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

[PJ Fisher]

Quarterly Report
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 29 April 1916):

 

[PJ Fisher]

Churchill Splashes in a Short
Contrasting with our March 1 article where First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill soared in a Sopwith (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg252849#msg252849), in today's news he inadvertently endures a different ending.  Imagine how different history could have turned out had this forced landing been worse.  The plane involved is identified as 'Seaplane No. 79', the serial number assigned by the RNAS to one of seven Short Bros. Admiralty Type 74 seaplanes stationed between bases at Grain and Dundee.  Short Bros. were arguably Sopwith's main competitor in their early days.
(respectively from the Amman Valley Chronicle and the Abergavenny Chronicle, 30 April-1 May 1914):

   
 
(images via lostinwatersdeep.co.uk)

[PJ Fisher]

Instruments of Destruction
(from Popular Mechanics, May 1915):

 

For this article I've attempted 3D renderings of a Zeppelin conical tarred-rope incendiary bomb and a 20kg Carbonit bomb.  Not quite sure how the fuses looked but I've based these on extant specimens from the Imperial War Museum collection.  Does anyone know of a good reference on WW1 German ordnance?

 

[PJ Fisher]

German Engineering
Here's an interesting survey on some of the Luftstreitkräfte's technological developments during the war.
(from the Brecon County Times Neath Gazette, 2 May 1918):

 

[PJ Fisher]

Hunting with Pups and Elephants
(from the Yorkville Enquirer, 3 May 1918):

     

[PJ Fisher]

Wasser Doppeldeckers Ream British Steamer
Tying into our May 2 story on German aerial 'instruments of destruction', today's brief but intense tit-for-tat denotes the first ship within English territorial waters to be torpedoed via aircraft.  An hour after sunrise on May 1, the British collier SS Gena was sunk from the sky by two Hansa-Brandenburg GW seaplanes of the newly formed Torpedostaffel II, operating out of Zeebrugge.  Amazingly, return fire from the sinking steamship managed to shoot down the second assailant (#703), though no lives were lost on either side.
(from the North Wales Chronicle and Advertiser for the Principality, 4 May 1917):



Here are excerpts from others primary souces compiled on www.heritagegateway.org.uk:
"...from my position on the bridge of my ship I saw the whole occurrence. My attention was first drawn by the whirr of an aeroplane’s engine overhead. On looking upwards I saw two machines in company. One descended to an altitude of about 500ft, and one could see that she intended dropping something on the GENA. Evidently the German’s intention was to drop his missile upon the GENA’s gun crew, who were on duty around their gun. Seeing that his companion had failed, the second airman swooped down to an extremely low altitude. He did not seem more than 30ft from the bridge of the GENA. In fact, he was so low that he appeared almost to touch the vessel. He dropped a torpedo, which hit the GENA in the centre, and then made off."

"Located approximately 5.4 miles east of Thorpe Ness, the GENA foundered in a position cited at the time as '0.75 mile S x W 0.5 W of the War Channel "A" Buoy off Southwold, after being torpedoed in an aerial attack on her passage from the Tyne with coal...  The survivors were picked up by a patrol vessel and landed at Lowestoft, along with the wireless telegraphy code books and confidential papers... Two days previously the GENA had escaped attack from SM UB-21 which sank the VICTORIA, with which she was in company, off Scarborough..."

"At about half-past six o’clock in the morning, when the GENA was off the Suffolk coast, an enemy seaplane was observed coming down towards her. Directly the seaplane struck the water she launched a torpedo, which struck the GENA amidships. The seaplane rose and made off, but another enemy seaplane came along, evidently with the idea of seeing what damage had been done to the ship, and, if necessary, to complete the work of destruction. Meanwhile, the GENA was slowly settling down, but she was armed, and her gun was brought to bear on the second seaplane. She hit the enemy fair and square with the second shot, and smashed her. Patrol boats which were in the neighbourhood came on the scene almost immediately and rescued the GENA’s crew of twenty-seven and took the wreckage of the ‘plane and her two occupants in hand. One of the latter, an officer, had an ugly gash in the head. Both were conveyed to an East Coast port, where the officer still lies suffering from his wound. The GENA’s crew, absolutely unharmed by their adventure, were cared for at a sailors’ home, and subsequently, they left for the North of England. The prompt and plucky action of the GENA’s gunners in tackling the second seaplane while their ship was sinking has given great satisfaction on the coast. The seaplane was new, so new that the varnish had hardly dried on her woodwork. She was broken into many pieces. Examination of parts of the wreckage revealed rough but strong workmanship, and rather inferior material."

 
(images respectivly via wrecksite.eu and flyingmachines.ru)

And here's an intriguing epilogue to this historic first from an insurer's perspective (via the blog thewreckoftheweek.com; full text here: https://thewreckoftheweek.com/2017/05/01/diary-of-the-war-may-1917/):
"So unusual was it that Lloyd’s struggled to fit it into an appropriate category in their ‘ledger’ of war losses. In the “How Sunk” column, the standard abbreviations S (sunk by submarine) and M (mine) were clearly inappropriate, and even this distinction was outdated, since ships had been sunk by mines laid by U-boats since 1915, so arguably fitted both categories (see earlier post on minelaying submarines, introduced in 1915). The only other category available was C (cruiser or raider), which was still inadequate, but it seems that a new category was not considered necessary, and ‘raider’ was at least appropriate in intent, if not in ‘vessel type’ as such. A marginal annotation clarified matters: “German seaplane”."

Check out forum member malaula's build of the Chroszy Hansa Brandenburg G.I, the land-based cousin to the G.W's from today's news: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=5188.msg91648#msg91648

[PJ Fisher]

Cody No.2 Crashes
Second Lieutenant Samuel Franklin Cody was the first pilot killed in action with 41st Squadron RFC, and the second Samuel Franklin Cody to die flying for England.  His father being the Wild-West showman turned pioneer aviator who designed British Army Aeroplane No.1 (which made the first recognized powered and sustained flight in the United Kingdom on 16 October 1908), and the Cody No.5 biplane (the winning entry of the 1912 British Military Aeroplane Competition that bested submissions by Avro, Bleriot, Breguet, Bristol, Farman, Handley Page, Vickers and others).  Cody Sr. died while testing his last design... falling out of his own floatplane for not wearing a safety harness - a lesson still unlearnt in England a year later, as recently reported here back on April 19 (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg253869#msg253869). 

Evidently it took time for this news of Cody Jr. to circulate, as he had been killed in action back in January. The delay may be partly explained by another newspaper that harshly reported, "His fate was in doubt until, in response to a note of inquiry dropped over enemy lines, a reply came in the same way that young Cody had been killed in action. It is odd that the air appears to be the only element in which the Germans seek to maintain any sort of reputation for chivalry".  A discussion over on the greatwarforum.com records that Cody was, "...flying FE8 7613 on 23 January 1917. He left Abeele aerodrome at 14:24 and was seen in combat with four enemy aeroplanes (Albatros and Roland) east of Boesinghe, after which he spiraled down in a nose dive. Ltn Walter von Bülow-Bothkamp of Jasta 18 was credited with a victory".  His memorial stone next to his father's grave in Aldershot Military Cemetery (image below) also notes that S.F. Cody, Jr. "Fell in action fighting four enemy machines".
(from the Wheeling Intelligencer, 5 May 1917):




(images respectively from findagrave.com and seekanddestroy.info)

Above is an image of the younger Cody seated one of his father's machines. Alas, no one here has yet to submit a build of any Cody aircraft here, though here's a WW1-era model of a Cody V from the legendary silversmithy Mappin & Webb.  Fun fact: last November a family descendant auctioned this model with an estimate of £30,000-50,000 (details here: https://simpleflying.com/samuel-franklin-cody-memorabilia-sold-auction/).  Perhaps 100 years from your each of our models will be worth this much!:

  
(images respectively from Aeronautics, February 1913; and henryaldridge.com)

Check out forum member lone modeller's build of a similar Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 of Cody's 41 Squadron, Belgium from November 1916: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=2102.msg34260#msg34260

[PJ Fisher]

Aces Will Fly
Following our April 20 story on Fokkers in the U.S. (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg254206#msg254206), here's another headline promoting a post-war aerial fundraiser.  Among the aviators named is Flyer No.7- Major Carl 'Tooey' Spatz (later legally changed to Spaatz), who managed to fell three enemy planes during his three-week stint with the 31st Aero Squadron before the war's end. 
(from the Arizona Republican, 6 May 1919):

 

"In early 1919, Spaatz was appointed to lead one of the three "troupes" of the U.S. Army Air Service Victory Loan Flying Circus. His group consisted of about twenty-five officers and fifty enlisted men. His airplanes on the tour included five JN6 Jennies, five Fokker D VIIs, four RAE SE-5s and five Spad VIIs. The team gave promotional rides and flew aerial demonstrations across the Western and Southwestern United States from early April through mid-May 1919 to raise money to retire the World War I debt." (via wikipedia)

Spaatz remained involved with aviation for decades.  Taking off on New Years Day in 1929, he set an endurance record by flying nonstop for 151 hours (aided by aerial refueling). During WW2, he became commander of the 8th Air Force stationed in England and promoted the effective bombing campaign of the Axis oil industry:

"Several prominent Germans... described the oil campaign as critical to the defeat of Nazi Germany. Adolf Galland, Inspector of Fighters of the Luftwaffe... wrote in his book "the most important of the combined factors which brought about the collapse of Germany", and the Luftwaffe's wartime leader, Hermann Göring, described it as "the utmost in deadliness". Albert Speer, writing in his memoir, said that "It meant the end of German armaments production." It has been stated to have been "effective immediately, and decisive within less than a year". Luftwaffe Field Marshal Erhard Milch, referring to the consequences of the oil campaign, claimed that "The British left us with deep and bleeding wounds, but the Americans stabbed us in the heart." (via wikipedia)

He was appointed as the first Chief of Staff of the new United States Air Force in September 1947 and later was appointed to the congressional advisory board set up to determine the site for the new United States Air Force Academy.

Getting back to today's article, check out forum member Mike Norris' of a Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a similar to the one depicted: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=5164.msg91257#msg91257

[PJ Fisher]

Dreadnaught Downs Zeppelin!
News from the Salonika Campaign details the end of LZ 55 (Army tactical number LZ 85), a P-class Zeppelin of the Imperial German Army that was shot down into the marshes near the mouth of the Varder River by HMS Agamemnon.  Agamemnon had been patrolling with the British Royal Navy's Eastern Mediterranean Squadron for a year following the Gallipoli landings.  On 5 May she encountered LZ 55 bombarding Thessaloniki (Salonika) harbour, and apparently 'broke it in half' with a 12-pounder shell.
(respectively from the Cambria Daily Leader, 7 & 19 May, 1916; and the Ottowa Citizen, 5 May 1916):

   

"The crash site soon became a tourist attraction, with a report that "a dozen Canadian nurses. They had come up ... and waded through to it. What a sight they did look, skirts up round their waists wading through mud and slime up to their knees.  The metal structure of the Zeppelin was dragged by Allied soldiers from the swamps to the White Tower of Thessaloniki. There it was reconstructed so that Allied engineers could study how the Germans built airships." (via wikipedia)

Amazingly, the retrieval of this wreck and the Zeppelin crew were captured on film!  Here's a link to the archival film at the Imperial War Museum: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060000196.  Souvenir fragments from this airship occasionally appear at auction, including an un usual set of napkin rings (see images below).

    [/url]   
(images respectively via wikipedia, pinterest, worthpoint.com, and emedals.com)

[PJ Fisher]

American 'Monster'
(from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 8 May 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

Freefalling
(from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9 May 1915):

   

[PJ Fisher]

Queen Elizabeth Scores
This brief blurb from the Dardanelles campaign records that the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth shot down a German airplane.  The 'super dreadnaught' had joined Britain's Mediterranean fleet (including the Agememnon, which headlined here three days ago: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg254776#msg254776) on February 25, and support Britain's amphibious assault that began on April 25.
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 10 may 1915):

.
(image via IWM.com)

I'm not sure what the aircraft in question was but there's can't have been that many around.  Here's a general description of the scene via turkeyswar.com:

"Until the Allied landings of April 25, the 1st Aircraft Squadron continued to fly over the entrance of the Dardanelles and the island of Limnos. These were not only for reconnaissance, the planes have also dropped bombs on Allied ships. Meanwhile the Allies were also forming up their air power. Fearing of losing the air superiority, the Turks attacked the Allied air base on Tenedos, an unsucessful attempt avenged by the British who bombed the Turkish air base in Çanakkale. Since the Turkish aircraft were carefully camouflaged, the bombing did not cause any damage.

The first air battle over Gallipoli took place on May 2. As they were flying a reconnaissance mission, Cpt. Erich Serno and Cpt. Hüseyin Sedat encountered an Allied plane. They fired their pistols and deterred the enemy from approaching the Turkish lines.

As the Allied landings kicked off, the Turkish aircraft squadron had only four aircrafts, one of which was a seaplane; and it was attached to the Command of Çanakkale Fortified Zone, not to the Turkish Fifth Army, which prevented the efficient employment of the squadron in the Turks' effrots (sic) agains the Allied invasion force. In the meantime, the Allies were observing the Turkish lines using a fixed balloon at an altitude of 200 meters. The balloon was attached to a British vessel anchored off Arıburnu and thanks to the intelligence it was providing, the Allied artillery was inflicting serious damage on Turkish formations. Although the Turkish aircraft did not manage to sink the ship, through their raids they forced the balloon to descend from time to time."

[PJ Fisher]

New German Giant
During the Great War the British press commonly used the name 'Gotha' as a generic term to describe any large enemy bomber.  The reporter's description of wingspan, engine type and crew count suggests this new 'giant' is one of the Riesenflugzeuge.  Does any recognize what particular plane this might be?
(Herald of Wales and Monmouthshire Recorder, 11 May 1918):



Just for fun, check out forum member Stevehed's 1/72 scratchbuild of a DFW R.1 that likely dates to earlier than this article, but is modeled alongside a twin-engine Gotha for perspective:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=7845.msg144694#msg144694

[PJ Fisher]

Submarine Sinks Zeppelin!
News often seems to come in couplets.  Following upon our uncanny May 8 headline where a British battleship felled a German airship (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg254776#msg254776), here's a most unique incident when a Zeppelin was dealt its death knell via a British sub.  This fateful encounter between HMS E-class E31 and Kaiserliche Marine M2-class Zeppelin LZ32 (tactical number L7) happened during the evening of 4 May. 
(from the Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser, 12 May 1916):

.
(image via aircraftinvestigation.info.com)

Details via wikipedia:

"While on a mission, LZ 32 was spotted by light cruisers HMS Galatea and HMS Phaeton who opened fire on the airship. Just as they were doing this HMS E31 was operating with the sea plane carrier Engadine in the North Sea in an air raid on the Zeppelin sheds at Tondern on 4 May 1916. E31 surfaced and spotted the airship, but being vulnerable on the surface, the sub dived to avoid attack. When the submarine put its periscope up, it observed that the Zeppelin was losing altitude after being hit by shells from Galatea and Phaeton. E31 then surfaced just in time to get in the fatal shot and brought the Zeppelin down. HMS E31 then proceeded to rescue seven survivors from the crew of LZ 32." (via wikipedia)

Submariner 'Stoker' McKnight, age 24 and a participant in the conflict, recorded:

“Last week was the most exciting week I have ever had in my life, we had the luck of the devil with us.  Our boat, a submarine, brought down and destroyed a Zeppelin...  The Zeppelin men may be brave men when they are sailing over dear old England on a dark night dropping bombs on women and children, but after we had blown them out of their old sausage machine they were glad to beg and plead with us to save their lives.  We killed 11 during the ‘argument’ and brought seven back for ‘curios’.

After we had polished off the Zeppelin we made for our base so that we could get rid of the prisoners, and were sailing merrily along in the middle of the night when we espied a fast German cruiser, not a hundred yards away, making to cut us in halves.  Owing to our officers giving the correct order at the correct second they were spoiled in their attempt to ram us. Our boat altered course, our bows swung round and the two boats stopped side by side with not twenty yards between us.  The next thing we had to do was to jump down the conning tower, close the hatch and dive the boat.  During the couple of minutes it took to do that, the cruiser was blazing shells at us, but owing to their rotten gunnery we managed to get down, and only one of the shells hit us, and that wasn’t in a vital place.” (via salfordonline.com)

According to aviation-safety.net, an offshore wind farm now occupies the site of L7's final resting place.  Check out forum member MoFo's unrelated but awesome 1/144th-scale scratchbuilt Q-class Zeppelin: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11834.msg220472#msg220472

[PJ Fisher]

Aldershot Smashup
Trouble in the afternoon of May 12 when sister Sopwiths collided over the 10th putting green at Aldershot Golf Course. This unfortunate incident is considered to be the first fatal 'mid-air' between two machines of the Royal Flying Corps, and the first fatality in a Sopwith.  Despite both planes having fuselages fitted with large celluloid window panels apparently neither saw each other.  Capt. Ernest Vincent Anderson (commander of B Flight) and his passenger Air Mechanic Henry Wifred Carter were killed when their D.1 Tractor Biplane (serial no. 324) was accidentally rammed by Lt. C. W. Wilson in another D.1 (No. 325).  Wilson was returning from Brooklands and descending to land at Farnborough when he struck the other plane, which was climbing away from the aerodrome on a familiarization flight.   It was said that Wilson's lower left wing seemed to catch the tip of the upper right wing of Anderson's biplane. After they had travelled about 200 yards both machines fell.  Wilson was bloodied with a fractured jaw but survived.

(respectively from the Cambria Daily Leader, and Monmouth Guardian & Bargoed & Caerphilly Observer; 13 and 15 May 1914):
 

.
(images respectively via kingstonaviation.org and Flight)

"Nº 324 had just taken off from Farnborough Aerodrome when Nº 325, returning from Brooklands, flew into it, the upper starboard mainplane of the former making contact with the lower port mainplane of the latter. They separated and flew on for some 600 feet before both aeroplanes then crashed onto the nearby Aldershot Golf Course. Nº 324, which was being flown by Captain Ernest Vincent Anderson with Air Mechanic Henry Wilfred Carter as his passenger, dived in vertically. Both men were killed on impact with the ground as a result of broken necks. Nº 325, which was being flown by Lieutenant C (Charles or Christopher) William Wilson, spun in with a damaged wing. He survived the crash with a broken jaw and bruising. An inquest was held at Aldershot on 14 May 1914. Lt. Wilson did not attend or give evidence. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death on Capt. Anderson  and AM Carter. Blame for the accident was not attributed." Nº 324 had just taken off from Farnborough Aerodrome when Nº 325, returning from Brooklands, flew into it, the upper starboard mainplane of the former making contact with the lower port mainplane of the latter. They separated and flew on for some 600 feet before both aeroplanes then crashed onto the nearby Aldershot Golf Course. Nº 324, which was being flown by Captain Ernest Vincent Anderson with Air Mechanic Henry Wilfred Carter as his passenger, dived in vertically. Both men were killed on impact with the ground as a result of broken necks. Nº 325, which was being flown by Lieutenant C (Charles or Christopher) William Wilson, spun in with a damaged wing. He survived the crash with a broken jaw and bruising. An inquest was held at Aldershot on 14 May 1914. Lt. Wilson did not attend or give evidence. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death on Capt. Anderson and AM Carter. Blame for the accident was not attributed." (via sussexhistoryforum.co.uk)

The Army Golf Club still exists to day, though the course has been remodeled.  Alas, it seems that no one has yet to contribute a model of this plane on the forum. For further reading on the origins of 5 Squadron, here's a one-pager via Cross and Cockade: https://www.crossandcockade.com/uploads/5SqnRFC_opt.pdf