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

[PJ Fisher]

Ready to Go!
This relatively early-war illustration shows a well-armed British-flown Farman F.20 prepared to fly in wintry weather. 
(from the Adelaiede Sport, 1 April 1915):



I recently was able to access all the old kits and bits I had in storage for years.  Among the dusty boxes I found the carcass of a near-identical Farman I started scratch-building in 1/72 nearly twenty years ago but never finished.  This particular model represents #1817 of No.3 Squadron RFC, stationed at St. Omer in late 1914.  It could well be the exact airplane depicted in today's story as the image is very similar to a photograph of #1817 illustrated in J.M. Bruce's The Aeroplanes of the RoyalFlying Corps (Military Wing).  Here are some fresh photos of my old work:




Looks like I had most of it ready to go.  The fuel tank was styrene wrapped around a balsa core with a strand of superglue-laden hair do the solder lines.  The propeller was carved from a scrap of stained bamboo that came from a split cutting board.  Some of the struts are also bamboo, with tiny bits of guitar string inserted for pins. The Union Jacks were intentionally left without the use of white, as there doesn't appear to be any in the photorgaph I based the build on. The motor came from an old Airfix Avro 504 kit.  I seem to recall I had gotten frustrated trying to assemble the aftermarket photo-etched wheels, then set it aside.  One of these days I'll get around to resurrecting it!

[Dutch522]

Looks like you were doing your typically beautiful work on it, hope you actually do get inspired to finish it one of these days! Considering what a hugely important role the Farmans played in the opening phases of the war it's sad that one so seldom sees them modelled.

Dutch

[PJ Fisher]

Looks like you were doing your typically beautiful work on it, hope you actually do get inspired to finish it one of these days! Considering what a hugely important role the Farmans played in the opening phases of the war it's sad that one so seldom sees them modelled.

Thanks!  True about the Farmans... and pushers in general - under-represented in any scale.

[PJ Fisher]

Bombing Advice
(from the Yale Expositor, 2 April 1918):





The featured bomb looks to be a British 16lb high-explosive type. Here's a 3D rendering I've done of it:

[PJ Fisher]

Record Height Flight?
Taking off in a prewar Rumpler, Gino Linnekogel soared to an unprecedented height this week.  Or did he?  By some sources, the official altitude records going in the the Great War was Roland Garros, who climbed to 18,410 in the fall of 1912.  The 20k ft. threshold would not be officially surpassed until November 1916 when Guido Guidi reached 26,083 ft in a Caudron G.4.  However, as has headlined here in the past, others made unofficial height records during this time period.

This was not the aviator's first purported pioneering achievement.  Way back in December 1911, Linnekogel, with Suvelick Johannistha, flew a Taube monoplne for four hours and 35 minutes for a two-man endurance record.
(from the Monmouth Guardian and Bargoed and Caerphilly Observer, 3 April 1914):


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(images respectively via sammlungonline.muenchner-stadtmuseum.de, and ebay.fr)

[KiwiZac]

Looks like you were doing your typically beautiful work on it, hope you actually do get inspired to finish it one of these days! Considering what a hugely important role the Farmans played in the opening phases of the war it's sad that one so seldom sees them modelled.

Thanks!  True about the Farmans... and pushers in general - under-represented in any scale.

I personally hope we see a new-tool Vickers Gunbus in 1/48, but Farmans would be extremely well received!

[PJ Fisher]

I personally hope we see a new-tool Vickers Gunbus in 1/48, but Farmans would be extremely well received!

now you're talkin'

[PJ Fisher]

"No Loose Parts"
Unknown circumstances caused the crashing of two assembly-line-sister Sopwiths on the same day.  First to fall was 1 1/2  Strutter #7772, piloted by Australian Flight Lieutenant Sydney Woodrow of No. 54 Sqadron, whose plane inexplicably nose-dived from 1 1/2 miles up.  The second Strutter, #7773 of 45 Sqdn, sputtered in a crash landing, injuring it's pilot.  The first image below depicts a Strutter with the near serial of #7777.

Woodrow, the subject of today's headline, was buried in England.  In his memory, a four-bladed propellor was fashioned into a cross; it hangs in St. Nicholas & St. Peter ad Vincula Church, North Warwickshire.
(from the Sydney Mail, Sunday Times edition; 4 April 1917):



(images respectively via iwm.org.uk and kingstonaviation.org)

Here's a look at forum member macsporran's build of the 1/32 Roden Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14195.msg261147#msg261147

[PJ Fisher]

By the Hundreds
Anyone recognize these chaps?
(from the Sydney Mirror, 5 April 1918):



"From 1917, after the lessons of the Somme and Verdun, all air services consisted of fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, and day and night bombers, though in differing proportions as shown in {the} Table below. By mid-1918 the British had proportionally more fighters and bombers than other air services and fewer observation aircraft because of the priority the RFC, and subsequently RAF, gave to offensive action, whereas in France and German the priority was air observation for the army. The German Air Service in 1918 had become increasingly defensive; hence by the Armistice the proportion of fighters had reached 50%. The German Air Service also employed, uniquely, specialist battlefield ground attack aircraft, which made up 8% of its strength. The expanding US air service’s composition in 1918 was largely determined by aircraft availability." (Air Power On the Western Front in 1918, via medium.com)


(image via medium.com)

[PJ Fisher]

Entrepreneur Aviators
Coupled with yesterday's headline on British aerial achievements, here's another report - this time from early in the war.  Charles Gordon Bell (pictured upper left) earned the 100th pilot license issued by England's Royal Aero Club.  Reportedly he had piloted over sixty different aircraft types before the outbreak of the Great War.  He achieved ace status flying the Bristol Scout.  Irishman Lord Carbery enlisted with the RNAS, he brought his own airplane along with him.  His life story is wild; here's a snapshot: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/106-years-ago-today-9-july-1914-maverick-10th-lord-carbery-holohan/
(from the The War Illustrated Album DeLuxe, 1915):

[PJ Fisher]

'Pigeon' Decapitates Rooster
...and other instances of collateral damage.
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 7 April 1915):



 

[PJ Fisher]

Herr Fokker
Here's another spotlight on the renowned Dutch airplane designer, published in advance of the soon-to-be 'Fokker Scourge'.
(from the Evening Public Ledger, 8 April 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

Fells Two Flyers With One... Bomb?
See second section below... is this alleged amazing aerial feat by an Austrian over two Russian adversaries a true or tall tale?
(from the New-York Tribune, 9 April 1915):

[PJ Fisher]

Murometz in Action
Highlights of Russian results from the Eastern Front today.
(from the New York Tribune, 10 April 1916):


Here's a great in-the-round spotlight on the Ilya Muromets over on youtube, via sikorskyarchives.com: https://sikorskyarchives.com/home/sikorsky-product-history/the-russian-years/sikorsky-s-22/

[PJ Fisher]

Friend and Foe
The account of famous aces from the Western front show that someone was taking the time to keep tabs.
(from the Wahpeton Times, 11 April 1918):