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

[PJ Fisher]

His Blood Ran Red
Only six months after war's end news circulated internationally that African-American aviator Eugene Bullard was killed in a street fight outside a Paris late-night hotspot.
(respectively from the Broad Ax and the Harrisburg Telegraph; 29 May 1919):

 

In truth, though Bullard's blood ran that night he did not die.  L'Hirondelle noire (the Black Swallow), as he was nicknamed, went on to continue his colorful life.  As we've learned from prior false reports here (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg249052#msg249052, and https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg252480#msg252480), one can't always trust the press for facts!  Following these tall tales, a few French papers issued updates with differing details, including two translated here:

"Dixie Kid is not killed. - All the press announced that the remarkable black Dixie Kid had been punched, in Paris, during a quarrel, by an American officer. There is a misdeal. A negro has indeed been punched ad patres, but his name is Eugene Bullard (friend of Bob Scanlon) and not Dixie Kid. This one, who is 36 years old and not 45, as we have said, is in perfect health." (via L'Athelète, 31 May 1919)

 "AN UNHAPPY PUNCH.  Following a discussion which took place on the terrace of a cafe on the Grands Boulevards, an American officer struck a negro named Eugene Bullard, a friend of Bob Scanlon. Bullard fractured his skull on the sidewalk. Immediately the rumor spread that a boxer had been killed. It is necessary to put things back in order." (via L'Auto-velo, 29 May 1919)

 

Bullard was made of the stuff historians thrill to exhume... and exaggerate.  A descendent of slaves, he ran away from farm life at age eleven, fell in with wandering gypsies, stowed away on a trans-Atlantic steamer, toured the UK in a minstrel troupe, boxed professionally, joined the French Foreign Legion, became a fighter pilot against all odds, drummed in a jazz band, operated a Parisian nightclub, befriended countless notables, owned an athletic club, served as a spy, fought for France again in WWII, and later fought for civil rights in the United States.  Each branch of his once-obscure biography seems to blossom a bit more every year. 

Much of Bullard's journey falls outside our focus but today's news brings us to an acute crossroad between my two favorite topics- WW1 Aviation and the Jazz Age.  So many factual and fictional Great War accounts are peppered with tales of young Yankees leaving rural life to fight overseas where they are immediately immersed in the juxtaposed horrors of war and thrills of La Vie Parisienne.  We glimpsed this last New Year's Day in a spotlight on aviator Vernon Castle and his African-American musical partner James Reese Europe, whose 'Harlem Hellfighters' 369th Infantry Regiment band survived a mustard-gas attack and has been credited with introducing jazz to France: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg251050#msg251050.  An evocative early depiction of this trope endures in William Wellman's 1927 movie Wings (the very first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture), featuring a naive American aviator seeking solace from the stress of war and love inside the Café de Paris and the fizz of a champagne coupe.  If you've never seen Wings, this scene's opening shot alone is a gem: https://youtu.be/AO2KhMLJxq0.   Below is a film still from this scene alongside a period photograph of Eugene Bullard himself drumming (believed to be with the Zig-Zag Band at Zelli’s cabaret in Montmartre).


(second image via une-autre-histoire.org)

Art imitating Life?  Life imitating art?  Regardless of the basis for this brawl, today's news depicts man living life to the fullest.  To round out our Memorial Day reflection on American aviators reveling in wartime Paris, here's an effervescent rendition of the 1919 Tin Pan Alley hit How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down On the Farm? (After They've Seen Paree?), which was published just three months after the Armistice and recorded by the aforementioned Hellfighters on the French Pathé label only three weeks before today's headline: https://youtu.be/H75rZcnos1I.

    How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm
    After they've seen Paree'
    How ya gonna keep 'em away from Broadway
    Jazzin around and paintin' the town
    How ya gonna keep 'em away from harm, that's a mystery
    They'll never want to see a rake or plow.
    And who the deuce can parleyvous a cow?
    How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm
    After they've seen Paree?


(image: Bullard posing in a potager with pioneer aviatrix Marie Marvingt in April 1917)

For more images and info on Bullard's aviation experience, check out forum member andonio64's in-progress build log of Bullard's conjectural SPAD XVII, emblazoned with his motto 'Tout sang qui coule est rouge' (All blood runs red): https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13138.0

[PJ Fisher]

Sopwith Sideswiped
Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, who lived to be 101, might have met his maker just before the Great War commenced had he been with his car when it unexpectedly turned turtle in a hit-and-run on the main road leading southwest from his factory in Kingston-upon-Thames.
(from the Herald of Wales and Monmouthshire Recorder, 30 May 1914):



Sopwith Aviation Co. was bustling that week.  On Monday, T.O.M. himself flew in the Brooklands Whitsun Handicap air race - losing to a Bristol Boxkite.  He was piloting a D.1 similar to those that collided two Tuesdays prior over a golf course a few kilometers southwest of today's smashup (as reported here: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg255051#msg255051).  Coinciding with today's headline, Sopwith was belatedly delivering an updated variant of their Bat Boat (Britain's first successful flying boat and amphibious aircraft) to... the Kaiserliche Marine!  Evidently the German military were so impressed upon seeing Sopwith's latest at the March Olympia Aero & Marine Exhibition that they ordered one along with a Wight Navyplane.  Aeronautics magazine noted in their April issue that the Bat Boat II's £2,750 price tag was 'the highest probably that was ever paid for an aeroplane'.  It was delivered by Wilhelm Hillman and assigned German naval serial 44.  Evidently it survived into the winter of 1916.

   
(image 1: Sopwith D.1 second from left {via kingstonaviation.org}; image 2: Sopwith Bat Boat in German markings {via aviadejavu.ru})

Both of Germany's purchases were powered by the innovative 200hp Salmson 2M7 Canton-Unne twin-row radial engine, which was about the most muscular aero mount then produced in Britain.  Its manufacturer, Dudbridge Iron Works, also maintained an exhibitor's booth (adjacent to where the Wight was being displayed) at the Olympia Air Show that March.  My brother and I are presently designing a 1/72-scale model of this motor (image below)... it's all wired up but we still need to sort out the pushrods.



(Olympia image via ssplprints.com)

Check out forum member Tim Mixon's build of Joystick's 1/72 vacuform Bat Boat (Sopwith's earlier variant):  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13297.msg247338#msg247338

[PJ Fisher]

Bis Zum Bitteren Ende
Outnumbered, the ill-fated occupants of this German two-seater fought four pursuit planes from the U.S. 94th Aero Squadron.  As their flaming Rumpler C-type spiraled earthward the obstinate observer continued firing his machine gun to the bitter end.  Among the American victors mentioned is Douglass Campbell, who flew a Nieuport 28.  Campbell headlined here last May in another tag-team scenario (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg243953#msg243953) where he was co-credited with the U.S. Army's first aerial victory of the Great War.  According to theaerodrome.com, Campbell downed three Rumplers during the last to weeks of May 1918.  His third Rumpler victory, which occurred the day this article went to press, earned him the distinction of becoming America's first ace.  Campbell's sixth and final victory, again over a Rumpler, occurred only five days hence.  This would prove his last as a shrapnel injury to his back would put him out of front-line action for the rest of the war.
(from the New-York Tribune 31 May 1918):

 

Check out forum member guitarlute101's build of the 1/32-scale WND late Rumpler C.IV; https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=2957.msg49476#msg49476

[PJ Fisher]

Aeronautics Expert and Con Artist
Here are four photogravures from a wartime book published by writer Henry Woodhouse - a famous name among aviation authorities in those days.  Woodhouse was an early member of the Aero Club of America and a co-founder of the periodicals Flying and Aerial Age Weekly.  He was also a convicted murderer and serial forger whose real name was Mario Terenzio Enrico Casalegno.  More on this man's bizarre backstory over at history.com:  https://www.history.com/news/aviation-con-man-henry-woodhouse, and wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Woodhouse_(forger)
(from Aircraft of All Nations, C.S. Hammond & Company, New York, June 1917):

   

Check out form member poznanmid's build of Roden's 1/72 Curtiss Model H, similar to the one depicted above:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=1164.msg18214#msg18214

[PJ Fisher]

Albatros... Aviatik... DeHavilland... Fokker... Martinsyde... Nieuport... Roland... Royal Aircraft Factory
Many makes of machines are mentioned crowding the clouds in today's reports of stirring exploits over the front of France and Flanders, including a narrow escape by an observer who had to climb outside his cockpit in order to steer his plane after its pilot was killed by ground fire.
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 2 June 1916):

   

The first column notes repeated attacks by Britain's Royal Naval Air Service on Mariakerke aerodrome in German-occupied Belgium.  This base would remain a regular target though 1918, particularly after the assignment of Gotha bombers there.  The first reconnaissance photo below shows how Mariakirke aerodrome looked from an altitude of 2.9 kilometers just two weeks before today's news. 

.
(images respectively via anciens-aerodromes.com and bunkergordel.be)

Interestingly, this article also details the type of bombs dropped by the RNAS: 16lb, 65lb, and 100lb.  These were all high explosive designs from Britain's Royal Laboratory.  Below are 3D renderings of these that I've made, which my brother and I are aiming to have ready for production in 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32 scale by summer's end.



So many airplane types to choose from regarding our forum's model contributions.  Check out ebergerud's 1/48th-scale build of a the Eduard Roland C.II, which debuted in the spring of 1916:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11355.msg211146#msg211146

[PJ Fisher]

Pugilist at War
Following the recent news on American expat Eugene Bullard, who boxed professionally in France before and after becoming a fighter pilot for the Aéronautique Militaire (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.60), today's picture story features another boxer-turned aviator - heavyweight Georges Carpentier.  Just twelve days before the Great War's outbreak Carpentier won the European heavyweight title and a purse worth the equivalent $1,24 million today. Carpentier would be the last person to hold the 'White Heavyweight Championship' crown. He fought and won one more prize fight on July 26 before joining the fight in the air.  In this capacity Carpentier earned two of France's highest honors, the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille Militaire.  Paris' Sports Arena Halle Georges Carpentier is named in his honor.  Here Carpentier is pictured with famous French ace Jean Navarre, who headlined here alongside his twin brother in May 2022: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg244398#msg244398
(from the Ogden Standard, 3 June 1916):



(image respectively via iv1.lisimg.com and pinterest)

Check out forum member Stuart Malone's build of Flashback's 1/72nd-scale Voisin III, similar to the one Carpentier is perched in above: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12875.msg240240#msg240240

[PJ Fisher]

Forced-Down Fokker
Here's a mid-war photo story on an eindekker that could likely be the same as the Fokker E.III that fell behind allied lines in March 1916.  Below are additional images of this machine.
(from the New-York Tribune, 4 June 1916)



  . .

Check out forum member JCoatney's 1/32 WNW Fokker E.III: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3236.msg54274#msg54274

[PJ Fisher]

Calshot Castle Calamity
During the reign of King Henry VIII an ashlar artillery fort was erected at the tip of Calshot Spit to guard the mouth of England's Southhampton Waters.  Nearly 375 years later, Calshot Castle's defenses were augmented by the Royal Flying Corps Naval Wing Air Station, which initially housed experimental seaplanes.  First to appear over the following months was a Sopwith Bat Boat (an earlier version of one referenced here last week: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg255578#msg255578). 

Today's news focuses on a 'special type of machine' delivered from due south across the Solent by the shipbuilding firm J. Samuel White & Company (note red dots on map below).  The Wight Enlarged Navyplane (serial #128), piloted by Lieutenant Thomas Creswell with Commander Arthur Rice, was one of several aircraft circling Calshot that Thursday afternoon in May 1914 when tragedy struck.  This sudden crash has been called the first fatal naval seaplane accident.
(respectively from the Midland Daily Telegraph and Cambria Daily Leader, 5 June 1914; and the Waganui Chronicle, 8 June 1914):

.  

 
(above left: Calshot Castle and slipway circa 1920; right: advertisement from The Aeroplane, April 1915)

 
(above left: Enlarged Navyplane, Popular Mechanics, July 1914; right: colorized imaged of Creswell and crew at Calshot the day of the accident)

Whether the crash was instigated by pilot error or some mechanical issue, let’s recall that engine trouble would occur to another Navyplane, as reported here last March: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg253029#msg253029.  Conclusions from the official investigation:

"...an inquest on the body of Lieut. Creswell was held on Saturday... when brought into the hospital he was fully clothed, but the clothing was very much torn.  There was extensive scalding of the shoulders, back, and both sides. There was a puncture wound on the left thigh, which might have been caused by a sharp piece of metal or wood. The cause of death was drowning, the scalding not being sufficient to cause death.

Lieut.-Commander Longmore, in command of Calshot air station, said that he had flown in the machine on the day of the accident, while Lieut. Creswell had made five short passenger flights previous to starting on the ill-fated one. The conditions for flying were good. Two hours after the accident, with the aid of derricks of the Trinity House steamer, the wreckage was hoisted sufficiently to allow of the removal of deceased's body.  Nothing was seen of the body of Commander Rice. The wreckage was towed ashore at Calshot. Practically the whole of the machine was there, but was much damaged.

Mr C. Gordon Bell, who was in a motor boat with Lieut. Spenser Grey, R.N., said he saw the seaplane rise, and as it passed over them at a height of 200 ft. or 250 ft., Lieut. Creswell waved his hand to them. The seaplane then went some half to three-quarters of a mile further on, and turned to come back. Witness took his attention off the machine to watch another seaplane, but tuned back again to No. 128, and saw it at a height of 100 ft.  Mr. H. W. S. Chilcott said that he saw as if to climb higher, for an instant, and then immediately commence a steady 'volplane', which rapidly increased in steepness until it became a nose dive. The machine was then dropping towards the water vertically. At this moment, about 150 ft. from the water, approximately, the machine looked to be quite whole, but immediately after the left plane commenced to buckle up and quickly collapsed, but did not become detached from the remainder of the machine. ...owing to the extremely broken-up state of the wreckage, it was difficult to slate when the damage to the seaplane was done. No signs whatever could be found on any part of the machine of either an explosion or a fire.  The passenger and pilot seats were practically uninjured. The control wires, which would be in operation for an attempt to counteract the dive, were found to be intact. Of the two compressed air bottles fitted to the machine for starting the engine one was intact with gauge glass unbroken, and the other was lost. The latter's stowed position was immediately under the pilot's seat, and as this was uninjured it showed that it could not have exploded.

The breaking of the left wing was, he thought, due to excessive speed, he got into a vertical position, could not absolutely be ascertained. It was thought that the pilot was counteracting the effect of a light gust, which threw the nose of the machine up slightly, by a downward movement of his elevator, and that before he regained his normal level of flight the speed of the machine had increased to such an extent on its downward glide that the angle quickly increased until the machine was vertically nose down. They did not come across any fault in construction which would point to the initial cause of the accident. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death from drowning." (via Flight, 12 June 1914).

The body of Commander Rice, who was outlived by his father Admiral Sir Ernest Rice, was not found until 16 June, near Wootton Creek (shown on the above map southeast of Cowes).  Two weeks later the Royal Navy re-formed its air branch as the Royal Naval Air Service and took over functions at Calshot from the RFC.  By July's end the RNAS would pivot to a war footing and press all remaining Wight Navyplanes into service... except for one which will headline here soon.  Today, a monument to Lieutenant Creswell, inset with a marble bas relief of Navyplane 128, stands at Clayhall Naval Cemetery...not far from where his passenger Cdr. Rice is buried.

 
(images via findagrave.com)

Some of you may know that my brother and I are currently designing 1/72 model of the 'Improved' version of the Wight Enlarged Navyplane.  Here's a link to our 'under construction' page that includes images of the wireless unit that may have been the culprit in today's mishap: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13562.msg255106#msg255106

[PJ Fisher]

Bad Deal in Biarritz
This one-sentence snippet recounts the final flight of Handley Page V/1500 #F7139, which met its demise heading home after an international goodwill excursion.  It was the second time in two weeks the unlucky Major Cecil Darley had to force-land the world's biggest operational flying machine on the same seashore.  Darley flew seventy night raids with No 14 Squadron RNAS (later 214 Squadron RAF) during the Great War; earning the Distinguished Service Cross.  Details on today's mishap follow.
(from the Abergavenny Chronicle, 6 June 1919):



(above: V/1500 of 166 Squadron, via key.aero)

"In spite of early proposals by Handley Page to convert the V/1500 for commercial use, none was ever civil-registered and only three ‘near-civil’ demonstrations were made. In the first of these, F7139 was sent on an officially sponsored goodwill flight to Spain, flown by Major Cecil Darley.... They left Manston on 6 May, 1919, for a first stop at Pau, intending to fly via San Sebastian and Vittoria to Madrid, but bad weather ruined the schedule and heavy rain stripped the fabric covering of the two starboard airscrews between Pau and Biarritz. At San Sebastian another severe storm prevented Darley from landing, so he returned to Biarritz, where he made a difficult landing on the shelving beach. Nevertheless, at the next attempt on 11 May, they reached Madrid in 1 hr 40 min and then flew on to Barcelona and back carrying seven passengers including Colonel Sanday, the British military attache; during the next fortnight F7139 was based at Cuatros Vientos and made several more flights over Madrid, including one for King Alfonso XIII when Darley flew over the Alcala at a height of 200 ft.

On the return flight on 29 May, the airscrews again suffered damage from heavy rain, but the Pyrenees were crossed safely at 6,000 ft en route for Pau. Then, two miles offshore at Biarritz, the starboard rear reduction gear seized, throwing off the propeller and carrying away two interplane struts and tearing a large hole in the top wing. With this severe damage, Darley was unable to hold up the right wing by means of the ailerons, but managed to retain enough control to attempt a landing on the steep beach. This time he had a cross-wind and could not prevent the machine from swinging down the slope and plunging 30 yds into the sea. The incoming tide soon broke up the wreck, but the engines were recovered later and Darley was able to save a packet of correspondence he was carrying from King Alfonso, though not the hamper of carnations intended for delivery the same day from Queen Ena to Queen Mary." (via C.Barnes, Handley Page Aircraft since 1907, Putnam)

Aside from the King's rescued correspondence, another relic from this machine survives today in the Royal Airforce Museum - its 'Pattern 253' compass, which was donated by Wing Commander R.H. Stocken.  The 'Super Handley' first headlined here last December in a report on the aborted last bombing raid of the war: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg250116#msg250116.  That story referenced the 3300 lb. 'S.N. Major Bomb' - the biggest produced during that conflict.  Following is a 3D rendering of it that I've made in collaboration with by brother Eric.

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Click here to check in on the latest 'slowgress' with forum member Rookie's four-foot wide scratch build of this plane:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11018.0

[PJ Fisher]

Upside-Down Doppeldekker
This photo-essay shows what looks like an overturned Aviatik B type (or maybe an Albatros C.I?) that came to grief during the Salonika campaign. 
(from Flight, June 1916):



I'm not sure if this is the same machine as was brought down on 17 February by Lieutenant Paul de Mintéguiéga and Sergeant Adriend Fétu of N 91 S according to some references, or perhaps a different plane captured intact after a fight against Sgt Alain Terme and MdL Henri Astor, of February 1 (referenced as an Albatros).  That spring a captured German two-seater was exhibited at the foot of the White Tower in the port of Salonika.  This is the same spot where parts of the downed Zeppelin LZ 55 were displayed a few months later (as reported here): https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg254776#msg254776.  Further details with images regarding French aviators in Saloniki can be found here: http://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escadrille/escadrille507.htm


 


These fur-draped aviators definitely win France's 'best dressed' award for the Macedonian Front.  Their fashion choice might be explained by this evocative article describing life in Salonika published the same month as this incident.  It's a lot to read, but paints a colorful picture of city life in a lesser-known campaign of the war.  The last column coincidentally talks about the fashion for furs among military officers.
(from the Kalgoorlie Western Argus, 22 February 1916):



If you're still with me on today's long-winded post, be sure to check out forum member Tim Mixon's build of the Joystick's 1/72-scale Aviatik B.II: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13324.msg247816#msg247816

[PJ Fisher]

Dives From Airplane to Save Drowning Pilot
Here's another story of French aviateurs in action - this time somewhere over the high seas six miles out.  As with yesterday's news I couldn't find much backstory to the corroborate the reportage, but this could make for a thrilling scene straight out of a Hollywood action movie.

(respectively from Le Peuple and the Ely Minor, 8 June 1917):

 

Not knowing what make of hydroplanes were involved in this incident, check out forum member IanB's 1/72-scale build of an early-war French-manufactured Donnet-Lévêque (which would evolve into the FBA series of seaplanes) by Libramodels:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=9061.msg165323#msg165323

[PJ Fisher]

Austrians Ascendant
Aside from mention of two British air raids, today news features twin stories devoted to victories by the Kaiserliche und Königliche Kreigsmarine.  The were achieved by two sequential two-seaters: Lohner type T flying boats L-47 and L-48.
(respectively from the Ogden Standard and the Denbighshire Free Press, 9 and 12 June 1915):



First is L-47, manned by Gottfried Freiherr von Banfield and naval cadet von Strobel, which bombed various locations.  According to thearodrome.com Banfield scored his first aerial victory over a balloon in June 1915, though the date is credited as later this month on the 27th.  Banfield headlined here last December with news of another later victory: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg250215#msg250215



L-48, manned by Lieutenants Gustav Klasing and Johann Fritsch von Cronewald, scored a spectacular victory over the Italian dirigible Cittá di Ferrara - ultimately felling it with a hand-fired flare pistol.  Further details on this encounter:

"On June 8, 1915 at 3:00 o’clock, the Italian air ship Città di Ferrara piloted by the air ship lieutenant Castruccio Castracane launched an attack on the Ganz & Co. shipyard (or the Whitehead torpedo factory?) in Fiume. The attack was looking for a victim but it caused only minor damage. Shortly after the attack the air ship was sighted coming from the north over Veglia (Krk). Klasing and Fritsch boarded their seaplane L-48 in the navy flying port in Pola in order to intercept and stop the air ship. Around 5:15 clock, the Cittá di Ferrara was sighted over the island of Asinello (now Ilovik) and immediately attacked.

The air ship tried to escape by climbing and using evasive maneuvers to avoid machine gun fire, but Klasing was able to further diminish the distance. After all the MG ammunition was ineffectually used up, they started shooting with two carbines into the air ship using special fire bullets.  When the distance to the opponent was about 100 meters, they opened the fire also using the flair (sic) gun. The flair gun had finally the desired effect. A fire was burning on the bow and set the hull of the ship on fire. The Città di Ferrara went into water. The commander, an officer and five crewmen were rescued and taken prisoners by the K.u.K. Torpedoboat 4 while the two crew members in the seaplane were pleased." (via istrianet.org)

   

Here's a link back to forum member Pete Wenman's in-progress build of the Choroszy's 1/72-scale Lohner L-47: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=10024.msg182322#msg182322

[PJ Fisher]

Serbian 'Storm'
Here's another article on aerial actions away from the Western Front with little back story to go on that presumably relates to a victory by Miodrag Tomić (Миодраг Томић), one of Serbia's pioneer aviators, who was piloting a Bleriot XI-2 with a Schwarzlose MG M.07/12.
(respectively from the Daily Telegram and the Sun, 10-11 June 1915):

 


Tomić attend Louis Blériot's flying school in 1912 and was a veteran of the Balkan wars the following year.  He has also been credited with engaging in the first dogfight of the Great War... though that's a story for another day.  More details leading to today's news:

"Tomić was ordered to form an aerial unit of the Šumadija Division on 16 August. On 22 October, he became the first Serbian pilot to face enemy anti-aircraft fire when his Blériot XI was targeted by Austro-Hungarian field batteries. The first Serbian escadrille was formed in Belgrade the same day. Tomić went on to participate in multiple combat missions, dropping explosive ordnance on Austro-Hungarian military positions and supply lines. In May 1915, a number of French pilots came to Serbia to help the country's war effort. Tomić was assigned to Požarevac airfield following the arrival of the French and flew missions over the Banat. A soldier named Milutin Mihailović was assigned to fly with him as a military observer. On 9 June, Tomić downed one German plane. Six days later, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He shot down another German plane on 23 June. In total, Tomić and Mihailović flew nineteen combat missions over the Banat between early May and late August 1915." (per wikipedia)

Here's a look at forum member torbiorn's 1/72nd-scale build of this exact airplane: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11697.msg218133#msg218133

[PJ Fisher]

The Best is Yet to Come
Here's an early discussion by the aviation writer Charles Grey Grey on some notable early aces plus the development of technique and technology as the war progress.  Mentioned herein are: Immelman, Hawker, Richtofen, Ball, Boelcke, and Garros.
(from the El Paso Herald, 11 June 1918):
   

Check out forum member Dave W's review of recent publication Modelling and Painting World War 1 Allied Figures, which features a 'walk-through' on Lanoe Hawker:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13374.msg248498#msg248498

[PJ Fisher]

Colors & Markings
Today's brief focuses on airplane insignias of various belligerents during the Great War. 

(from the Brecon County Times, 12 June 1918):
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(image via history.navy.mil)

Knowing the press doesn't always get it right, I'm reminded of an article from back in January that grossly misidentified a fallen Farman:
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg251337#msg251337.  For a good example of unusal markings, check out forum member The_Magnificent_Squadron's build of a 1/32-scale WNW Fokker in Belgian livery:
 https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13686.msg254137#msg254137