On this Day (WWI aviation news), Vol. 3

[PJ Fisher]

Cross for Christiansen
A Frisian sea captain's son flies high today in reward for his dedicated seaplane exploits. Naval aviator Friedrich Christiansen has been stationed at Zeebrugge since August 1914.  Over the year and some he has been stationed there his many mission have made him an expert in the sort of early-war bombing raids upon England that headlined here two days back.  This day it is reported that Christiansen has been awarded the Iron Cross for his 'deathless deeds' over Dover and Ramsgate, primarily while piloting a Hansa-Brandenburg W.12.  Speaking of 'deathless', in the coming year and some Christiansen will go on to successfully complete hundreds of missions... all without a single air-combat victory.  His first will occur in May 1917.  He will score twelve more confirmed kills by war's end. Two of these have headlined here: in May 2022: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg244153;topicseen#msg244153, and February 2023: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg252696#msg252696)

Clearly Christiansen was a bane to the Royal Navy's budget because he took multiple big machines out of action including a behemoth Felixstowe Porte Baby, an Astro-Torres airship, three Curtiss flying boats, four Felixstowe F.2a's, two Short 184's, plus a submarine! He served in and survived the Second World War, ultimately being imprisoned for war crimes.  He died aged 92 in 1972.
(from the Cambria Daily News, 26 February 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

Gotha Grounded
Gather 'round for a glimpse of this ungainly German G.IV.  Reported here in two separate periodicals apparently depicting it in two separate town squares- Dunkerque and Calais.
(from the Illustrated War News, 27 February 1918; and Le Pays de France):

[PJ Fisher]

Acht Kriegssiege
Germany boasts success in the skies over two theatres of war this week.  The Luftstreitkrafte achieved six of these Monday victories over the Western Front.  One in particular resulted in the demise of a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c (serial #2535) of No. 16 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps in the region of Ecurie, Pas-de-Calais.  This winner of this late-afternoon combat was a relatively newly minted ace recorded as flying a Halberstadt.  With two kills the previous day and two more tomorrow Werner Voss will achieve ace status again this week.  As is well known, Voss would go on to score an almost-unrivaled tally of forty-eight victories in the next half year until his legendary final fight (touched upon here last May: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14363.msg265381#msg265381)
(from the South Bend News-Times, 28 February 1917):


(image via getarchive.net)

[PJ Fisher]

Seaplane Swan Song
Concluding this week's leitmotif on German aircraft, here's a full-page, full-color, post-war reminiscence of that nation's North-Sea aerial prowess. Translation: "A Friedrichshafen combat squadron shoots down a Sopwith single-seater and two F. B. A. boats before the Thames estuary.".   This illustration is likely related to an add for Franz Schneider Flugmaschinenwerke m.b.H., on the opposite page of the German semi-monthly periodical 'Motor', which published it. 

Schneider is a less-remembered but interesting character.  The Swiss-born engineer worked with Nieuport before the war, relocating to relocated to Johannistal in 1911 to become the technical director for Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft AG.  There he designed the LVG's B and C types.  He is credited to have invented an interruptor gear of sorts well before Fokker: "In 1913, Schneider patented a firing device for firearms on aircraft at the German Imperial Patent Office (DRP No. 276396). This patent used a locking mechanism that blocked the trigger of the weapon via a rod coupled to the crankshaft of the engine when a propeller blade was in front of the muzzle."

"At the end of 1916, Schneider left the LVG after financial and legal disputes. Franz Schneider acquired the factory facilities in Seegefeld from the liquidated Deutsche Eisenbahn-Speisewagen-Gesellschaft and founded his own company, Franz Schneider Flugmaschinenwerke, with around 125 employees on January 22, 1917. Among the employees was the young Viktor Carganico, and construction was supervised by Lieutenant Elchleb. Although Schneider designed a single-seater fighter in 1918, the factory mainly repaired front-line aircraft from Albatros, DFW and LVG. In 1919, Schneider and his family moved to Seegefeld.

After the end of the First World War, aircraft could only be built in Germany under severe restrictions, so the company tried to open up new business areas. Around 1920, Schneider therefore changed the company name to Franz Schneider Maschinenwerke and, in addition to building and selling aircraft, now also offered railway carriages and machines of all kinds. In 1937 he went to Japan at the invitation of a Japanese general, and five years later he died in Tokyo. Engineer Franz Schneider's urn is buried in the foreign cemetery in Yokohama." (via wikipedia).
(from Motor, March/April 1919):




Have a look back at a Sopwith Baby, similar this one going down in flames, by forum member PrzemoL:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=10939.0

[PJ Fisher]

Intercontinental Caproni
In light of the new Caproni Ca.3 kit release by Lukgraph, here's a view of one that flew in the United States during wartime.  This particular photo is noted as having been taken in July 1918 at the Meadow Brook Club polo field in Westbury, Long Island, New York. 
(from The Sphere, 2 March 1919):

[PJ Fisher]

Fistfight at 3,000 Feet!
This wild report from Petrograd pits pilot against prisoner in round of fisticuffs inside an airplane cockpit over Poland.  Paschalof, a Russian aviator, won the 'perilous' fight against his unnamed Austrian foe by wielding a wrench to the head.
(from the Washington Times, 3 March 1915):

[PJ Fisher]

New Zeppelin Chaser?
Passing the corner newsstand on the snow-dusted streets of frigid New York City this morning, this article might have caught your eye.  The reporter introduces America to a 'new' airplane that was already past its prime and being phased out on the Western Front.  The Royal Flying Corps' first Airco D.H.2 actually arrived in France with No. 5 Squadron in the summer of 1915.  Within weeks it was shot down and its pilot killed.

"The DH.2 eventually equipped seven fighter squadrons on the Western Front and proved more than a match for the Fokker Eindecker.  DH.2s were heavily involved in the Battle of the Somme with No. 24 Squadron engaging in 774 combats and claiming 44 enemy machines. Service training for pilots in the RFC was poor, and the DH.2 initially had a high accident rate, supposedly gaining the nickname "The Spinning Incinerator", but as familiarity with the type improved, it was recognised as being maneuverable and relatively easy to fly.  The arrival at the front of more powerful German tractor biplane fighters such as the Halberstadt D.II and the Albatros D.I, in late 1916, meant that the DH.2 was outclassed in turn. It remained in first line service until June 1917 in France, until No. 24 and No. 32 Squadron RFC reequipped with Airco DH.5s..." (via wikipedia)

I'm not sure if any D.H.2's had the occasion to chase any Zeppelins, as the type was operated exclusively by the RFC, and the Royal Naval Air Service was charged with home defense at that time.
(from the New-York Tribune, 4 March 1917):



Check out this detailed D.H.2 by forum member cgandiaga: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=1980.msg32306#msg32306

[PJ Fisher]

Ancestors
This medley of machines from the March 1913 Aero Exhibition at Olympia London include a number of types that evolved to see service in the Great War. Among them are the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2, Samuel White's Hydro-Biplane, both Farmans, the Caudron Biplane, the Short Hydro-Biplane, the Vickers E.F.B.1 'Destroyer', and also the Handley Page monoplane, which served briefly at the war's start (and even survived into WWII).

Ironically, the most primitive-looking contraption here, the Cody biplane, won the British Military Aeroplane Competition just eight months earlier.  Samuel Cody was awarded GBP4,000 for placing first and a further GBP1,000 for the best British-built aircraft - the equivalent of GBP737,284 today!  Understandably, it never was used operationally in the coming conflict. Cody last appeared here in May 2023: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg254739#msg254739
(from Aircraft Magazine, March 1913):

[PJ Fisher]

Mystery Mother-Ship
A 'unique vessel' is on the move in the Mediterranean.  Some of you may recognize it from this fanciful sketch as the HMS Ark Royal.  Commissioned only three months prior to today's article, it has been called the first ship designed and built as a seaplane carrier.  Upon entering service the Ark Royal was immediately dispatched to the Mediterranean in support of Britain's failed Dardenelles Campaign.  As can be seen in the map below it was kept quite busy.  This ship is of particular interest to me, as one of the aircraft types it supported was the Wight A.1 Improved Navyplane (my fave). According to the surviving logbook entry on this date one of the ungainly Wights was again struggling to lift from the water. 
(from Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 6 March 1915):




(images via naval-history.net)

The Ark Royal's exploits were also covered here back in March 2023: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg253029#msg253029

[PJ Fisher]

"Youthful Exploits"
He was a teenager when he scored his first aerial victory and an ace twice over by age twenty.  "A solitary hunter, he would attack from behind and below his opponent's aircraft, standing in the cockpit to fire his wing mounted machine gun... Flying above the lines in a red "Bebe" he was easily identified..." as the 'Sentinel of Verdun'.  Today's report celebrates Jean Navarre's 6th aerial victory.  He defeated an Albatros C type while piloting a Nieuport 11 of Escadrille N67 over Douaumont-Fleury late in the morning on March 6.
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 7 March 1916):



Navarre and his twin brother Pierre (also mentioned today) headlined here back in October 2023: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg244398#msg244398

Check out this recent build of Navarre and one of his Nieports by forum member mentaldental: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14849.msg272951#msg272951

[PJ Fisher]

D.H.2 Down
Four days back we were belatedly 'introduced' by the American press to the Royal Flying Corps' Airco D.H.2 (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14363.msg273641#msg273641).  Today's photo story out of Australia provides another example - this time having met with an inglorious ending somewhere along the Western Front.
(from the Auckland Weekly News, 8 March 1917):

[PJ Fisher]

Night of the Gothas
The spring of 1918 saw renewed nocturnal attacks on the City of Light.  One such bombardment headlined here last April: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14363.msg264670#msg264670.  Accompanying today's story is a photograph by "Paul Queste, an operator with the army photographic section (SPA), shows a Parisian building disembowelled by the explosion of a 100 kilo bomb dropped by a German Gotha bomber on 8 March 1918 during a raid that saw 28 bombs explode over Paris and another 60 or so over the suburbs. The image shows the power of the impact, which killed several residents as well as causing the building to collapse." (via actualites.musee-armee.fr)
(from the Lakeland Evening Telegram, 9 March 1918):



(image via actualites.musee-armee.fr)

(from L'Illustration, via geographicalimaginations.com)

Here's a look at a bomb-laden Gotha G.IV in 1/32 scale by forum member zavod44: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=6303.msg114828#msg114828

[PJ Fisher]

Dogfight Down to Dugout.
Details are sparse but this two-sentence report sure stirs the imagination on how an unfortunate Fokker pilot lost an air battle and 'tumbled' more than a mile onto a trench.  Reminds me of a somewhat similar scenario from the recent film '1917': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3spb49yf4ZQ.
(from the Circle Banner, 10 March 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

How to Drop a Bomb
News from New Zealand today on Britain's most ubiquitous early-war aerial bomb - the 20lb Hale.  Written back in the day when ordnance was armed in the airman's lap and lobbed overboard, this article hints of heavier bombs to come. Even the 80-120lb weights speculated here will be dwarfed by much heavier devices on both sides of the conflict by war's end.
(from the Mataura Ensign, 11 March 1915):

[PJ Fisher]

Twice Unlucky
"It was the most daring and seemingly impossible mission. On February 8, 1914, when Palestine was still part of the Ottoman Empire, two planes of the fledgling Ottoman Air Force took off from Istanbul. Their destination: the holy city of Jerusalem and, ultimately, Cairo and Alexandria. Their goal: to promote modernity and to boost the morale of the armed forces, thus helping to restore the glory of the dying empire." (via hadassahmagazine.org)

"The story begins on December 31, 1913... when the first aircraft landed in Jerusalem. Flown by French aviator Marc Bonnier, the epic flight was part of a seven-week tour of the Mediterranean that began and ended in France {that story headlined here in January 1914: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg261894#msg261894}. The Ottoman High Command was quick to respond... and planned a 2,370- km., 13-stop expedition from Constantinople to Cairo and Alexandria. With great fanfare, two monoplanes took to the skies on February 8, 1914, from the newly established Aviation School in Hagios Stefanos (today Istanbul Ataturk Airport in Yesilk?y) on the Sea of Marmara." (via jpost.com)

"The trip got off to a bad start. It was raining in Istanbul and the planes quickly lost each other. One of them, caught in thick fog, nearly hit a mountain. Later, one plane had to remain in Damascus for repairs while the other headed for Jerusalem. On Friday, February 27, tents were set up for a reception in the Talpiot neighborhood where the plane was scheduled to land, and a welcoming crowd waited and waited. But the plane never arrived.  Fethi Bey, its crack pilot, and his navigator, Sadek Bey, had only rudimentary instruments and were apparently unaware of the fierce winds that blow across Lake Kinneret in winter. As the plane flew along the lake's eastern shore, it was buffeted by strong easterly winds, and the vibrations broke the screw that connected the wings.  Arab villagers...  saw something fall out of the sky. The plane had crashed." (via hadassahmagazine.org)

"The aviators of the other plane, pilot Lt. Nuri Bey and observer Capt. İsmail Hakkı Bey, attended the funeral prayer of their friends by going from Homs to Damascus {with their aircraft} 'Prens Celalettin'. After the prayers attended by a huge crowd, the martyr aviators were buried in a graveyard located by Selahattin Eyyubi Shrine in Emeviye Mosque.  Pilot Lt. Nuri Bey continued his flight after the accident but he lost his life as the plane he steered crashed into the sea while taking off from Jaffa on March 11. Capt. İsmail Hakkı Bey who was also in the plane, survived the crash. Lt. Nuri Bey was buried in the same graveyard with his other two colleagues. Also, during his last flight, Lt. Nuri Bey performed the first airmail service of Turkish aviation history.  The whole of Turkey lamented the loss of the aviators. The monument made in memory of Fethi Bey, Sadık Bey and Nuri Bey, the first martyrs of the Turkish aviation history, was erected in a park located in front of the old municipality building in Istanbul's Fatih district. Designed by the architect Vedat Tek, broken pillars were used in the 7.5-meter-long monument that is made of dolomite and bronze. The broken pillars symbolize the incomplete flight embarked on for a high ideal." (via dailysabah.com)

(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 12 March 1914):


 

(images via wikimedia commons)