If you could go back in time, would you?

[appraiserfl 0]

Let me start with a disclaimer stating that, war if horrific and not a romantic notion.

 

With that said, if you had the option when you were 17 years old to go back in time to 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, would you?

 

I ask because when I was 17 (Im 33 now) I had no desire to serve. There was no appeal for me, I had friends left and right that wanted to be Navy Seals, Delta Force, badass rambos etc. I tested for ranger qualification with the recruiter and he was trying to get me to sign up for a six year tender, but in the end, it just did not appeal to me. I have tremendous respect for the men and women that serve, but the modern military just is not for me. Yes the weapons, tactics and everything are awe inspiring, but nothing has ever captivated my attention like the great war aviators.

 

I'm playing a campaign in RFC 56 right now and it gives me goosebumps to fly next to Cecil Lewis, even if it is just a simulation! So I ask, if given the chance would you go back in time and fight as an aviator in the great war? If so, what side and squadron would you pick? And please don't argue or base things on modern politics or on what we know what later became of Germany and the like. Would you jump in a time machine at the age of 17, before you had kids, a wife, career or any other attachements? Maybe the question would be simpler if I stated would you choose to live your life during that time period then the one you live in now, so this way you would not be leaving family, etc behind, you would just live then instead of now.....would you do it?

 

I only ask because I made a time machine that really works

[Ras 0]

I would do just about anything to get behind the controls of an airplane. At my age, it is financially impossible to do so without sacrifrices by my wife and etc, it will never happen. I've always dreamed but never dreamed "big" enough. Yes, given the chance to go back in time, I would have without hesitation. I would have preferred flying for the Brits if it could have been in the Tripe or the Brisfit. Well, at least I have my 1982 Gold Wing that is still hanging in there.

 

 

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

appraiserfl, I've wondered that one myself from time to time. I did serve in military, in the USAF from '74 to '78, and for the most part it was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. Perhaps because of that there is a very small, tiny part of me that says to your question, "Yes, I would". However, (and this next bit is going to sound completely off the wall), there is another much larger part of me that say's: "No way on God's Good Earth!", and here it is:

 

I've had this eerie feeling, ever since I was a very young boy, that I served in the air at least once before. One of the earliest recurring dreams I can remember involved me sitting in the glass nose of an airplane as it was plummeting towards earth. I had a machine gun in front of me and various instruments clustered around where I was sitting. The entire dream was simply me sitting in that glass nose watching the earth come up at an incredible speed, seeing the 360 degree horizion that wrapped around me disappear as this large grassy field filled my forward view. The last split second went into slow motion as I watched the muzzle of the gun dig into the dirt, and the tall waving grass push aside as the glass nose entered it. I could see the grass flattening as the glass came within a millimeter from the ground...and then I would wake up, every time. Never any sound in the dream...just dead silence all the way through. And it was in color because I remember how green that grass looked, more vivid than any green I've ever seen. As I grew up I explained the dream away as being some memory from when I was a baby and my parents had me plopped down in front of the TV while they were watching some old war movie that this scene was from, and it had embedded itself into my subconscious.

 

Now for the spooky part. When I was in the USAF I got to go through a restored B25 Liberator. As soon as I approached that plane my childhood nightmare came back as vivid and strong as it had ever been in my youth. I was overcome by a feeling of absolute dread, I wanted to leave but I was compelled to go forward. As I did so the feeling got more intense by the second. By the time I'd crawled up into the "greenhouse" I could hardly breath and I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest. Still, something kept pulling me in and I sat down in the seat, and it was as if I'd gone into a trance. I felt like I was someone else, I knew where everything was. My hands went as if they were on auto pilot, checking the gun, and then the bombsight. There was a moment where I was sure I'd passed out. And then, I snapped back and jumped up and got the hell out of there, completely terrified. I am not someone who scares easily, but I can honestly say I've never been so afraid of something in all my life as I was of that, and I have never gone back near a B25.

 

Make of it what you will. I still can't decide, if it is nothing more than a movie memory imprinted on me as a baby, or if it came from "another life". I've never been a big believer in past lives, but this experience does make me wonder about it from time to time.

 

 

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

 

 

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[rabu 9]

Sure, If I were rich.. living back then as a worker or laborer would have been hell.

[appraiserfl 0]

.

 

appraiserfl, I've wondered that one myself from time to time. I did serve in military, in the USAF from '74 to '78, and for the most part it was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. Perhaps because of that there is a very small, tiny part of me that says to your question, "Yes, I would". However, (and this next bit is going to sound completely off the wall), there is another much larger part of me that say's: "No way on God's Good Earth!", and here it is:

 

I've had this eerie feeling, ever since I was a very young boy, that I served in the air at least once before. One of the earliest recurring dreams I can remember involved me sitting in the glass nose of an airplane as it was plummeting towards earth. I had a machine gun in front of me and various instruments clustered around where I was sitting. The entire dream was simply me sitting in that glass nose watching the earth come up at an incredible speed, seeing the 360 degree horizion that wrapped around me disappear as this large grassy field filled my forward view. The last split second went into slow motion as I watched the muzzle of the gun dig into the dirt, and the tall waving grass push aside as the glass nose entered it. I could see the grass flattening as the glass came within a millimeter from the ground...and then I would wake up, every time. Never any sound in the dream...just dead silence all the way through. And it was in color because I remember how green that grass looked, more vivid than any green I've ever seen. As I grew up I explained the dream away as being some memory from when I was a baby and my parents had me plopped down in front of the TV while they were watching some old war movie that this scene was from, and it had embedded itself into my subconscious.

 

Now for the spooky part. When I was in the USAF I got to go through a restored B25 Liberator. As soon as I approached that plane my childhood nightmare came back as vivid and strong as it had ever been in my youth. I was overcome by a feeling of absolute dread, I wanted to leave but I was compelled to go forward. As I did so the feeling got more intense by the second. By the time I'd crawled up into the "greenhouse" I could hardly breath and I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest. Still, something kept pulling me in and I sat down in the seat, and it was as if I'd gone into a trance. I felt like I was someone else, I knew where everything was. My hands went as if they were on auto pilot, checking the gun, and then the bombsight. There was a moment where I was sure I'd passed out. And then, I snapped back and jumped up and got the hell out of there, completely terrified. I am not someone who scares easily, but I can honestly say I've never been so afraid of something in all my life as I was of that, and I have never gone back near a B25.

 

Make of it what you will. I still can't decide, if it is nothing more than a movie memory imprinted on me as a baby, or if it came from "another life". I've never been a big believer in past lives, but this experience does make me wonder about it from time to time.

 

 

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

 

 

.

 

Thanks for sharing Louvert! All my life I have had bouts of Dejavu. Its happens every couple of years where I will have an overwhelming sense of it. It was not until my 20s that I identified that my Dejavu comes from dreams. I have had situations and such that occured in a dream actually happen many years down the road. Its pretty freaky, but it definantly happens to me. Minute things such as signs, colour and type of lamps, name badges, velvet lining on curtains, etc that were in a dream, I would find myself staring at sometimes ten years later, while the whole scene played out exactly as I had dreamed it years ago. No explanation for it, just freaky really.

 

 

Sure, If I were rich.. living back then as a worker or laborer would have been hell.

 

Im saying if you had the chance to fly man! Obviously, nobody in their right mind would wanna be infantry in the trenches!

[Winston DoRight 3]

I got all that stuff out of my system when I was 22 years old. One war and some private military jobs after that has left me now with the awareness that I had pushed my luck back then way beyond reasonable limits. Yet I survived and now I'm old having lived a hard but prodigious life and I no longer miss the excitement, fury and horror of war.

[Flyby PC 23]

I'd go back in time without any hesitation, but not to see the war. I'd head straight for any building site where there were stonemasons working. The things they did that I could learn.... priceless.

 

I'd then go back to Culloden with a machine gun. Actually, the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 would have been better. I'd liked to have kept Scotland independent and stopped Crommwel's rampant vandalism and wanton destruction of property. Dunbar once had a castle so fine which you could sail a ship inside the battlements. - Until Crommwel flattened it that is. I'd like to have seen that castle.

 

WW1 would be a sight, but I suspect the chances of changing anything for the better in all that madness would be negligible. I do wonder what contribution the loss of all those men might have made to our modern world. Are we better or worse for all that sacrifice. Collectively we're better I'm sure, but so much tragic loss at the same time.

 

A big factor in going back in time would be the ability to come back to the present. (And nip back again if I needed to tinker with things again).

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Depends very much on whether I had to stay there permanently!!!!

 

If someone said "You can now go back in time, and be a WW1 fighter Pilot, on the Western Front, but you cannot come back, and you risk death the same as the others"...I would have no alternative, but to kick them very hard in the Shins...and run away VERY fast!

 

IMHO anyone who says they would do that, has either got to be Clinically Insane, or have no idea about WW1 aerial warfare..and somehow think, they are the next Red Baron, because they shot some planes down in OFF!!

 

I would love to 'visit' such periods in History as: - The Time of the Dinosaurs (would love to see what colours they REALLY were!)

 

Would Love to Visit Rome, at the height of it's Empire...It must have been some sight to see.

 

BUT...Most of all, I would have liked to meet Jesus!.... To see if all the Fuss about him is Justified

[Olham 164]

San Francisco, 1967 - yes! Flanders, 1917 - no!

Even if I had been a fighter pilot, and even if I had been really good at it, I would have rather

been the type, who takes more and more risks, the longer it goes well. And one day, I would

have been shot down. I feel, that I would have never returned from there.

 

But who knows - after reading Lou's report about the B25 (which gave me a good goose skin;

I've seen similar reports on TV),

we might have lived through other lives before. You can only just do your best in any time.

But deliberately choose one particular time is difficult.

I feel a bit shizophrenic about my army time for example - I wouldn't want to miss it, but I also

wouldn't want to live through it again.

[MikeDixonUK 5]

I wouldn't go back in time to take any part in history, if only because of what might happen because of it, however if I could go back to observe famous events and people, such as Arthur Wellesley, Horatio Nelson, etc to see if they are anything like what History makes them out to be. (Like some sort of Dr Who / Bill and Ted affair.)

 

 

[Morris 2]

Dear Lou,

 

My grandfather was a gunner in a B24 Liberator during the second world war. I have some beautiful pictures of the old plane and his crew.

 

He was part of an all South African squadron hunting submarines and doing mostly bombing raids at night. I have some of his medals and his squadrons emblem (owl holding a bomb with search lights).

 

Cheers

 

Morris

 

 

PS. i will be very scared to go back but if all of you are going - I'm will be the best wing man.

[Olham 164]

Lou, you can see some good interiour of the "Mitchell" in the bizarre movie "CATCH 22".

But maybe you don't want that feeling again - then better not watch that film.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Olham, I vividly remember watching "Catch 22" back in 1970, and it was very disturbing but for a whole different reason. The thing is, pictures and photos of the B25 have never affected me in the least in this regard. It was only when I was in the physical presence of the aircraft that I was hit with the feelings.

 

 

Morris, you are very lucky to have those items from your grandfather, and I hope you've been able to talk with him over time to hear his stories and recollections firsthand. Did he keep a diary?

 

 

appraiserfl, déjà vu is such an odd and unnerving experience sometimes, isn't it?

 

 

appraiserfl, déjà vu is such an odd and unnerving experience sometimes, isn't it?

 

.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Fascinating story, Lou. The human mind is a very complicated system, much more so than any computer, and we've only recently begun to gain some understanding about what goes on there between the ears. I've never experienced anything comparable to your encounter with the bomber. Maybe this is only my first life.

 

As to going back in time, well why not, but only if I'm able to get back home as soon as I want. I couldn't live without all this modern technology. Life in the 1910s for example would be far too primitive to my tastes.

[Von Paulus 8]

I wouldn't want to go back. At most I'd like just to have a glimpse.

 

Make of it what you will. I still can't decide, if it is nothing more than a movie memory imprinted on me as a baby, or if it came from "another life". I've never been a big believer in past lives, but this experience does make me wonder about it from time to time.

That's really eerie, RAF. Only thing I know is that the brain is really an amazing organ. Besides that, there are certain phenomenons that can't be rationalized.

I'm always skeptical about this things, but I don't pretend to know and try to understand everything.

Edited March 9, 2010 by Von Paulus

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Don't get me started on reincarnation!

 

I did a past life regression under hypnosis once!

 

Although I was concious of where I was, I was living the Life of a Persian Soldier...I was in charge of a female Prisoner, and her child...I cut the Childs throat with my Scimitar..she was Greek (obviously)...And I apparently said to the Hypno dude, when he asked me why I was looking tense that "I am guarding this Prisoner... I can't decide whether to slit the Harlot's throat BEFORE I rape her...or Afterwards!

 

Needless to say, I don't remember saying that at all...and in 'this' life, the whole thought is abomnibal...So, whether I was re-living an experience of a past life, or merely in a Nightmarish Dream...I cannot decide which.

 

Not doing it again

[JFM 18]

Flight simulators are to real flying and war as looking at a Playboy is to real f***king. It ain't even close. Real warfare is a living hell and not something I would activly seek, especially if science fiction were reality and provided me the chance to become embroiled in a conflict nearly a century old and based on political interactions long archaic. Why? Ever see how much blood can spew out of a gunshot wound to the head? (Here's a video example--WARNING, EXTREMELY GRAPHIC: http://www.bestgore.com/suicide/budd-dwyer-suicide-video-footage/) That's bad enough, imagine if it was the observer of your FE2? No, no thanks. War is not for me if I don't have to, and I don't.

 

I would risk going back for an evening to leave several digital cameras and camcorders with various Staffeln so today we wouldn't have to tear our hair out over exact colors and markings. Maybe that's too much technology. Maybe just a thousand rolls of color film.

[Olham 164]

Well, just recently I saw this documentation about the Battle of Britain.

And I was asthonished, that Dowding obviously had told some people, that he often

saw and listened to British pilots, who had been shot down and killed. They came

to him; he saw them in his office, and in broad daylight.

Now Hugh Dowding was a man, who seems to have foreseen the coming hardships

of battling the German Luftwaffe; and he had installed many great measures.

Not the type of man, who believes in spooky stories and all that.

 

A radio won't receive much understandable stuff, if it isn't tuned to a specific frequency,

to a station, a sender. But if it is...

[+Paarma 0]

I have always dreamed to come back in time to ww1 years and document and color photo all possible a/c´s in jastas :), but not surely want to experience the real war and combat.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

WM wrote:

Don't get me started on reincarnation!

hee, hee...sounds as if you've already gotten started WM.

 

 

 

Olham wrote:

A radio won't receive much understandable stuff, if it isn't tuned to a specific frequency,

to a station, a sender. But if it is...

Even then sometimes it's nearly impossible to understand if conditions are wrong. I listened through the noise for 3 1/2 years trying to find the code amongst the static, (and still have the loss of hearing in my left ear to prove it). Heard some pretty weird stuff back then on the lesser-traveled frequencies, but that's another story entirely.

 

 

 

uncleal wrote:

Pick-up a Used Copy of the DVD "Final Countdown" . . a little known Sci-Fi Flick that places a Nuclear Aircraft Carrier, one day out of Pearl Harbor, to December 6, 1941.

uncleal, that is an excellent movie and I have seen it at least a dozen times over the years. Still gives me chills too.

 

 

 

Also, an interesting sidebar to my story. When I was in 2nd grade I traded my brand new winter coat to a kid in my class who was wearing his uncle's old WW2 leather bomber jacket, (you know the one: dark leather, longer cut, with the shearling lining, collar and cuffs). It was old and beat up with scars and oil stains and loose stitching and was of course way too big for me; and when I put it on it made me feel absolutely safe. I can still remember that wave of calm and protectedness that washed over me when I was wearing it. The kid I traded with was thrilled because he now had a brand new, in-fashion coat for the winter. When I got home my folks were furious and drove me over to the kid's house and we had to trade back. I've never worn a jacket since that felt as right as that one did. Go figure.

 

 

 

 

.

Edited March 9, 2010 by RAF_Louvert

[Rickitycrate 10]

I would not as I would still be myself. And if I was not myself then what would be the point. I would love to see and hear the planes and pilots though. Lord Nelson, Jesus, Dinosaurs, earliest man and civilizations all these things and many more are part of my enquiring mind. Thus I read and enter into the experience with works of both fiction and fact, as we known it. Important to me. That is why I have such gratitude for the developement of OFF. I had not flown for close to 3 weeks and although I'm still having trouble with my joystick I had some marvelous experiences last night flying the Alb DIII OAW.

[MikeDixonUK 5]

I suppose I should mention the film "Biggles: Adventures in Time", where in an American Chef from the 80's goes back in time to 1917 Europe to have a bash at the Hun with Biggles and co.

 

Don't expect a serious film, however.

 

 

It's the 80's, what can you do.

Edited March 9, 2010 by MikeDixonUK

[Von Paulus 8]

Well, just recently I saw this documentation about the Battle of Britain.

And I was asthonished, that Dowding obviously had told some people, that he often

saw and listened to British pilots, who had been shot down and killed. They came

to him; he saw them in his office, and in broad daylight.

Now Hugh Dowding was a man, who seems to have foreseen the coming hardships

of battling the German Luftwaffe; and he had installed many great measures.

Not the type of man, who believes in spooky stories and all that.

The loneliness and the stress of the commanding. Can you imagine what is to send men to their deaths? The guiltiness, the anguish, and all sort of emotions that must be self-contained and not shown to anyone... how do you think that the brain sometimes try to cope with things of that grandeur?

I've always wonder how Haig has really dealt with that, never read his letters.

 

I think it was Patton who believed in reincarnation.

So as through a glass, and darkly

The age long strife I see

Where I fought in many guises,

Many names, but always me.

Patton

Edited March 9, 2010 by Von Paulus

[Hasse Wind 46]

Well, just recently I saw this documentation about the Battle of Britain.

And I was asthonished, that Dowding obviously had told some people, that he often

saw and listened to British pilots, who had been shot down and killed. They came

to him; he saw them in his office, and in broad daylight.

Now Hugh Dowding was a man, who seems to have foreseen the coming hardships

of battling the German Luftwaffe; and he had installed many great measures.

Not the type of man, who believes in spooky stories and all that.

 

 

Dowding was a brilliant man, but he was also a rather eccentric person. He believed in fairies and ghosts and was a Theosophist among other things. A fascinating personality, if there ever was one.

[JohnGresham 0]

Who would really want to go back to relive any conflict, let alone one as vicious as WWI. Experiencing it as sim with all the limitations it imposes is fine, but to actually have to live it? Out of choice? No thanks. Jesus, you only have to look at the haunted, thousand yard stare of any pilot in all of those photographs we've all seen so often. Who would really want to endure circumstances that resulted in that? Who amongst us wopuld want to endure the constant mental and emotional strain? We're talking about a world without antibiotics, a world without penicillin! A conlfict where shell shock was often diagnosed as conwardice which was punishable by execution. A conflict where poision gas was commonplace! Err yeah, right, sign me up for that.