JFM

Ball was not an ace when that photo was taken. He was standing in front of a trainer, described in his biography Albert Ball VC (Colin Pengelly) as a "derivative of the Caudron G.3," taken circa August 1915. This photo was used by Ball for the identity photograph on his R.Ae.C Certificate. The photo in that book is darker than those posted above and the struts appear thicker in the middle than at the ends. In the book French Aircraft of the First World War (James Davilla, Arthur Soltan) the UK purchased a single G.2. It was used by the RNAS as a trainer. G.3s were purchased and used in greater numbers--139 is given, but it's unclear if this is all they bought or just what the RNAS had--and employed several engine variations. At the Ruffy-Baumannn School, where Ball conducted his initial training, they are said to have used "50 hp or 60 hp (both rotary and radial) engines." Regarding the wings, there was a G.3 R1 variation, which was a reduced wing span "penguin" used to teach students how to taxi.

I'll be there in two weeks, I'll keep an eye open. ;)

Foreground: Albatros J.I Middle: Halberstadt CL IIs Background: Looks like perhaps Hannovers with those squared vert stab tops, but too distant for me to see clearly.

Yes, you guys are right, they are skinny! Olham, that's a DH1. Here's the DH1A, the plane he painted, in fact:

Yes, now that you mention it, the booms do look a tad thin. Hasse, book is slated for publication "sometime" in 2012. I believe in spring; will keep you posted.

Just for FYI, that's a DH.1A. You can tell by the large radiator behind the pilot. DH.1 had a 70hp Renault engine and the DH.1A had a 120hp Beardmore. DH.1As served with No.14 Squadron in Egypt and Palestine. And, yes, nice painting! And, something I learned when researching my new book, "Airco" wasn't used officially as a prefix until October 1918. Prior to that, Aircraft Manufacturing Company planes used the prefix "AMC." I'm too young to have interviewed WW1 pilots but Barry Gray did and informed me that none of the DH2 pilots he interviewed ever referred to it as "Airco," only AMC or "deHavilland." Combat reports reflect this as well. A little Cliff Clavin minutia for you.

"A bit chilly" in Naples, Florida.

There are vehicles that still use keys for entry? How old is this thing? Oh, wait, I saw, nine years. I had a Ford van that had 200,000 miles on it when I finally got rid of it. Ran great, and I did nothing to upkeep it. Once I let the oil get so low that only the ticking cylinders alerted me to the situation. Had no money on me and was sixty miles from home and so I just headed that way and hoped I'd make it. I did. When I got home I checked the dipstick--not a drop on it. I had to put over four quarts in it. Transmission leaked fluid; when it'd slip I'd just pour a quart in and it'd be fine. The thing ran like that for years and years. Just imagine if I took care of it!

Yes, the Japanese even used submarine-based E14Y "Glen" planes to bomb Oregon.

I have zero--ZERO--faith that any of those movies you guys wish to be made would be worth a damn. "Less Hollywood, more facts." Nope, not gonna happen. That's asking Hollywood to be less of itself. But, as far as a wish list, I guess that'd be at the top, eh? I've not seen every war movie because I have little interest in any movies, but the only one I've seen that has been halfway decent was Tora Tora Tora.

Personally, I *hate* Waldo Pepper. Hate it. How much more hate could there be? None more hate. From my experience it's just done too much to over-romanticize white silk scarves and chivalry. If it were kept in its fictional movie context, okay, but it has spilled over into "the way it was in WW1" and that's where my irritation lies. I've been fighting it for years. However, I agree, a point in its favor is at least it used real airplanes. CGI planes have too fast airspeeds, the attacking formations are tighter than the Blue Angels, have Albatros D.IIIs on prolonged vertical power dives, the planes handle like Sean Tucker in his Oracle Challenger III, yadda.

Yes, Manfred's were removed. You can see where the headrest used to be on the DV he flew when wounded 6 July 1917. As far as that movie, the first trailer I ever saw showed MvR as a young boy on a horse, watching an airplane go over and outstretching his arms in imitation. The obvious subtext was he had longed for flight since youth. That right there showed me the movie wasn't going to be anything historically accurate--from what I've read about it over the years, I was right--and any interest I had was lost. Not seen it, no interest to see it.

Whatever they call it, please, with sugar on top, don't use the word "Knights" anywhere.

Great Jasta 5 painting, indeed! Which airfield? It's not Boistrancourt; no tent hangars at Boistrancourt and the chateau looked different and wasn't oriented that way with the airfield. It's not Liéramont; too many trees in the painting and Liéramont photos show it very agoric. Maybe it's supposed to be Cappy, but the chateau looks different, I don't believe there were two, and there wasn't a large hill around like that in the background (Cappy had somewhat sloping fields adjacent to the Somme River valley). Also, if at Cappy, none of the planes in the painting have the Balkenkreuze, although it doesn't depict any planes photographed at Cappy, save for the b&w candycane Alb which was Rumey's plane from March 1918 (Rumey's was a D.V and the painting appears to be a D.Va). Still, photos of Rumey's striped plane at Cappy show it had the Balkenkreuze... Jasta 5 was at Cappy until May 1918 so anyplace after that would have had leaves on the trees. Thus, appears to be a fictional aerodrome, but still a great painting nonetheless. I like the reflections on the stabilizers.

D.I was significantly more relevant than that glorified glider the Fokker E.V/D.VIII (Jasta 6 E.Vs had 30 emergency landings in ten days due to engine failures), was in service longer, and shot down a lot more than just one plane! On that criteria the inclusion of the Alb D.I is incontestable. However, OFF dev time and resources are a whole other matter, I understand. Here, Hasse, for you:

Eh, Lou, I know a little about a little. And even within my narrow focus the learning never stops! Hey, did you say D.I? I think you did... Just think, with an Alb DI, OFF would be the only flight sim to feature every Albatros D-type: D.I, II, III, III(OAW), V, Va, Va(OAW). There is a D.Va (OAW) in OFF, isn't there? Can't remember offhand without checking. No matter! If not you'll be one variant closer to having them all! You're getting very sleepy, Pol, veeerrrry sleeepyyy... Sleepy, veeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyy sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy................

The sun was up at 0430? Interesting the differences caused by our tilted axis.

Yes, Olham, the Jagdstaffeln didn't start appearing until August 1916. The Fliegertruppe was restructuring (became the Luftstreitkräfte in October) and single-seat scouts were grouped together to 1. shoot down enemy recon/arty/bomber planes and 2. prevent the enemy from doing the same. Right at this time the Albatros D.I and D.IIs appeared and the combination begat the turning of air superiority from British to German hands, which the Germans held at least through mid 1917.

Hey, Olham! As far as I know Jasta 11 was not an Albatros Staffel prior to the D.III. They were outfitted with Halberstadt Ds. Mostly and overwhelmingly the Halberstadt D.V, but a few Halb DIIs and one Halb D III. I see J11 had a single Albatros DI and a single Albatros DII in October 1916 but that December they had been sent to Jasta 10. Prior to the Albatros, Jasta 2 used nothing. Well, they did have a small, rag-tag collection of machines. J2 didn't form until August 1916 and at first they were a Staffel without airplanes! The unit slowly acquired pilots but not planes; by mid-September they still only had four machines for the entire Staffel! One Fokker D.I, one Fokker D.III (given to Boelcke to use), one "refurbished" Halberstadt D-type, and one Albatros D.I that had come over from Jasta 1. That's it. Their complement of Albatros D.Is (and Boelcke's D.II) didn't arrive until 16 September, after which the Staffel was outfitted with Albs, although I know the two Fokkers lingered.

To be even more accurate, Gents, MvR *DID* have a confirmed victory when flying a Halberstadt D-type. Unknown if a Halb DII, though. Ferko's J11 roster shows J11 was outfitted mostly with Halberstadt D.Vs, but there was also a Halb D.II and Halb D.III hanging around. 19th Victory. February 1st, 1917 BE Two-Seater. 4 p.m. Over trenches 1 kilometer south-west of Thelus. Occupants: Lieut.Murray - Lieut.McBar, both wounded and died on February 2nd. Plane No.6742. -------------- About 4 p.m. I spotted, flying with Lieut.Allmenroeder, in 1800 meters height an artillery flyer. (BE two-seater). I managed to approach him within 50 yards apparently unnoticed, with my Halberstaedter machine. From this distance up to only the length of a plane I fired 150 shots. The enemy plane then went down in large, uncontrolled right hand curves, pursued by Allmenroeder and myself. The plane crashed into the barbed wire of our first lines. The occupants were both wounded and were made prisoners by the infantry. It is impossible to remove the plane. (Sig.) Frhr. v. Richthofen. Was acknowledged. He was flying a Halberstadt because one of his Albatros D.III's lower wings cracked 24 January and was getting repaired. Then the Alb Ds were grounded from 27 January until 19 February. In that period MvR scored on 1 February and twice on 14 February. Thus, although I overlooked the simple math when I wrote my MvR book, he must've shot down all those planes while flying a Halberstadt because all the Albs were grounded, getting their wings repaired. It is possible the grounding applied only to unrepaired machines; i.e., if repaired they could be flown while others were grounded. I have not seen official documentation of this, however, and neither have I seen documentatin regarding just when MvR's Albatros was repaired. So, MvR had at least one and very possibly 3 credited victories while flying a Halberstadt D-type, most likely (but not absolutely) a Halb D.V. Also, that the Halberstadt he flew temporarily was red is pure conjecture. Regarding Jasta 2, they weren't outfitted with Halberstadts. They had a single "refurbished" Halberstadt D-type when MvR joined but that's it. From his writings I believe he flew it in combat prior to 17 September 1916 (date of his first victory) but did not have any success with it. His first credited victory as a single-seat fighter pilot came while flying an Albatros D.I. Speaking of the Alb D.I, behold, OFF Devs! You're getting sleeeeppppyyyy, veeeeerrryyyy sleeeeepppppyyyy...

I admit that at first I was irritated because all those photos can be seen in books or online in the Fokker films or in publically accesible archives and it seemed as if she was trying to pass them off as if they've not been seen until scanned from some private family album. Reminded me of the bogus "new Pearl Harbor photos found in old camera" that were actually photos in publication for decades. However, going back through them, now it seems that she is just an excited enthusiast. Yes, Roucourt. I've already proven that location ten ways to sunday! Unbeknownst to me at the time, Lance Bronnenkant had also done so in his excellent Imperial German Eagles in World War I. Had I read his book prior to my various debates I would have just saved a lot of time and quoted from it! That Red Richthofen girl posted one of the damning photographic proofs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58692169@N02/5401350841/in/photostream That shot shows the coal mine building at far left and the Roucourt church at right. Shows the hedge, trees and road, all of which is visible in photos taken from the other side of the field. Also shows Otto Brauneck, between LvR and Schaefer, and he didn't arrive at Jasta 11 until 20 April (IIRC); Jasta 11 moved to Roucourt a week before then. I plan on visiting Roucourt again this autumn and will try to line up the exact location of where this photo was taken, as closely as I can. BTW, I know "GAS" as "Gear Acquisition Syndrome," when musicians experience an overwhelming urge to buy new/more gear.

Have you never noticed them at all, or just with the Nieuport? Look at them with the DH2, they go flying right back into the prop. Need to have a bag on that Lewis!

Hey, Duke, That's an Albatros D.V. You can tell by the 1. rounded fuselage side near the cockpit 2. weights table 3. aileron cables rising vertically in front of the cockpit. The weights table is a three line version and from my observation the weight reflects use of the 180/200hp Mercedes D.IIIa engine, which had different pistons, different engine block, and a new carburetor. Earlier D.Vs with the Mercedes D.III engine weighed 620 kg empty. Yes, that's most likely a red nose, a standard Jasta 11 marking on their DVs from mid-1917 on. The front of the DV/DVa cockpit is a bit higher than the rear, as compared to the D.I, D.II, D.III and D.III (OAW). Although, I think the great height of the front coaming is also exaggerated by the low sides of the D.V/D.Va cockpit. Alb DVa Alb DIII

The object in question is the magneto switch key on a chain. When the airplane is unattended the key is removed from the socket to prevent accidental engine start. In this case it is hanging outside the cockpit.

Sweet!