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

[PJ Fisher]

Something about this photo really appeals to me - I like it a lot!

Agreed!  To be honest I was just searching for examples of images showing airplanes by the manufacturers mentioned in the article.  But I've just looked closer and see all the top hats, and the motion-picture camera, and the reference to King Alfonso of Spain.  Just did a little more research and this old 1914 movie clip must be what they were filming that day as shown in this old postcard.  The Farmans can be seen queued up on the airfield at the 35-second mark: 

https://youtu.be/DP25nfkt5M8


Amazing what one can find on the internet.

[PJ Fisher]

Trawler Tows Failed Friedrichshafen
I swear these old stories seem to come in pairs.  Only eight days ago we learned of a fallen Friedrichshafen FF.33 (No. 496) of the Kaiserliche Marine, whose crew was saved by a passing civilian steamer after alighting for mechanical trouble (reported here: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg256394#msg256394).  Now another FF.33, this time Marine number 549 (photographed below), has suffered similar circumstance off the coast of Ijmuiden; about 50 kilometers northwest of Amsterdam.
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 12 July 1916):



Evidently two German rescue planes, possibly originating from Marineflugstation Borkum See, collected the aviators.  The Friedrichshafen slipped under the waves while in tow inbound to Ijmuiden.


(Images: via flyingmachines.ru, tvd.im, marylmartin.com)

Have a look at forum member malaula's amazing diorama depicting Seeflugstation Borkum, which includes a Friedrichshafen among other seaplanes: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8079.msg150508#msg150508

[PJ Fisher]

Frightful Aerial Forts
Was there ever an eight-engined triplane?  A design as described in today's story seems rather sophisticated for July 1915, when the Great War was less than one year old, and aerial tactics and technology remained nascent.
(Respectively from the Cambria Daily Leader and the South Wales Weekly Post; 13, 17 July 1915):



Though the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company started developing their giant Wannamaker Model T in the United States in 1915 (similarly looking to the Model H biplane referenced here last month: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg255640#msg255640), the only German giants I can think of that come anywhere close to matching this mystery machine are the ambitious ten-engined Mannesmann Triplane (also called the Poll Giant and the Bruning-Forssman Tri-Plane), which wasn't conceived until over a year later and was never completed, and the one-off Friedrichshafen FF.60 of 1918.




Amazingly, a wooden wheel from the Mannesmann Triplane exists in the Imperial War Museum's collection.  These images show the scale of this beast:



There was a forum discussion over a decade ago about a potential model production run for the Mannesmann Triplane: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=510.0. did anything ever come of that?  Meanwhile, check out Steve Hustad's amazing scratch-built Friedrichshafen FF.60, shared by Brad Cancian, which took top prize at last year's IPMS-USA National Convention: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13211.msg246571#msg246571

[PJ Fisher]

Austrian Aeroplanes 'Visit' Venice
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 14 July 1915):
This is the fourth raid in less than two months conducted against Venice by the Austro-Hungarian Empire's Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche ( K.u.K.) Luftfahrtruppen, Hungarian: Császári és Királyi Légjárócsapatok).  Their first occurred amidst the pre-dawn darkness of May 24, mere hours after the Italian declaration of war (reported here last year: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg244250#msg244250).  Today's report records the Italians returned fire from their rooftops.  Civilian injuries were minor, though evidently a woman's foot was 'pinned to the pavement' by a steel fléchette/pfeil.



"Here's an informative blog on the bombing of Venice during the Great War:  https://riowang.blogspot.com/2016/03/bombs-in-venice.html: the synopsis: The bombings were repeated at irregular, roughly monthly, intervals until 23 October 1918. A total of forty-two runs took place, and more than a thousand bombs were dropped on Venice, mainly on the factories, the railway station and the surrounding munition stores, but because of inaccurate aiming, several bombs went astray, and fell on monuments or residential houses. Over three years, bombs killed fifty-two and wounded eighty-four people."





(images: 'Protection of the facade of the Doge's Palace, Venice in 1915', via archive.nytimes.com; 'A successful air attack on Venice by Austro-Hungarian naval aircraft', postmarked November 1915, via wwitoday.com; a map recording bomb strikes on Venice from 1915-1918, via riowang.blogspot.com)

Interestingly, the very first Austrian air raid on Venice occurred three generations earlier in July 1849.  This incident, involving the floating of bomb-bearing unmanned balloons over the city has been claimed by at least one author as the "first air raid in history". Details here: https://airminded.org/2009/08/22/the-first-air-bomb-venice-15-july-1849/. Venice and its lagoon were established as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.  It ranks among the top fifty most-visited cities in the world.

[PJ Fisher]

Three-Gun Nieuport
About 3,600 variants of the Société Anonyme des Établissements' Nieuport sesquiplane 17 C.1 were manufactured, which first flew during the winter of 1915-16.  Though this popular plane was acquired by the militaries of twenty-five different governments, apparently only one survives today.  I can never tell the difference between the Nieuport 17s and 21s, but today's article features an example outfitted with a cône de pénétration and twin wing-mounted Lewis guns in addition to its standard Vickers.
(from the New-York Tribune, 14 July 1917):


(Image via ctie.monash.edu.au)

So many examples of completed Nieuports to choose from on the forum.  Check out Borsos' 1/32nd-scale diorama of the Copper State Models kits with a wing-mounted Lewis: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=10530.msg192959#msg192959

[PJ Fisher]

Headstrong Horse Takes Down Two-Seater in Double TKO
Here's an incredible though possibly spurious tale of man vs. nature... with both losing!
(from the Abergavenny Chronicle and Monmouthshire Advertiser, July 1918):



No information is given as to where this occurred or what make of machine was involved, but it reminds me of Dirigible-Al's recent diorama featuring a German Fokker B.II. vs. a Hungarian Grey bull: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13668.msg252809#msg252809

[PJ Fisher]

Ambushed by Albatros, Fights Four Pfaltzes, Bungles Bomb
This retrospective on the exploits of Australian ace Lieutenant Leonard Thomas Eaton Taplin, DFC, recounts several close calls he had fighting in Palestine and on the Western Front.  This includes being shot through the hand, having his nose splintered by a shattered Vickers gun, nearly blowing himself up, and becoming a prisoner of war.
(from the Perth Daily News, 17 July 1924):


(image via airlineratings.com)

As reported, Taplin piloted Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.12's and Sopwith Camels.  He scored his first victory 105 years ago today.  Taplin would go on to win eleven more aerial combats over the next fifty days before being put out of action by permanently by German ace Christian Mesch of Jasta 26.  After Taplin's release as a prisoner-of-war in 1919, he returned to Australia and became a pioneer commercial aviator.  Here's a fun read on one post-war adventure where he hitched a 550km, 3.5-hour ride by sitting on the wing of a biplane!: https://www.airlineratings.com/news/len-taplin-war-hero-worlds-first-budget-traveler/

We don't read of B.E12's in much in news.  Check out forum member coyotemagic's 1/48-scale Roden B.E.12b: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=470.msg6428#msg6428.  Last, here's a 3D rendering I've made of a 40lb phosphorus bomb matching the one mentioned in his mishap.

[PJ Fisher]

Unintended Consequences
Separate reports from distant corners of the British Empire note the deaths of two local airmen today.  Though they hailed from different countries and never met, on the morning of 07/07/17 they shared the sky with one-hundred other pilots of the army's Royal Flying Corps and Royal Navy's Air Service.  It was a futile scramble to thwart the second daylight raid of German Gotha biplanes to reach London as part of Germany's Operation Turkenkreuz strategic-bombing campaign.  Despite outnumbering their invaders five-to-one, the British flyers haphazardly managed to fell only one airplane from the flock of twenty-two Gotha G.IV bombers flown by the Imperial German Army Air Service's specialized Englandgeschwader (England Squadron), and only after it unloaded its ordnance.  For 2nd Lieutenants W. G. Salmon and J.E.R. Young, their separate struggles to strike the raiding Gothas proved fatally futile. 

The first raid, the Great War's deadliest, headlined here in June of last year: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg245123#msg245123.  But this raid, and the British military's failure to avert it, proved more dreadful to the nation.  Seventy-two bombs were dropped, killing fifty-seven people and injuring nearly two hundred.  Women and children were again victims.  Enraged with anti-German sentiment, East Enders rioted in response.  Public paranoia rendered the German trade name 'Gotha', like 'Zeppelin', a household word.  The raid also impacted history with two unintended consequences.  Inadequate Home Defence coordination necessitated within weeks the restructuring of Britain's disparate air services into what would become the singular Royal Air Force; and England's King, cousin to Germany's Kaiser, was obliged to forever change his entire family's Germanic surname... which also was 'Gotha'.
Respectively from the Sydney Morning Herald and Illustrated War News; 12, 18 July 1917):



Piloting a Sopwith Pup (#A6230, illustrated below) the twenty-two-year-old rookie Wilfred Salmon evidently soared straight into the heart of the Gotha formation with his sole Vickers gun blazing.  He did not last long.  Suffering from two bullets to the head he retreated, managing to guide his machine into within a few hundred yards of Joyce Green airfield, Dartford before crashing.  One contemporary writer claimed Salmon was "the first man to die in action defending London since the Norman Conquest"... 850 long years earlier.  Salmon had 'earned his wings' only three short days before and was still assigned to a training squadron. 

John Edward Rostron Young, with Air Mechanic C C Taylor, of No. 37 Squadron, embarked from RFC Rochford, (now London Southend Airport), in a Sopwith Strutter (#A8271).  They pursued the returning bombers over the Atlantic Ocean when they were struck without warning.  Young 'must have been riddled with bullets' when they smashed into the sea near Malpin Light Ship; still strapped to the seat of his sinking Sopwith.  Evidently Taylor, near death, was pulled from the wreck but soon died from his injuries.  It is possible they were felled by British anti-aircraft fire.

On 17 July 1917, as the Illustrated War News prepared to go to press with this article, King George V issued a proclamation declaring 'The Name of Windsor is to be borne by His Royal House and Family and Relinquishing the Use of All German Titles and Dignities'.  Attempting to distance himself from England's first invaders since the Battle of Hastings, he renamed his house after his family's ancient royal residence in Berkshire, which remains the longest-occupied palace in Europe.  Ironically, the original Windsor Castle was built by William the Conqueror - leader of the Norman invasion of England... 850 long years earlier.



(images respectively via 'The England Squadron over London on 7 July 1917', via wikipedia; the Great War Forum; content.invisioncic.com)


(images respectively via the Royal Air Force Museum and wikipedia)

Read more about this incident over at https://greatwarlondon.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/a-flock-of-gothas-7-july-1917/.  For an idea of what these aviators were up against, check out forum member Jeroenveen1's WNW Gotha: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=1885.msg30806#msg30806

[PJ Fisher]

"...Killed Five Times, But He Still Enjoys Excellent Health"
That's what the Germans had to say about Edmond Thieffry, Belgium's third-ranked ace of the Great War.  Today's article relates to a mad dogfight near Diksmuide in West Flanders where Thieffry, flying a Nieuport, earned his ace status by felling two Albatros D.III's within two minutes.  His daring dash into a gaggle of fourteen enemy planes proved more successful than poor Wilfred Salmon's similar attempt that same week (as reported here yesterday).
(from the Bendigo Advertiser, 19 July 1917):


(images respectively via pinterestand erfgoedplus.be

Twice Thieffry became a German prisoner of war.  His first capture in 1914 ended when he made a great escape on a stolen motorcycle in the manner of Captain Virgil Hilts aka Steve McQueen.  Upon transferring from the Belgian army infantry to the Compagnie des Ouvriers et Aérostiers in 1915, Thieffry apparently had some trouble learning to fly:

"He made a decidedly inauspicious start, crash-landing more aircraft during training than any other pilot before him.  Such was Thieffry's disastrous record that his officers pronounced themselves reluctant to assign him to a two-seater squadron for fear of the risk to his fellow passenger. Instead Thieffry was assigned to single-seater aircraft.  Unfortunately his first flight - in a Nieuport Scout - resulted in a crash-landing and, while climbing from the wreckage, he inadvertently set off the aircraft's machine gun, causing some distress to nearby onlookers." (via firstworldwar.com). 

After accumulating ten confirmed victories Thieffry crash-landed again, in February 1918 - shot down by return fire from a German two-seater over Kortrijk, in German-occupied territory.  He endured the remainder of the war imprisoned once more in Germany despite attempting another escape.  After returning to civilian life Thieffry continued his air exploits, co-piloting the pioneer flight between Belgium and its colony Congo.  His final crash landing, during a test flight of an Aviméta 92 in Belgian Congo near Lake Tanganyika, in April 1929, proved fatal.  This same lake was home other Belgian activities reported here last month: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg255935#msg255935


(image via curieuseshistoires-belgique.be)

Check out forum member Squiffy's diorama of Thieffry's Nieuport 23 of 5me Escadrille in front of its hangar, similar to the photo above: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3517.msg84801#msg84801

[PJ Fisher]

Critique of German Bombers
Paired with our post from two days ago that noted how the German 'Gotha' had become a household word amongst an angry British populace, here's a fairy informative (bilious headline aside) layman's survey of the principal aircraft comprising Germany's bomber fleet during the second half of the Great War.
(from the Washington Herald, 20 July 1918):



The myth that the Gotha was a rip-off of Britain's Handley Page originated in wartime reports like this.  In fact, the HP O/100 became operational at the close of 1916, while the similarly configured Gotha G.II prototype was already flying that previous March.  However, it is true that the British hand-delivered a 'New-Year's-Day gift' to Germany when they landed one of the first operational O/100's fully intact twelve miles behind enemy lines on January 1917.  This plane was indeed studied, then given new insignia and employed against its original owner.  Here's a good read on this incident that was published on its centenary in 2017:  https://www.manstonhistory.org.uk/new-years-day-present-germans-handley-page-o100-1st-january-1917/


(image via manstonhistory.org.uk)

For further inspiration, check out forum member Tim Mixon's camouflaged Handley Page O/100, converted from the classic 1/72nd-scale Airfix O/400 using an old resin conversion from the long-gone Rosemont Hobby Shop (I miss that place): https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13267.msg247011#msg247011

[PJ Fisher]

Spotlight: James McCudden
Because this borrowed article is written in present tense it's uncertain if the publisher was aware that their subject, one the most highly decorated airmen in British military history, had already been dead for twelve days when they went to press.  James Thomas Byford McCudden, VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar, MM, rose in rank from mechanic to major during his five years of service in the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force. With 57 confirmed aerial victories, McCudden ranked seventh on among the war's most successful aces.  Like so many other aces, he died in a non-combat flying accident.
(From the Kalgoorlie Sun, 21 July 1918):



McCudden last received mention here back in October regarding his squadron's battle royale with Werner Voss: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg248561#msg248561. This well-known portrait of McCudden in the cockpit of his Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a, has been one of the inspirations for this 3D rendering of a Foster gun mount that I've been tinkering with for a little while now, along with a 1/48-scale draft print:



Check out forum member Red Leader's 1/32nd-scale WND build of McCudden's S.E.5a: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=1140.msg17549#msg17549

[PJ Fisher]

Flying Fish
Though the image quality is poor, it is easy to recognize Captain Harry Gwynne's brilliantly bedazzled Nieuport 24bis of the U.S. Signal Corps Aviation Section in France.  It must rank among the first planes to have its nose painted with shark teeth (here's a fun read on that history: https://www.vintagewings.ca/stories/template-trmwr-rd36f).  Here's also some fantastic film footage of this particular machine taking flight (believed to be at US advanced flight training centre): https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675043233_Nieuport-fighter-aircraft_Aircraft-in-flight_fish-head-on-engine-nacelle_World-War-I
(From the Evening Star, 22 July 1918):

[Dutch522]

Been working my way through the threads on this forum since joining, and finally got around to this one. What a great series of posts! Today's rang a bell with a half-century's worth of dust on it... I immediately thought "Hey, Renwal did a kit of that little plane back in the Sixties!" But when I looked it up, I found that memory, as usual these days, had it only half-right:



I didn't have this particular kit, although I built a lot of the other Aero-Skin offerings (and if there's anyone too young to remember, they came with sheets of color-printed silkspan and a bonus bottle of liquid cement—AKA methel ethyl ketone—which you used to attach them... much like today's Aviattic "cookie-cutter" decals, except without the free carcinogen). Why did movie-guy Howard Hawks have a Jenny painted in this exact scheme? I know he was in the USAAS, but other than that it beats me...

Dave V.

[PJ Fisher]

Hey Dave, amazing memory!  Thanks for sharing.  This model is before my time and I wasn't aware of it.  Love the idea of pre-printed wing fabric. Good stuff!

[PJ Fisher]

Blue Max in Action
This publication of an official German report describes various military incidents.  The last paragraph notes recent victories of three famous kampfflieger: Wintgens, Höhndorf and Althaus.  All were anointed to 'Blue Max' this same month.  Only Althaus would survive the war, though he would be removed from command and combat due to failing eyesight.  Loosely translated:

"The flight service was busy day and night on both sides.  Several hostile bombings caused little military damage, but sometimes claimed civilian lives; as in Laon, where a woman was badly injured and 3 children were killed.  Our opponents lost 7 aircraft in air combat, 4 south of Bapaume and 1 south-east of Arras, next to Combles and at Rone.  Lieutenant Wintgens has sunk his 10th and 11th, Lieutenant Höhndorf his 10th victory.  His Majesty The Kaiser has declared his appreciation for the services of Oberleutnant Freiherr von Althaus, who remained victorious over a French biplane with Rone, by being awarded the Order Pour le Merite."
(from the Frankenberger Tageblatt, 23 June 1916):


(image via the aerodrome: Gathering at Feldflieger-Abteilung 23, celebrating the award of the Pour le Mérite to Höhndorf, Wintgens and Althaus (seated front)

Here are three well-known Sanke karten portraying each ace in their prime: