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

[PJ Fisher]

Happy New Year

[PJ Fisher]

Wings and a Prayer
If you had the luxury of purchasing a Kodak Brownie camera during wartime 1918, your acquisition included a complimentary one-year subscription to Kodakery magazine - a journal for amateur shutterbugs.  Page 13 of your January 1919 issue would have seized your glance with this now-familiar photo of a chaplain among seated servicemen.  The recent rotogravure was snapped in September 1918, and depicts the Venerable James Rowland Walkley CBE of the relatively recently rechristened Royal Air Force preaching from his perch in an F.E.2b pusher of the relatively recently rechristened Royal Aircraft Establishment at the recently relocated No. 2 Aeroplane Supply Depot, RAF Le Bahot, France. Below are two less-seen views from this Sunday ceremony showing Rev. Walkley leading the servicemen in song.

Fun fact: Rev. Walkley played rugby at Cambridge and became the fencing champion at RAF Uxbridge for a spell.
(from Kodakery, January 1919):





You can almost hear their hymn echoing now via this build from forum member PrzemoL and his brilliant 1/32-scale F.E.2b:
 https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11810.msg220145#msg220145

[PJ Fisher]

Seaplane Centerfold
Which would top your build list?  I'd go for the Burgess-Dunne flying wing on the left. The FBA would be a fun one too. The only one I've done is the Sopwith 807.
(from the Supplement to The Aeroplane, 3 January 1917):

[richard.kiss]

Lohner is at the top of the list!
Very nice poster, tanks!

[PJ Fisher]

Messenger of War
Here's an interesting blurb suggesting the significant role that aerial reconnaissance played since the earliest phase of the Great War.  Through the thicket of pickelhauben appears a rather rare aero.  This looks to be a variant of the pre-war Plage-Court 'Torpedo' monoplane fitted with a hefty propeller. Might anyone know the full story of this particular streamlined Luftaufklarung machine?
(from The War of the Nations, vol. 7, 1915):

[PJ Fisher]

Bombarding Przemysl
"It is a strange unpleasant feeling if the aeroplane appears above oneself high in the skies. You get the impression it tracks you personally although it is not able to distinguish individuals because of its height of 2,000 metres...", witnessed Richard Stenitzer, an Austrian army doctor trapped in the Russian siege of Przemysl (via historynet.com).

The identity of these Russian bombers is unknown. At war's outbreak the Imperial Russian Air Force had the largest number of aircraft on strength of the entire Entente, with several types in operation.  Could they have been two Sikorsky Ilya Muromets?  Two were available as of August 1914.  The first designated bomber squadron was established on 23 December (its 100th anniversary was just celebrated in Russia as the 'Day of Long-Range Aviation'.  However, it is recorded that Russia's first major bombing raid occurred in February, 1915, when the Austrian railway station in Willenberg was attacked.  Can anyone confirm any the aircraft types involved?
(from the Evening Public Ledger, 5 January 1915):



Here's some historic footage of the bombardment of Przemysl in 1915: https://youtu.be/Ly8wm-oas9I?si=Cv70zknhvSE_JtJ-

[PJ Fisher]

Fight Above the 'French Frontier'
Today - just some journalist's jottings of an aerial joust.
(from the Chickasaha Daily Express, 6 January 1916):

[PJ Fisher]

Vickers Victorious
Though the text of this ghostly newsprint is near impossible to read we can clearly see the action shot above.  It shows a Vickers F.B.5 Gunbus strafing a German staff car.  I've yet to unearth the backstory on this article, though one or two such incidents have headlined here before.  Anyone recognize the artist or characters portrayed?
(from the Perth Western Mail, 7 January 1916):



See those Union Jacks in come alive in full color on the underwing of this 1/48-scale Blue Max 'Gunbus' by forum member Tim Mixon:  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13649.msg252528#msg252528

[PJ Fisher]

Whitehead's Highlight
"Despite having neither a company nor any evident experience of running a factory, in 1915 John Alexander Whitehead managed to win a contract from the Ministry of Munitions to build six BE2b biplanes.  Some time in the 1890s Whitehead set off alone for North America.  Exactly what he did there remains a bit of a mystery but by the time he returned to England on 31 May 1914 he had become a cabinetmaker, an American citizen, and the divorced father of three children, of whom he had custody.  On 29 August he enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service as a Petty Officer Mechanic, but was discharged on 26 September.  During his short service he had been to Dunkirk, where the Eastchurch RNAS Squadron (No 3 Squadron) under Wing Commander Charles Samson was based.  After his discharge he got work as a carpenter at the Grahame-White Airplane Company factory in Hendon

Throughout 1917 Whitehead's business continued to flourish. By August his company had around three-thousand employees, was producing planes at the rate of about two per day, and was achieving national prominence." (habitatsandheritage.org.uk/)

Like many manufacturers his wartime enterprise failed in 1919.  Following a string of failed ventures he ultimately ended in  apple orchard management on his family estate.  Read more on this ambitious entrepreneur: https://habitatsandheritage.org.uk/blog/whitehead/ 
(from the Mirror of Australia 8 January 1916):



Here's a Whitehead Sopwith Pup like with one shown in the above advertisement by forum member Kalt: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=9695.msg177247#msg177247

[PJ Fisher]

Original Spy Basket
Here's an inspiring illustration of an early form of Spahkorb or observation gondola used by various airships in German service.  The capture of more futuristic design headlined here back in September 2023: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13750.msg259367#msg259367
(from The War of the Nations, Volume 8, 1915):

[PJ Fisher]

Aerodrome Aerial
This particular photo was published in The Story of the Great War, Volume V with the caption 'The thoroughly organized French Aviation camp near Verdun, as seen by an aviator flying at a height of 500 meters (about 1640 feet)'.  I think i see some Farmans to the lower left?  Anyone recognize this exact locale?
(from The Aeroplane, 10 January 1917):

[PJ Fisher]

Die alte Schule
An immediate post-war full-page tribute to the art of German airmanship.
(from Leslie's Photographic Review of the Great War, 1919):

[PJ Fisher]

First of the Eight
Daniel Murray Bayne 'Nigger' Galbraith trained to fly at a private school in the United States alongside fellow Canadian friends Stearne Edwards and Roy Brown (who headlined here in June 2022: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12930.msg244673#msg244673).  "Galbraith earned Aero Club of America certificate no. 356 on 3 November 1915. He joined the Royal Naval Air Service and was stationed at Dover Seaplane Base on 29 May 1916. Shortly thereafter, on 12 June, he was sent to 1 Naval Wing. Three days later, while flying a Nieuport fighter, he flamed a German seaplane. He destroyed another on 28 September, before switching to the newly formed 8 Naval Squadron and its Sopwith Pups. He added four more wins in a month, from 22 October to 23 November 1916. He was withdrawn from combat for a rest on 1 December.  After a spell as an instructor, he flew anti-submarine patrols in Italy in 1918" (via wikipedia).  Read more Galbraith's time with the Naval Eight: https://www.naval8-208-association.com/HistoryWWI-Galbraith(1).pdf
(from the Bismarck Tribune, 12 January 1917):

[PJ Fisher]

Prosecco Bombs
The night before last was busy. Austrians attacked Aquileja, seaplanes were shot down, and Prosecco was bombed by the Brits.  At the turn of 1917, Prosecco, a village within the province of Trieste was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Located 435 kilometers north-northwest of Rome, Prosecco was also home to Trieste-Prosecco, Sgonico airfield, which, "was in use by a reconnaissance and artillery fire-adjustment base. After 1918 the region became part of Italy and the airfield fell into disuse until 1920. From 1920 until 1934 the airfield was used as an explosives storage site. A large explosion took place at the site in 1929. Between 1935 and 1940 the airfield was reverted to grassland. Between 1940 and 1943 the field became a fuel depot for the Italian Engineer Corps. After the fall of the fascist state in 1943 the base was abandoned again." (via forgottenairfields.com)
(from the Cambria Daily Leader, 13 January 1917):

[PJ Fisher]

Aviation's First Machine Gun
Here's a prewar photo story of things to come. Here we have a double-decker arrangement allowing for the testing of a jacketed Lewis gun.  The gunner is low enough to the ground that he could also be employed to assist with takeoff and landing - Flintstone style.  I believe the first occurrence of the use of a Lewis gun in an aircraft occurred in 1912 in a Wright Model B in the United States.
(from the Auckland Weekly News, 15 January 1914):