Letters from the front

[Creaghorn 10]

dear mama (sept.1916),

 

finally the flighttraining in johannisthal came to an end and i was assigned to jasta hajduk. officially it's a part of Jasta 7.

I know what you think now. If god would have wanted men to fly, he would have given them wings. i can still remember your face when you saw the avion fly over our island one year ago.

i also know you hate the idea i went to war. especially as a volunteer. but if i would have stayed, i would have had to fight for the austrians against the italians. you and i know that we have lot of italians on our island and in our neighbourhood. they are like brothers for me so that was no option. nontheless i didn't want to sit and do nothing. i don't want to see the serbians invade our country so i have to help the ones, who fight against them. we have discussed it long enough i suppose.

what can happen better for you sons than helping their country win a war and at the same time having the great adventure of flying aeroplanes? you don't need to have fear, mama. in the air i am free like a bird, fast as an eagle. nobody can touch me and i am not in the trenches. it's vice versa. i am going to hunt down enemy aeroplanes when i find them. i still don't know practically how to do it, because i have never seen a fight in the air. but i think since i am a hunter, it won't be too dangerous and hard.

i met already some of my people of the new hunting group. there are all quite polite, although if you would them hear speak, they would definitely curse too often, for your ears, when talking. you would do the cross sign every minute at least once. there are two of them from split. one fellow is also from istria. nobody of the guys has shot down an enemy yet. but we will see.

 

can you imagine,mama? france is very beautiful. but it is so cold here. those countries here have no sun at all. if there is sun, it's still very cold. and the worse thing, their food here from the farmpeople is quite good. but no olive oil. nobody has olive oil here. i heard in southern france they might have, but i think we have to fight for a while to get there. so please send me a bottle if you can. but i won't still complain at all, mama. as long as i have seen the soldiers in the trenches have by far less luxury as we have.

 

say hello to my little sister and give granny a kiss

 

you loving son, daniel

[Ras 0]

I certainly look forward to hearing more from Daniel. I mentioned once before and I know others feel the same way. When we don't have the time to get into the sky and have the wind blowing in our face, the next best thing is reading about it. My fingers are crossed for Daniels' success and safety

[Olham 164]

Hi, Daniel

Much success with this pilot!

Your letter actually inspired me, to make a new pilot in that Jasta (as I had never flown there yet).

He even got a new pilot photo. His service begins on 21st March, 1918. He flies a D Va.

That will be tough - against the S.E.s and Camels!

Edited May 18, 2009 by Olham

[Siggi 10]

dear mama (sept.1916),

 

finally the flighttraining in johannisthal came to an end and i was assigned to jasta hajduk. officially it's a part of Jasta 7.

I know what you think now. If god would have wanted men to fly, he would have given them wings. i can still remember your face when you saw the avion fly over our island one year ago.

i also know you hate the idea i went to war. especially as a volunteer. but if i would have stayed, i would have had to fight for the austrians against the italians. you and i know that we have lot of italians on our island and in our neighbourhood. they are like brothers for me so that was no option. nontheless i didn't want to sit and do nothing. i don't want to see the serbians invade our country so i have to help the ones, who fight against them. we have discussed it long enough i suppose.

what can happen better for you sons than helping their country win a war and at the same time having the great adventure of flying aeroplanes? you don't need to have fear, mama. in the air i am free like a bird, fast as an eagle. nobody can touch me and i am not in the trenches. it's vice versa. i am going to hunt down enemy aeroplanes when i find them. i still don't know practically how to do it, because i have never seen a fight in the air. but i think since i am a hunter, it won't be too dangerous and hard.

i met already some of my people of the new hunting group. there are all quite polite, although if you would them hear speak, they would definitely curse too often, for your ears, when talking. you would do the cross sign every minute at least once. there are two of them from split. one fellow is also from istria. nobody of the guys has shot down an enemy yet. but we will see.

 

can you imagine,mama? france is very beautiful. but it is so cold here. those countries here have no sun at all. if there is sun, it's still very cold. and the worse thing, their food here from the farmpeople is quite good. but no olive oil. nobody has olive oil here. i heard in southern france they might have, but i think we have to fight for a while to get there. so please send me a bottle if you can. but i won't still complain at all, mama. as long as i have seen the soldiers in the trenches have by far less luxury as we have.

 

say hello to my little sister and give granny a kiss

 

you loving son, daniel

 

Do you want this chap on the killboard sir? Before he dies this time.

[Creaghorn 10]

@siggi

yes sir. please. didn't know he has to be alive. :close_tema:

 

@olham. nice pics there. especially the one in the aircraft. i don't know what's waiting for me in this jasta. we'll see.

i wish you good luck in the jasta. are u using now siggi/creaghorn-mode?

[Siggi 10]

@siggi

yes sir. please. didn't know he has to be alive. :close_tema:

 

Here's where you'll find the report-form:

 

http://www.hetzer.talktalk.net/reports.html

 

 

NB: You don't need to update his progress after each and every mission, but you do need to be reasonably regular about it. :yes:

Edited May 18, 2009 by Siggi

[Creaghorn 10]

karolina, my dear sister (mid of oct.1916),

 

the life here at the airfield has changed since i arrived. i thought beeing a hunter means i am hunting enemies all over the sky. but it's not that easy. the first couple days we didn't find any enemies at all. then, on one patrol we suddenly got attacked out of the sun by a whole formation of frenchman. they had shot down two of us. i managed to get back to base healthy, but that event gave me a new view on that sort of fighting. our task is to hunt two seaters but there are also enemy scouts who are hunting our two seaters or us, if they catch us unaware. it's hard enough to get to base in one piece without fighting anyway. the terrible cold in the height. the winds, the cloud turbulences, the unreliable engines. and additionally having to fight is much harder than i thought. it's not this easy adventure i thought it would be. i have seen comrades of me going down, burning all the way. one poor fellow jumped out in midair. nontheless 3 of my squad succeeded in shooting down one of them within the time. i still wasn't able to get one. i thought, here's the enemy, shoot him down. but one simply forgets they are also chasing you. and if one is chased, he wants to stay alive at all costs.

yesterday a newbie arrived. after his first flight with us he disappeared. we are still waiting for any news. since i arrived 4 fellows got shot down, one got wounded and another one is in hospital because of combat stress. it seems fighting is not for everybody.

but please, don't tell mama anything about my experiences. i don't want her to worry more than absolutely necessary. we are allowed now to use the new scouts the germans developed, so we are at least equipped with the latest scouts.

 

despite flying the life here is quite confortable at the moment. we have enough to eat and our beds are warm. comparing with the poor soldiers in the trenches, the luftstreitkräfte seem to have more recources for luxury. but still we can hear the barrage sometimes, because we are not too far away.

marko armanda, my wingman, is sometimes playing his mandoline in the evenings, singing old sheperd songs. that at least seems to give us the illusion of beeing at home. i developed now a (bad) habit of drinking a big swig of grappa before getting airborne. it helps staying warm and it's not bad for keeping courage either.

i'm tired now and going to bed, because i have to get up very early for a dawn patrol. so i'll send you a kiss and please don't worry about me.

and please, karolina, don't tell mama. tell her everything is fine. she has our older brothers to worry about more than about me.

 

your, you loving brother daniel

[Olham 164]

Hi, Creaghorn and Siggi

Something went wrong with that pilot in Jasta 7 - my screen resolution quite often gets messed

up (changes setting) and then I can't go to field, but must go out again and to workshop, to put

it right. So, when I went in again, I clicked "Fly mission again!" I downed 5 Camels in two missions,

but the Log said: Flying hours: 0

So, I erased him and restarted. This time he will be in "Siggi's DiD/Creaghorn mode", so as soon as

he survived two missions, I'll post him to you, Siggi. But I don't think, he will last - my fighting temper

is just mad; I would take on "Apaches".

[Creaghorn 10]

Hi, Creaghorn and Siggi

Something went wrong with that pilot in Jasta 7 - my screen resolution quite often gets messed

up (changes setting) and then I can't go to field, but must go out again and to workshop, to put

it right. So, when I went in again, I clicked "Fly mission again!" I downed 5 Camels in two missions,

but the Log said: Flying hours: 0

So, I erased him and restarted. This time he will be in "Siggi's DiD/Creaghorn mode", so as soon as

he survived two missions, I'll post him to you, Siggi. But I don't think, he will last - my fighting temper

is just mad; I would take on "Apaches".

 

did you probably overclock your card or something? i know from my card (nvidia gtx260) when i tried to get the max out and oc it a bit too much, it will jump back to default. have you done something with cfs-menu (forgot the right name of it in workshop settings)? i never touched it because i don't want to mess something up.

 

i wish you good luck in the s/c-mode. and don't forget. only one life. no target worth dying for . don't mix up courage with suicide.

[Creaghorn 10]

dear mama (mid november 1916),

 

how are you?

everything is fine here. we are doing a good job here and i even managed to shoot an enemy down. can you imagine this? afterwards i had to write a report. i asked why do i have to do this. the german officer said, because the report is going to be sent to the headquarter and they are confirming it. or not. depends on evidence and witnesses. jesus, don' they trust my word? i suppose this burocracy seems to be typical for the germans. everything has to be reported and sent somewhere. even for the german pilots it's order to write reports, if they want to claim a shot down enemy, or going to toilet or boiling eggs.

some days ago the first snow begun to fall. it's quite cold and even colder high up in the air, but we are having fun.

thank you for your cookies and the two bottles olive oil you have sent me. unfortunately one is already empty. how are things on krk?

give granny a kiss

 

your son daniel

 

 

 

dear karolina(mid november 1916)

 

things are getting pretty tough here. some days ago i had my first kill. but on the same flight my own avion was riddled with holes by enemies, so i had to land at an open field. right now i am the only one left of the guys who had a kill. they got shot down by enemy aicraft, hit by anti aicraft units, by soldiers on the trenches. everybody is dead of them. even marko armanda. what a shame.

the new guys are doing fine, but often they die, even before they get a chance to have a clou what's happening. we have to fight very often to get back to base in one piece. although beeing there for just a month and a half, i am considered as a veteran pilot. can you imagine this? but you don't need to worry. i know when to fight and when to run. especially since we received a kind of dicta of the best german aviator the germans had (he died about two weeks ago because his aircraft collided with the one of his mates). there are some basic rules one has to follow, so our new pilots are going to learn quickly. they have to if they want to survive. i'll do my best to help them.

i'll write you as soon as i can. mama thinks everything is allright and please keep her this thought.

 

adio karolina,

your brother daniel