A Snipe for Widowmaker (Part Two)

[Olham 164]

I couldn't fool you again - this time I show you a fighter Sopwith Snipe, as drawn by Bob Pearson.

You can find more of his art on this website (click the periods and stuff at the left; then click the pics):

 

http://www.cbrnp.com/profiles/quarter1

 

 

Edited June 25, 2010 by Olham

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Outstanding pic Olham. And for those who do not have it, Bob Pearson's CD of his complete collection is well worth the money. I have owned it now for several years and refer to it often when researching a certain aircraft's paint.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

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[Olham 164]

How many individual craft/paintings are on the CD, Lou?

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. Olham, here is the link to Bob's webpage where you can order it:

 

COLOURS & MARKINGS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR ERA

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

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[Olham 164]

Thanks; I knew that link and was about to order it anyway, but hadn't found anyone

who knew if it was good. There is also a disc by Dan San-Abbott with profiles.

Pearson seems to have used much, if not most of Dan-San's long time collected

knowledge, but he also seems to have made mistakes, like for example:

mauve-green camo on non-OAW Albatros D.III (it was only on OAW built craft -

thanks, JFM, for this info).

But the amount of individual skins on the other hand speaks for it.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I very nearly didn't look at this, as I thought you were going to take the p*ss (again)

[Olham 164]

Never do the same joke twice, I say. Did you like it?

It seems hard to find pics of the Sopwith Snipe. But there in that link

are also some Soviet skins of it.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Well, there is this photo of the one I'm building out in my barn...

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Olham 164]

This looks the first halfways solid and sturdy piece of work from Mr. Sopwith.

All before seemed nice kites for wonderful flying - but easily shreddered by twin "Spandaus".

(Well, the Tripe seems not too badly built).

[Dej 17]

A few shots of Widowmaker's future 'office'. Best not gain any weight though! It's a little cramped but those Vickers are handily placed for some shredding of their own.

 

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Great pics everyone..fair makes my mouth water!

[Bullethead 12]

I very nearly didn't look at this, as I thought you were going to take the p*ss (again)

 

Forgive me if you already know this, but I've been chuckling at what might be an inside American joke RE the teasing about the Snipe. Over here, AFAIK we don't have any true snipes, but we have kildees (aka killdeers) which some folks call snipes, probably because they looked like the real thing to the Euro colonistis long ago. Suffice to say, there are few if any Americans who really know what a snipe is.

 

This ignorance is taken advantage of in the Boy Scouts of America, who have enshrined a traditional bit of hazing called a "Snipe Hunt". Each camping trip, there are always new kids who have never slept outdoors before nor have ever heard of a snipe, Euro or US. So all those who've been on "Snipe Hunts" before tell the noobs that they'll be going out for them that night and answer their questions. The standard spiel is that snipes are rare nocturnal birds who live out in the deepest part of the swamp / the thickest briar patches / at the bottom fo the deepest, most steep-sided gullies, etc., whatever the worst terrain at the given campground, that few folks ever get to see them, and this campground is in one of their few remaining habitats.

 

So, about 2400, the old hands roust out the noobs and lead them by very circuitous routes into the worst terrain available. Only the old hands have flashlights because they claim to know how to use them without spooking the snipes. Once they get the noobs way out in the boonies and thoroughly lost, they turn off their lights and disappear in the dark. True veteran snipe hunters have laid guidelines beforehand, which they follow out of the mess without need of showing a light and pull up after them, leaving the noobs to their fate. Even truer vets have described snipes as fairly large and carnivorous, and will have placed groups of noobs in near proximity so as to induce "friendly fire" incidents between them as panic sets in.

 

As a result, the term "snipe hunt" has entered US slang as descriptive of any fool's errand. And that's what inevitably springs to mind when I see WM being teased about Snipes

Edited June 27, 2010 by Bullethead

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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hee, hee, hee...the snipe hunt. Good times...good times. In my scout troop we eventually added the twist of having all the tenderfoots cut willow switches to bring along so that they could "defend" themselves from the savage flocks of snipe which were sure to come sneaking up on them, with instructions that the best tactic, when attack was imminent, was to flail about madly in the inky darkness yelling "SNIPE!" in an effort to frighten off the wily, carnivorous, feathered piranha. We senior scouts could then fully appreciate each and every encounter from the high ridge without having to be anywhere near the ensuing madness.

 

" Snipe! SNIPE! SNIPE! Oh my God! Something hit me! SNIPE! SNIPE!...ouch...hey...SNI...what the...you're not a...snipe? Son of a..."

 

 

 

Of course, laying the proper groundwork, as BH noted, was essential:

 

 

 

 

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[Olham 164]

??? Seems I have missed quite a lot in my youth? :pioneer:

[Bullethead 12]

??? Seems I have missed quite a lot in my youth? :pioneer:

 

But certainly German scouts have some roughly similar way to haze the noobs?

 

Poor WM, being led on "snipe hunts" over and over

[Olham 164]

Well, I started this Part Two with honest intentions. But now, others continue the jokes.

 

Bullethead: But certainly German scouts have some roughly similar way to haze the noobs?

 

I never was a boy scout, so I don't know, but they surely have.