On this Day (WWI aviation news)

[PJ Fisher]

Fokkers Force Change in Fighting Tactics
(from The Age, 24 January 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

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):

   
(Cartoon illustrated by Clifford Berryman)

[PJ Fisher]

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):



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.”

[PJ Fisher]

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):



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

[PJ Fisher]

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):

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[PJ Fisher]

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):

[PJ Fisher]

Your Journey is Sure to Be Crowned with Success
An inspiring advertisement.
(from Die Stabilisierung der Flugzeuge, 1917):

[PJ Fisher]

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):

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(image ℅ wikipedia)

[PJ Fisher]

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):



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

[PJ Fisher]

'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):

[PJ Fisher]

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):

[PJ Fisher]

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.

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(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

[PJ Fisher]

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):

[PJ Fisher]

'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):


(image ℅ wikipedia)

[PJ Fisher]

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):

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(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