broadway and purchased a canvas-covered canoe to affix to his aircraft.
One of the greatest spectacles in city history was about to play out for Wright’s flight. As many as 1,600 vessels were in New York Harbor: 20 U.S. Navy battleships, part of the Royal Navy fleet, naval ships from Argentina, France, Germany, Mexico, and the Netherlands. Pleasure boats and private yachts anchored off Governors Island nearby ferryboats, tenders, steamships, anything that could float had passengers looking to the skies.
He took off from Governors Island and headed straight for the Statue of Liberty. He swung west into the wind and aimed straight for the statue. In the Harbor, tens of thousands watched. Wright sailed low over the Lusitania {referenced here on Feb 4}, which was departing New York, bound for Liverpool. Passengers frantically waved hats and scarves at Wright, who flew a beautiful loop around the Statue, circled low, and with perfect control executed a series of dips and turns."
However, Louis Blériot had already made his much more significant cross-channel flight that summer, so this claim is clearly enthusiastic/apocryphal. But you can definitely see the canoe slung under that airplane!
(from the High Point Review, 2 March 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/qxUrLYq.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/xqbclt1.jpg)
(image: governorsilandguide.com)
Check out forum member Bughunter's 1/72 Aerobase 'stripdown' model of the the original Wright Flyer: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8597.msg158186#msg158186
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Spotlight on French Aeroplanes
Love the caricatures from Escadrille 3 Les Cigognes
(from the New-York Tribune, 3 March 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/tvUZZZe.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/gZJePxw.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ekRtC25.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/TVMVJDv.png)
Not sure what Letord variant that first image depicts, but check out forum member Skyhook's 1/72-scale scratchbuilt Letord 4: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12538.0
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The Mysterious 'Baron Drasenfold' Falls in Flames
This fatal encounter on the Eastern Front, which supposedly occurred in the skies over present-day Daugavpils, Latvia, describes the fiery death of a noble European aviator. However, a google search for the phrase 'Baron Drasenfold' on our glorious world-wide web yields only one page hit... the Library of Congress archive that posts this very news article from 106 years ago. Another surname lost in translation or just fiction to fill page space? We may never know.
(from the Evening Star, 4 March 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/hb9Nsaw.png)
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Diable Rouge
The Aéronautique Militaire's 'Red Devil' earned his military pilot's license in in 1913. By the late winter of 1915, Maurice Happe was a captain piloting a two-seat Farman with Escadrille MF25. Details on today's story:
"On March 3, accompanied by the mechanic Petit, he attacked one of Germany's main powder mines: Rottweil. Despite unfavorable conditions, he managed, after a flight of 150 km in enemy territory, to locate the establishment, which he bombed at an altitude of 1,500 m. A shell falling on an acid tank caused a gigantic fire. Three other projectiles exploded on the blowing snow itself. Having remained above the target for more than ten minutes, Happe was able to draw up a detailed report on the results of his action. Proof of the effectiveness of the bombardment, this raid earned him a bounty on his head in Germany." (via fandavion.free.fr)
According to the website wiki 1418, Happe's innovations enabled him, in April 1916, to gain command of his own squadron and to help train American volunteers in the Escadrille de La Fayette. However, by 1917, his 'brazen attitude' evidently caused him to be relieved of his aviation duties and he was transferred to the infantry on the Italian front until war's end. He perished in an on-ground plane crash in late 1930.
(from the Barre Daily Times, 5 March 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/lDuUrzd.png) (https://i.imgur.com/ypwKTjx.png) (https://i.imgur.com/OYR0rCB.png) (https://i.imgur.com/SJD5g82.jpg)
(image via loc.getarchive.net and fandavion.free.fr)
Have an in-progress peek at forum member Borso's 1/48-scale scratch-built Farman MF11: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=6980.msg128316#msg128316
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Aeroplane Activities
Another hectic week up in the clouds.
(from the Evening Star, 6 March 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/vEbubBv.png)
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Spotlight on German Aerial Work
(from the new Britain Herald, 7 March 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/nsJNAnb.png)
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In Sammy's Sights
In response to yesterday's article on German aerial photography, here's a spotlight on the 'new' American camera gun of 1918.
(from the Chattanooga News, 8 March 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/VQ1kcGT.png)
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Hit Twenty-Eight Times
Today is a big news day... for me at least. For not only do we have another tale of dramatic aerial action, we've also been given the name of the flight crew and the serial number of the exact airplane involved. And not just any plane, but my personal all-time favorite - the ungainly Wight A.1 Improved Navyplane, a handful which were operating from the British seaplane tender HMS Ark Royal in support of the Gallipoli Campaign. Atop this we also have an in-theatre photograph of this obscure aircraft along with copies of Ark Royal's log reports and the pilot's diary from that day. Most remarkably, we even have an eye-witness painting from the scene of the battle! All the stars are aligned to provide an amalgamated goldmine of trivia to bring back to life this one small moment from a big campaign within the Great War.
For whatever reason this particular story was widely circulated in the British and American papers during the second week of March 1915. Our first article relays the overall scene at the Dardanelles that day; the second highlights the aviation aspect. It's a clear spotlight on the experience the Royal Naval Air Service was earning in its attempts to incorporate new technologies and tactics to Britain's ultimately failed amphibious campaign. These aviators were regularly pitted against compromised communication, frequent mechanical failure and, of course, enemy gunfire. As noted in another article on February 20, Ark Royal's Wights joined a few Shorts and Sopwiths primarily engaged in observation and artillery spotting, though occasionally also bombing. Piloting this particular newsworthy pusher was twenty-four-year-old Flight Commander Geoffrey Rhodes Bromet, who survived this harrowing afternoon (and many others) to enjoy a distinguished military career, ultimately rising to the rank of Air Vice Marshall.
(respectively from the Orleans County Monitor and the New-York Tribune, 9-10 March 1915):
(https://i.imgur.com/wGNeKgY.png) (https://i.imgur.com/s0ZLudz.png) (https://i.imgur.com/Yoc5mNE.png) (https://i.imgur.com/dLNfJa7.png) (https://i.imgur.com/m4vf4OK.jpg)
('Seaplane hoisted above the sea from the deck of HMS Ark Royal' via digitalnz.org; Bromet portrait via thepeerage.com)
Ark Royal's entire seaplane flock struggled in the Mediterranean climate, and the marine climate caused them to prematurely age. The Wights' performance were further hampered by their powerful but unreliable 200hp Salmson Canton-Unne radial engines. 172's troublesome motor actually caused today's misadventure. A recollection of this exact flight includes an excerpt from Bromet's diary, revealing not-so-friendly feelings toward his plane:
"Great care was needed in the handling of the sea-planes, as 'new machines and spares would take six weeks to arrive from England'. On 4 March an inlet valve rocker broke and pierced the propeller and the port float. Unable to climb higher than 2,000 feet and getting too close to Turkish troops at Yeni Shehr, Seaplane 172 came under small-arms fire and 'collected twenty-eight bullet holes, which served the silly old bitch right for refusing to climb to a safe height."
And here's the page for 4 March 1915 from the Ark Royal's logbook, which records how Navyplane 172's bullet-riddled floats were so waterlogged that the added weight caused the plane's top center section to rip off entirely when the deck crew attempted to sling the plane aboard deck from the sea. Because Art Royal was equipped a full-service repair shop, Navyplane 172 was soon flying again.
(https://i.imgur.com/oPycdnv.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/jc0rO5a.png)
(via naval-history.net)
This fiery 11 x 17in. watercolor, titled 'The Bombardment of the Turkish Forts at Chanak, March 1915' (published as 'Bombarding the Narrows' in lithograph form in 1918 by Cassel & Company), depicts a Wight Navyplane puttering above the allied fleet engaging in wireless artillery spotting as chaotic hellfire rains down from Turkish forts. It was completed by British artist William Lionel Wyllie just a few weeks after this incident occurred. Described as "the most distinguished marine artist of his day", Wyllie painted numerous watercolors depicting the events around Gallipoli. I first discovered this particular picture while working at Christie's, when we auctioned it in back in 2004, for nearly $6,000.
(https://i.imgur.com/QFZj2pK.jpg)
Bromet was commended for service at Gallipoli later that summer. In the fall of 1916 he became the commander of Naval 8 squadron at St-Pol. His diary from this period also includes a clever self-penned poem that further relates the airman's frustrations:
There's a game that some play for the whole of the day
Of dropping a bomb from the air,
And men grin with delight if they drop it aright,
A contingency only too rare.
Some of you may know that I'm presently partnering with my brother to design and construct our own 3D-printed 1/72-scale version of the forlorn Wight Navyplane. It's been quite a learning curve, but great fun so far. Our latest efforts are designing the overly complicated empennage and tail boom elements.
(https://i.imgur.com/v5H8w2R.png) (https://i.imgur.com/0VVV2Mi.png)
More updates shared here: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13562.0
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"My God, How Many People Were There"
(from the New-York Tribune, 10 March 1918)
Inspired by yesterday's naval painting by the British artist William Lionel Wyllie, today's story focuses on a solo art exhibition, featuring the French artist Henri Farré, that toured America while the war was on. Farré was appointed France's Peintre de la Marine in 1910. During the Great War his repertoire grew to include aviation subjects (including pilot portraits) which were the highlight of this exhibition. According to writer Allison Meier, "Farré was the first eyewitness to transport the viewer up among the clouds, where the shadow of death met the ethereal light of the skies." For his artistic contributions to the allied war effort Lieutenant Farré was ultimately decorated with the Legion of Honor and the Croix de guerre 14-18.
(https://i.imgur.com/KSjTzLK.png) (https://i.imgur.com/DANuoFN.png) (https://i.imgur.com/KBeCFtQ.jpg)
Today his paintings remain relatively affordable. It appears that the hight auction price ever achieved for one of his wartime canvases was realized way back in 2004, which this dogfight scene sold at Heritage for just under $9,000:
(https://i.imgur.com/4HUvDH9.png)
Here are two more examples of work. For further images and reading, check out Meier's article 'The Artist Who Witnessed the Beauty and Horror of WWI Aerial Combat' on hyperallergic.com: https://hyperallergic.com/466822/the-artist-who-witnessed-the-beauty-and-horror-of-wwi-aerial-combat.
(https://i.imgur.com/9KWbZBb.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/VTtjd5r.jpg)
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Black Sea Raiders
(respectively from the Evening Public Ledger and the El Paso Herald, 11 March 2023):
(https://i.imgur.com/2qpyofo.png) (https://i.imgur.com/8wuX6bU.png)
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Riddled with Shrapnel
'Local boy' Willis Bradley Haviland was the sixteenth American to volunteer for the Lafayette Escadrille, after having served in the U.S. Navy from 1907-1911 and American Ambulance Corp in France in 1915. Flying primarily reconnaissance planes, he is credited with two confirmed 'kills'. Though both Haviland and his flying partner, Ronald Wood Hoskier lived to tell today's tale, Hoskier's luck would soon run out and he would be dead one month later. Details on his final flight:
“Hoskier, who often claimed that a two-seater could do more damage in a dogfight that a single-seater... asked to pilot a Morane Saultier 3 (sic) on its final sortie in April 1917 on the French-German line near St. Quentin, France. Hoskier flew in the rear of a small formation and became separated from other fliers, who had faster planes. When he emerged from a cloud, he spied an enemy’s Albatros D III below him. He dived on it and was attacked in return. It was an ambush. Ronald Hoskier fought for 15 minutes, while his co-pilot manned the rear Lewis guns. When his ammunition was gone, Hoskier was struck in the head. His airplane’s wings folded and the Morane struck the earth just inside French lines, near St. Quentin. Hoskier was buried two days later, on April 23, near Genet at Ham. On May 1, he was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre. The New York Times described him as “one of the best of the American flying corps... [who] had distinguished himself for daring and brilliancy of operation.”"
(from the Evening Times-Republican, 13 March 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/cOIF6Tw.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/62o3d95l.jpg); (https://i.imgur.com/kURpyoV.jpg)
(portrait of Haviland via wikipedia; image of Hoskier's grave via patch.com)
After the war Haviland became the first U.S. aviator to fly a plane off a battleship:
"Haviland's idea, which he had proposed to Captain Nathan C. Twining on the USS Texas (BB-35), was to build a 40-foot-long (12 m), 12-foot-wide (3.7 m) runway of timbers lashed together on the Number 2 guns of the battleship's forward deck. His Sopwith Camel biplane would then be winched down on the runway and its wheels held by a bridle to be released at Haviland's command, after the plane's propeller had sufficient speed for takeoff. "Haviland climbed into the cockpit and revved and raced the plane's motor until it seemed to the nearby sailors that the prop blast and vibration would tear the fuselage apart. Haviland signaled for the cables to be released. The straining aircraft roared down the runway, dropped precipitously toward the sea, then climbed into the sky." (via wikipedia)
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B.E.4 204 No More
The Royal Aircraft Factory's long-lived 'Blériot Experimental' series included a handful of rotary-engined designs, the first of which being the B.E.3 and B.E.4 of mid-1912. Possibly 1/2 dozen variants were produced. As this article relates, serial #204 was assigned to No.3 Squadron and was in the air on 11 March 1914 when, in what may be the first recorded instance of metal fatigue in an aircraft, its rudder broke, causing a crash that killed its crew.
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 14 March 1914):
(https://i.imgur.com/NujYco2.png) (https://i.imgur.com/r3heHAF.png) (https://i.imgur.com/nNxUBlS.png) (https://i.imgur.com/DuUq1nZ.jpg)
(image via flyingmachines.ru)
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Von Richtofen's 25th
This snippet from a regional Missouri weekly records the Red Baron's victory of 9 March 1917. Though no names are given, we know that the loser in this fight was Lt. Arthur John Pearson, of 29 Squadron, RFC, who was piloting D.H.2 #A2571. He was last seen diving to earth in flames. The victor subsequently reported:
‘At 11:55 a.m. between Roclincourt and Bailleul, 500 metres behind our trenches, I attacked, with three of my planes, several enemy planes. The machine I had singled out soon caught fire and dashed after 100 shots downwards. The plane is lying on our side, but cannot be salvaged as it is nearly completely burned out and too far in front.’
Evidently Pearson's body was burnt beyond recognition and he was buried by German soldiers in an unmarked grave.
(from the Butler Weekly Times, 15 March 1917):
(https://i.imgur.com/YLNEvxd.png)
Get a glimpse of forum member Snowbird3a's 1/48 Eduard build of von Richtofen's Albatros D.III (alongside two other planes) that he flew to victory during this encounter: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11871.msg221118#msg221118
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Dangerous Monoplanes
(from the New Britain Herald, 16 March 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/I7igtUQ.png)
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In the War Zone
Here's one-page photo feature featuring aviators from three nations at work. I'd forgotten that the British were sending homing pigeons up in airplanes. A cropped version of photo showing the American aiming a Graflex camera gun was also featured here in a post from another paper last week, demonstrating how these stories made the rounds in the press in the era before commercial radio (let alone 24hr news channels).
(from the Sunday Star, 17 March 1918):
(https://i.imgur.com/QYDzeuG.png) (https://i.imgur.com/ypJ2cQD.png) (https://i.imgur.com/9JZmIlM.png)
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Doppelgänger Above Isonzo
(from the Kansas City Sun, 18 March 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/iaN1jTf.png)
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Guynemer Goes Down
Hey gang,
So today marks a year since I started sharing these daily news articles. I hope you've enjoyed these as I have. My purpose has been to reinvigorate my interest in the hobby by reviving all these stories from the past. They've definitely inspired me to get back to the bench and start building again. As a side benefit I'm sometimes able to link these historic events to the brilliant models our forum members have contributed over the years. Is anyone interested in reading further? If so, there are plenty more articles to share. Just let me know and I'll keep at it!
My first post featured the famous French ace Georges Guynemer, and I thought to bring it full circle with another spotlight on him. This snippet notes him being shot down... not his well-documented final fight of September 1917, but rather one of the seven other times he was previously winged but survived (according to theaerodrome.com).
(from the Evening Star, 19 March 1916):
(https://i.imgur.com/6epz7Q7.png)
Check out forum member Will Levesley's 1/72 Eduard build of Guynemer's Nieuport Ni17 from Escadrille N.3, 1916: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13241.msg246606#msg246606
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Thanks PJ. Please keep going. I read these every day and really enjoy the history and personalities.
Best regards,
Bob
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I read it every day as well. Keep it up!