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

[PJ Fisher]

Frenemies
...plus a prize Rumpler!  Good but grainy images show the machine gun and helmet used by a German gunner who died in combat against French foes.  As mentioned in the article, the pilot survived, the airplane captured intact, and the dogfight ended with a handshake on the ground.  The victorious French is named only as 'Gilbert'... any know his true identity?
(respectively from the Cambria Daily Leader and the Illustrated War News, 6 February 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

Steel Birds Snarl and Hum
Oklahomans were treated to this combat story from a German perspective on this day in 1915.  This well-written telling of coordinated aerial attacks while the Great War was still young enmeshes the classic conflict narratives.. man vs. man, man vs. machine, man vs. nature.
(from Tulsa Daily World, 7 February 1915):

[PJ Fisher]

First Flight = First Kill
(from the Bismarck Tribune, 8 February 1918):

[PJ Fisher]

Into the Mist
A lone Hanriot HD.1 slipped into the clouds over the north sea of Sangate.  Experienced test pilot SLt René Vertongen was never seen alive again.  One account claims he was en route to N° 1 Squadron at de Moeren airfield with the delivery of this plane (serial #10).  Another notes he was flying from France to Great Britain "with a royal mailbag, when he was surprised above the sea by a storm".  The 40-year-old flyer's body washed ashore at the French Fort-Lapin (Sangatte) on April 14.
(from the Daily Capital Journal, 9 February 1918):



(image via 1914-1918.be)

Here's a brief bio on this aviator: https://www.1914-1918.be/lieutenant_vertongen.php

Have a look at forum member gbrivio's build of the Edouard 1/48 Hanriot:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=9639.msg176154#msg176154

[PJ Fisher]

Know Your Enemy
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 10 February 1918):


Lots of planes depicted in these old posters.  Here's a look at forum member kensar's scratchbuilt Avro 504:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11980.0

[PJ Fisher]

Zeppedemic!
"Everybody has it".
(from the Abergavenny Chronicle, February 1915):

[url=https://postimg.cc/HJqYztWg]

[PJ Fisher]

A Tragic First
Lieutenant William Frederick Nelson Sharpe was among the first three members of the short-lived Canadian Aviation Corps where he piloted the one an only aircraft of that air force - the tailless, swept-wing Burgess-Dunne biplane.  By the turn of 1915 Sharpe was with the Royal Flying Corps in England.  He crashed during a routine exercise near Shoreham, West Sussex on February 4.  This unfortunate incident made Lt. Sharpe the first Canadian aviator to die during the Great War.
(from the Abergavenny Chronicle, 12 February 1915):



(image: an MF.11 (serial unknown) reputedly at Shoreham, 1915)

A memorial plaque stands today in Ottawa:

(image via ottmem.blogspot.com)

[PJ Fisher]

"Cool Audacity"
Who knows if this Taube tale of tall or not, but it's a fun read.
(from Llais Llafur, 13 February 1915):

[PJ Fisher]

Master Tacticians
Whatever your tactics are.... happy Valentine's Day.
(from the Illustrated War News, 14 February 1917):



Here's a V-Day card for those unsung two-seaters... though not sure if my tactic would be a 'ukulele arrangement'.


And here'a a look at forum member TimDEFR's build of a 1/32 CS Nieuport 17 as flown by André Herbelin, who scored his first aerial victory two weeks before this article was published: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13044.msg243203#msg243203

[PJ Fisher]

Downed in Dunkirk
Can anyone identify what type of machine this wreckage once was?
(from the Western Mail, 15 February 1918):

[KiwiZac]

Yes.



Not me, I'm just saying there will be someone who can 

[Herb Collector]

Probably Rumpler C.IV C.6787 of the C.6675 - 6824/16 production batch.

[PJ Fisher]

brilliant!

[KiwiZac]

That's impressive!

[PJ Fisher]

Repeat Offender
Last October the imprisoned German aviator Otto Thelen headlined here in a post titled 'Birdman Becomes Jailbird' for an attempted breakout from Donington Hall (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg259427#msg259427).  Today he's in the news again for sentencing after a second jailbreak; this time from Holyport prison camp.
(from the Aeroplane, 16 February 1916):


(image via essexregiment.co.uk)