What? A Rick Rawlings Challenge?

[Rick Rawlings 136]

Long has it been foretold that the Flying Wiener Dog would rise again and wreak vengeance on all who opposed it. Welcome aboard!

Pilot list:

BuckeyeBob

TROOPER117

Rick Rawlings

Stache

MFair

HarryH

Baldric

Catch

Louvert

rjw

lofty_c

[catch 81]

The sad tale of catch getting shanghaied! Press-ganged into service! "Take your hands off me you cad! Don't you know who I am?" [struggles to no avail, hair sexily tousled, biceps bulging] "Mummy!" [breaks down and sobs]

                               ==================================================================================================================================================

 

I can guarantee if anyone posts to say, for instance, no, can't do it, Rick would accept that as signing up!  I like your MO man.  Effective.

Looks like I'm in.

[Rick Rawlings 136]

5 hours ago, catch said:

The sad tale of catch getting shanghaied! Press-ganged into service! "Take your hands off me you cad! Don't you know who I am?" [struggles to no avail, hair sexily tousled, biceps bulging] "Mummy!" [breaks down and sobs]

                               ==================================================================================================================================================

 

I can guarantee if anyone posts to say, for instance, no, can't do it, Rick would accept that as signing up!  I like your MO man.  Effective.

Looks like I'm in.

What's that, you say? Can't do it? Jolly good, welcome aboard!

Pilot list:

BuckeyeBob

TROOPER117

Rick Rawlings

Stache

MFair

HarryH

Baldric

Catch x 2!!

Louvert

rjw

lofty_c

Edited May 5, 2021 by Rick Rawlings

[RAF_Louvert 101]

Yes indeed, when it comes to filling out the ranks for his challenges, our Rick does use a catch as catch can approach.

[catch 81]

Lol I was only thinking about it and then PRESTO! I'm in. Just like that. On the list. Confirmed. Twice apparently! Me and my big mouth. Has this Rawlings character always been like this?

[Rick Rawlings 136]

2 hours ago, catch said:

Lol I was only thinking about it and then PRESTO! I'm in. Just like that. On the list. Confirmed. Twice apparently! Me and my big mouth. Has this Rawlings character always been like this?

Unfortunately, yes. We've been trying to get rid of him for some time now. We tell him we are taking him to visit Grandma and the leave him out in a field and drive off, but somehow he always eventually finds his way back. There are some that suggest that's not even his real name! 

[RAF_Louvert 101]

GASP!  Using an alias?  In this place?  Shocking.

[TROOPER117 146]

He's not called ''Shanghai Fred'' for nothing you know...  

[RAF_Louvert 101]

Allow me to introduce my pilot for this adventure:  James Chester "Chuffs" Wellingham.  

Devastatingly handsome, totally corrupt.  As a key figure of organized crime in and around the greater London area, Chuffs uses his intelligence, charm, and good looks to get what he wants, be it women, money, power, or prestige.  When these attributes aren't enough to get the job done he resorts to bribery, coercion, and blackmail.  And should these not suffice, brute force and violence certainly will.  He has come to be serving a stint in the RFC as a result of his dealings with the War Department in which he supplied them with several shiploads of what he claimed was high-grade Irish Linen, and which he sold at a premium price.  It was in fact a very low quality imported cloth from the Far East and proved to be woefully inadequate as covering for aeroplanes, which is what the War Department had procured it for.  As restitution, at least in part, the magistrate ordered Mr. Wellingham to serve in the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot until war's end, or until he was killed or captured, whichever came first.  "A fitting sentence",  His Worship stated in court, "to be forced to serve in the very aeroplanes his shoddy materials were destined for."  Despite the best, (and highly questionable), efforts on the part of Mr. Wellingham's barrister, there was no overturning the court's decision.  And so it was that Chuffs was sent off to become a pilot, which he did handily, not only because he was a natural at it but also because had he not earned his certificate he would have ended up a guest in one of His Majesty's prisons for a minimum of five years.  Strong motivation to succeed.  Upon arriving at his outfit, No. 40 Squadron, Chuffs immediately set up shop, turning some of the more easily persuaded men in camp to serve him as he saw fit.  When he received his plane assignment he immediately had it painted to suit his own skewed sense of humour, adorning it with a prison suit pattern.  When the CO voiced disapproval of the livery, Chuffs offered to make it "worth his while" if the commander would simply look the other way.  In the end the Old Man acquiesced, having been presented with the choice of either accepting a gift of 100 quid, or having a certain young woman with a very sad tale to tell, (and currently with child), pay a call on the CO's wife back home.

[rjw 48]

Lou!!! Such a gawdy coat!! The Red Tabs will be on you in no time, if the coppers don't catch up to you first! sly move to hide out in the armed forces and have your own getaway at your disposal!!

Yup,  Chuffs will go far, if he doesn't get caught for his licentious shenannigans, or get killed by the Hun!

 

 

[Baldric 42]

Right then, allo Chesty! 

 

Archibald Turner, 2nd Lt., 40 RFC- fresh out of flying school, a favourite target of Cpt. Trigger's swagger stick ("MY GAWD Man, your military left, not your bloody civilian left!"  THWAP)

Brief biography: Born 6 June 1897 in a small rural area called Birch Hills in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.  Father a blacksmith from Birmingham, ENG., mother an accomplished seamstress from Leicester, ENG.  Archi was educated in a one room school house, a favourite target of Matron Dilby's blackboard pointer stick.  Played hockey on ponds and lakes, picked to play for the Toronto Blueshirts of the NHA in 1916, and enlisted in the RFC late summer 1917... 

 

[Rick Rawlings 136]

Looking good, guys!

[catch 81]

8 hours ago, RAF_Louvert said:

Allow me to introduce my pilot for this adventure:  James Chester "Chuffs" Wellingham.

Lol he looks like George Raft who I understand was similarly gifted in a variety of nefarious activities.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

huh - he DOES look like George Raft.  Go figure. 

[catch 81]

Meet Squizzy Taylor. Born and raised in the slums of Melbourne, Australia, his early life was not easy. At the tender age of 7 years, his mother (Lily) drifted into prostitution after his father (George) was killed during a disagreement at the local pub. Members of the "Razor Gang" were suspected but never charged. Times became tougher for young Squizzy when Lily was forcibly removed to a sanitorium for the mentally feeble after suffering mercury poisoning from a social disease cure. Mother and son were never to meet again. Lily died of complications in 1900.

Now orphaned, the authorities sent the child to the "SunnySide" Orphanage, a state run facility for homeless and disenfranchised boys. It was not a happy time where beatings, kerosene baths, poor nutrition and 14 hour work days combined to make life intolerable and hopeless. It was under these conditions that a benefactor entered Squizzy's life, a certain Leonard "Toe Cutter" Thompson. Leonard, posing as a benevolent philanthropist, was on the look out for young, cheap and suitable workers to man his "operation".

It was during his employ with Toe Cutter that young Squizzy was taught the finer points of SP bookmaking, extortion, pickpocketing, blackmail, bribes, pimping and sly grog shops. In order to fulfill his duties, he became familiar with, and to depend upon, his weapon of choice. The cut throat razor. 

He blossomed as a petty criminal and flush with money and dames, he became a man of sartorial elegance. What one would call a flashy dresser. His nickname, Spiv, was bestowed upon him at this time. Life was good but becoming increasingly complicated. After political grumbling about rampant crime, the Police were no longer (officially) taking bribes and the politicians wanted action. The net was closing in on Toe Cutters operation. It was time to vamoose.

At the age of 21, Squizzy set sail for England to escape the heat. War was declared not long after his arrival. This presented the young gangster with excellent opportunities to scam the military and make some real money. To become a vital cog in the war effort. Supply and demand. To join up was for naive suckers. And so he began supplying dodgy low grade linen and cheap, untreated wood to the Aeroplane manufacturers. Always with a complicated method of delivery so as to make it almost impossible to track the origins should worst come to worst. Which it never did.

Mixing now with the upper class, Squizzy was living the high life. At one particular manufacturing convention a visiting aviator by the name of Ridley-Smythe suggested he learn to fly. Squizzy was interested but when told the cost of private tuition, immediately baulked. Despite his wealth, the poverty of his youth never left him.

And so, figuring the war couldn't last much longer and dissent becoming stronger to end it, Squizzy signed up with the RFC for free pilot training. And I get paid! Anyway, it'll all be over before I even get to the front, he thought.

And so, on the 11th November 1917, Squizzy was shipped to the front as a 2nd Lieutenant in No. 40 squadron, RFC.

And then the story really begins ....

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by catch

[RAF_Louvert 101]

It would appear that Chuffs and Spiv are cut from the same low grade linen they hawked to the War Department.  If they don't wind up running a fine little syndicate together whilst  in 40 Squadron I'll be more than surprised.  Supplying cases of plonk to the brass hats and passing it off as first rate wine, with first rate prices to match, seems something that would land directly in their collective wheelhouse, (I would have said "squarely" rather than "directly", but nothing about these two seems even remotely square).

[Rick Rawlings 136]

Jolly Good! Here is my pilot:

Tim Tully is a scrappy little lad who thinks he can run with the big boys! And maybe in aeroplanes, he can! After a stint as the runt of his infantry squad, he joined the RFC to see if the plane would be the great equalizer in his quest to serve his country. If that doesn't work, he is holding out for some sort of Super Soldier Serum injection... Being an avid if not too successful hunter, he decided to go with an equestrian theme for his personal scout, even if he is too puny for the cavalry. We expect great things from him! (Or at least approaching average...)

\

[HarryH 17]

Lofty! Welcome back :)

[HarryH 17]

On 5/5/2021 at 9:11 AM, Baldric said:

Right then, allo Chesty! 

 

Archibald Turner, 2nd Lt., 40 RFC- fresh out of flying school, a favourite target of Cpt. Trigger's swagger stick ("MY GAWD Man, your military left, not your bloody civilian left!"  THWAP)

Brief biography: Born 6 June 1897 in a small rural area called Birch Hills in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.  Father a blacksmith from Birmingham, ENG., mother an accomplished seamstress from Leicester, ENG.  Archi was educated in a one room school house, a favourite target of Matron Dilby's blackboard pointer stick.  Played hockey on ponds and lakes, picked to play for the Toronto Blueshirts of the NHA in 1916, and enlisted in the RFC late summer 1917... 

 

That's my birthday! Well, a few years later (only a few).

[Stache 10]

This time around I have chosen to honor a real WW1 Pilot.
Reed Gresham Landis
While his action with RFC 40 did not start until May of 1918, I think the scope of this challenge is close enough.

In Reed's short stint with RFC  40 he achieved 12 victories and became squadron commander before joining the US Air Corp in September 1918 as commander of the 25th Aero Squadron.
Unfortunately the 25th was not assigned enough aircraft, before hostilities ceased, to become truly operational.
The current U.S. Air Force 25th Space Ranger Squadron traces its linage back to Landis and the 25th Aero Squadron.
Reed was awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross and the USA Distinguished Service Cross
Reed went on to serve in WWII, achieving the rank of Colonel.

Here are few links with more information on  Colonel Landis
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/reed-gresham-landis-8995/
http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/landis.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_G._Landis
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40022467?seq=1
 

 

 

[Rick Rawlings 136]

Ooh, nicely done! These challenges are a pretty alternate reality anyway. If we've had aliens and monkeys, and a penguin and a knight in the ranks (and we have), I think we can bend the active flying time of as distinguished a fellow as Colonel Landis, even if his name does wander unintentionally towards an old SnL skit...

[HarryH 17]

Ah well, I choose to shun reality for this one....

Introducing 2nd Lt Monty Python. A young 6 foot-plus chap recently graduated from Oxford College who walks with a peculiar gait. Some might call it a 'silly walk'. Anyhow, young Monty is determined to beat Von Richthofen at his own game, and has formed his own one-man 'flying circus'. No doubt he will soon perish but we'll try to fit in a few mission reports with fairly obvious Monty Python sketch themes before his inevitable demise :)

 

 

 

[Rick Rawlings 136]

Man, love that paint job! I suppose our squadron mascot will be a former (but no longer) parrot?

 

[HarryH 17]

Thanks Rick. Don't you think the log book pic is uncannily reminiscent of John Cleese? As for the parrot, well he would be the mascot, if someone hadn't nailed him to his perch!!

[Rick Rawlings 136]

3 hours ago, HarryH said:

Thanks Rick. Don't you think the log book pic is uncannily reminiscent of John Cleese? As for the parrot, well he would be the mascot, if someone hadn't nailed him to his perch!!

Hmm. I'm not so sure. To me he has more of the look of a young Basil Fawlty, but what do I know?