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

[PJ Fisher]

Courteous Combatants
Another article underscoring the sporting reputation of Allied airmen appear above a notice that French ace Maxime Lenoir has gone missing. Lenoir's exploits headlined here last November: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg260542#msg260542.  Speaking of gentlemanly behavior, he was called a "Pursuit pilot beyond compare, setting the highest example of energy and self-sacrifice. During eleven months of uninterrupted service in his Escadrille, he has had 91 successful combats, returning frequently with his plane riddled by bullets." (via wikipedia)
(from the Cambria Diy Leader, 4 November 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

"In the Aerial Blue"
"In 1914 the Royal Navy separated the Naval Wing from the Royal Flying Corps, naming it the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS).  In July {Charles Rumney} Samson was appointed Officer Commanding the Eastchurch (Mobile) Squadron which was renamed No. 3 Squadron RNAS by September 1914." (via wikipedia).  Here's a motley gathering of British aircraft including a Farman HF.20, Commander Samson's Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2a, an Astra-Torres airship (HMA No.3), a Sopwith D.1 three-seater, and a Short Bros. S.60 Tractor Biplane sans floats.
(from the The War Illustrated Album DeLuxe, 1915):



Here's a look back at forum member lonemodeller's remarkable scratchbuilt B.E.2a at Eastchurch in1914:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13719.0

[PJ Fisher]

Captured C-Type
(from the Richmond Palladium and Sun-Telegram, 6 November 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

"Broke Like a Butterfly"
Two tidbits today.  First is a busted B.E. in Australian hands within British-controlled Palestine. Next up is news that Naval Flight-Lieutenant Arthur Frank Brandon, another Aussie, is dead from an air accident while piloting a Sopwith Pup (serial no.N6466), which collided at 500 feet with a Sopwith Triplane (No.N5382).  For those who don't know his name you might recognize another Sopwith that he flew to victory over an invading Gotha just months before (pictured below).
(from the Sydney Mail, 7 November 1917):


(image via manstonhistory.org.uk)

Check out forum member KrzysiekK's build of 'Wonga Bonga', based on the 1/48th-scale Eduard kit: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13198.0

[PJ Fisher]

Airco Action
Great profile of the D.H.2 fighter.  Fourteen pilots garnered ace status flying this machine.  This particular plane looks like it may be the same as one pictured in some images shared by Dave W a little while back: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12114.msg225796#msg225796
(from the Auckland Weekly News, 8 November 1917):



Here's a look back at a D.H.2 by fellow forumite Odysseus: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=4743.0

[PJ Fisher]

'Rumanian' Morane
Here's a neatly nuzzled Morane-Saulnier L on parade, presumably not long after Romania entered the Great War on the Allied side on 28 August 1916. This machine was one of four monoplane Moranes from a total of fourty-four aircraft then in service with Romanian Air Corps (ten more than when the RAC last headlined here: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14363.msg267835#msg267835).  This would make for a great diorama!
(from the Auckland Weekly News, 9 November 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

Farman Experimental
Paired with Friday's pusher pictorial featuring an Airco D.H.2, here's it's kindred single-seat scout to round out the weekend - the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8.  While the first 'Fee' took to the sky only ten days after the Airco, it took six extra months to reach the front in significant quantity.  Nearly 300 were manufactured.  Does anyone recognize the pilot?  Almost looks like Marty Feldman!
(from the Observer, 10 November 1917):

[PJ Fisher]

In Remembrance
"Sombody's Darling, Friend of Foe"

(image via facebook)

[PJ Fisher]

Conspicuous Gallantry
Another pusher scout in the news this week.  This time one flown by Group Captain Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees, VC, OBE, MC, AFC of No. 32 Squadron.
(from the Glamorgan Gazette, 12 November 1915):



(image via ww1aircraft.net)

Rees headlined here once before in May 2023: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg255479#msg255479
Have a look back at forum member DaveB's build of Rees' D.H.2 based on the the 1/32 Roden kit: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12487.msg233543#msg233543

[PJ Fisher]

Fernlenkboot! 
The remote-controlled ''FL-boat' was the Kaiserliche Marine's ambitious project produced by Siemens-Schuckertwerke to sink British Royal Navy monitors operating off the Flanders coast. "They were driven by internal combustion engines and controlled remotely from a shore station through spooled wire unwound behind the boat. The wire was 20 kilometres (12 mi) long and the spool weighed 800 kilograms (1,800 lb). An aircraft could be used to signal directions to the shore station by radio." (via wikipedia)

This article the 'New Hun Device' likely pertains to one such attack on HMS Erebus (second image below), which occurred two weeks prior on 28 October.  That ship was damaged but not sunk.  Might anyone know what type of airplane was used for spotting during this incident?
(from the Malaya Tribune, 13 November 1917):



(iage via wikipedia)

[PJ Fisher]

"H" Bomb
Epithets like 'boche' and 'hun' were widely bandied in the English-speaking press during the war and long after.  Just yesterday, the news headline lead with the "H" bomb. Today's unlucky aviator has been sentenced to a year in prison for unsportingly writing this verboten word on a rescue note being borne by a carrier pigeon!
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 14 November 1917):

[PJ Fisher]

LVG in Captivity
London's annual Lord Mayor's Show dates way back to the 13th century.  First featured on the BBC in 1937, it remains the longest-running television broadcast worldwide.  The 1916 edition featured what looks to be a wingless Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft C.II on display.

Thankfully this parade was preserved for posterity by British Pathe in motion picture format.  This doppelldecker war prize can be seen (with wings in tow) at the 20-second mark: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/76169/
(respectively from The Aeroplane and the Illustrated War News, 15 November 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

As Above, So Below
Made unfit to fly from a forced landing following a fight, this winged American aviator gets revenge by joining an anti-aircraft battalion.
(from the Evening Currant, November 1918):



Further recounted: "Soon after the war between Germany and Great Britain started I became enthused over the cause of the British and without waiting to see what our country was going to do I went across and joined the British flying corps and soon became an aviator.  One day, while flying over the Germans my machine was shot down.  I managed to glide back into the British lines, but was rather badly bruised up in the fall.  After spending a while in a hospital, I was discharged for physical disability, and returned to my home in Chicago some months ago. I registered, of course, and not long ago was drawn in the draft, and, somewhat to my surprise, but much to my satisfaction, was accepted by my local medical board, and have now been passed by the camp medical board... I will probably never do any more flying. and I would like to handle an anti-aircraft machine gun and get a chance at a German aviator some day, so that he may know how it feels to be shot down."

[PJ Fisher]

'Fee' Flipped
Overturned by a gale.  Air mechanics of No. 18 Squadron working their magic; said to be Lavieville Aerodrome, November 1916.
(from the Australasian, 17 November 1917):

[PJ Fisher]

Over the 'Iron Wall'
This boastful bulletin depicts three layers of Britain's Royal Navy.  Atop looks to be Sopwith Bat Boat, which is credited as 'the first successful flying boat and amphibious aircraft built in the United Kingdom'.  Six were manufactured between 1912-1914.  The longest serving Bat Boat remained in use until six month before this article's publication date.  I'm not sure if this photograph has been doctored or not, but it's an impactful composition, including the seagull captured flying midpoint between the Sopwith and the submarine.
(from the Auckland Weekly News, 18 November 1915):