Dej

Oh, we're all lumberjacks here, Lou

I'll have a punt then that the pilot is Sottotenente Michele Allasia, who was wounded in May 1917 and thus, if it is indeed he, would account for his machine being available to Ernesto Cabruna in early July... Allasia being obviously fit again be 13th July.

As I said earlier, I adhere to the thought that most folks are pretty decent. So, if the VC story was a fabrication, maybe it was initially not intended to go so far. I bet there's nary a one of us hasn't got got caught up in a little lie gone too far. It happened, many times I'd hazard. As a lauded hero what would it have profitted anyone for Bishop to have said 'Actually guys, I was having you on. Sorry'? For example (waving my limited knowledge like a red rag) I don't believe Roy Brown ever actually denied shooting down MvR, did he? He just kept his mouth shut.

It's a Maachi built Nieuport 11, N.2123 of the 80a Squadriglia, Italian Air Service circa maybe May 1917. Evidently based on the Italian version of ‘Happy Hooligan’ the character was called ‘Fortunello.’ Very reminiscent of the more modern ‘Homer Simpson’ character. Ni 2123 became the personal mount of Sgt. Alvaro Leonardi, who survived the war with a score of 8 confirmed victories. [EDIT]Typos[/EDIT]

E.III. Flew it in P2 and had a great career until archie round an Allied balloon ended it. Leapt onto it in P3 and couldn't outfly anything other than a BE2 and even then it took me ages to bring one down. Don't know whether it was the FM or the PM (i.e. me) that had changed but I found it extremely frustrating.

I'm not so sure. Many, if not most, might elaborate in order to avoid the embarassment of a failure or a mistake. But to bend the truth in order to aggrandise oneself, in time of war, through acts of bravery one did not commit when unsung heroes are doing it in truth takes a special kind of self-centeredness and a casual disregard for one's fellows and for morals in general. I adhere to the belief that most folks are rather more decent.

Given such irrefutable provenance though, does lead one to wonder, why that particular Pup should be the generic skin for No. 46?

Bugger! Another book to get. Cheers Ted.

According to 'The Aerodrome', the OFF Sopwith Pup of No. 46 Sqn. bearing the serial number A'7333 was flown by Lt. S W Williams. I'm happy to believe the serial and pilot but I don't know the provenance of 'Ad Astra' on it. You'd 'ave to ask the devs who it was what done da Sopwif Pup skins, innit. The only named Pup I'm aware of ASGL flying was 'Chin Chow'

I know it's not quite the done thing to post other websites here, but I beg leave of exception to post this for those who might miss the input of greats like Alex Revell, who are now personae non gratae at the above mentioned... There's a new WW1 aviation forum: The Great War in the Air Forum.

Sorry Olham, my bad, forgot the '7' in 'A7V'. That's the German Sturmpanzerwagen. I too have seen the British landships in action on the Front, but never the German ones.

You can't drive one though, Olham. Which is what I meant. I've not seen the AV in action in OFF, yet, either.

Allan Forbes is a very good artist in my opinion, especially as he's not long been at it. Being a photographer by trade he has an excellent eye for composition. I liked the attached of his so much that I commissioned a print of it from him. Again, being a photographer, he has very good printing facilities. Heavy duty paper, fantastic colour... £35 incl. postage. Worth every penny. Plus, he's a damned nice chap. BTW, the trench layout in the painting is as accurate as Al's study of trench maps for the area could make it.

Shall we have that in P4 then Ted? I've outgrown the bicycle and the Model T I'm afraid.

Alas, whilst Mr. Abbott's material collection may go to a good home, the unique assimilation thereof has gone with him, to the great loss of the WW1 aviation community. I never had occasion to exchange information with him personally, but read with interest everything he posted at the Aerodrome. The sad deaths of these exemplars of Great War aviation historical research should inspire us all to greater study. RIP Sir.

Dream of, or play it out in QC, taking whichever side you want against an ace on the other.. As I say, Olham. I've only essayed the match in QC. Well aware that they wouldn't have met in real life and I confess I didn't really enjoy the anachronism of the confrontation. But, like Hellshade (I think) I've tried the Tripe against every contemporary and later opposing aircraft, simply because I love the kite... and she holds her own... as far as OFF FMs go anyway. As for the Dr.1... a few rounds in the wings early on and she is far, far less manoeverable. Whether that's the FM or the AI I can't say, nor would I claim that the real aircraft would perform so, but it works in OFF.

Very interesting. 1916 - 1924 in particular. Downloading Silverlight is a matter of moments... and you can always uninstall it afterwards if you'd rather not have any more Microsh*te on your box.

Not to pour any fuel upon the fire (not that there's any flaming here), but it's interesting that Lee repeats the story of the red triplane of 6th September 1917 in 'Open Cockpit', published a year later than 'No Parachute'. Interesting because it's part of a much longer passage - written in hindsight this time I feel - reflecting on Jasta 11, JG1, and MvR's prowess as a pilot and his influence on the RFC. In the passage Lee speaks much of Jasta 11's signature red markings and it is my conjecture that his memory simply played him false. He knew J11 had red markings, he 'knew' that MvR was at the time flying a Triplane, therefore he perceived the Triplane he fought on 6th September - amidst eight D.V's possibly from J11 - as 'red'. Now, whether it were possible for Lee to have encountered a Triplane at all on that date is another question, but I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt on that bit, i.e. I believe he did fight a Triplane. On British_eh's note, it would be interesting also, to have OFF pilots give their experience of a Tripe vs. Tripehound combat. As far as I know it never actually happened and I've not created the situation more than a few times in QC (I tend to avoid anachronism), but on every occasion I could down a Dr.1 with the Sopwith.

1) It's either 'to' or a shorthand for something else. Looking at it more closely, it's a similar symbol to the pharmaceutical shorthand for 'without' which would make more sense, so the line should maybe read: 'Landed without a lost D. H. 4' 2) Yes. Seems to be an Americanism, I've noticed Lou using 'jambed' instead of 'jammed' 3) Can't interpret the word any other way. Lord only knows what it means! 4) Definitely 'pitot'. There's a gap between the crossings of the two 'T's so it's not a sweeping line from the last letter. I'd guess he either had his pitot tube shot off or it was 'shot' i.e. non-functional.

Well, if Jim's going to Pearl Harbour, I shall, if he doesn't mind, temporarily borrow his hobby-horse and go to Morlancourt Ridge, 21st April 1918 and see if I can't establish, beyond all doubt... who shot down MvR.

The remarks read, from top to bottom: Landed to a lost D. H. 4. Forced landings by 13 machines Photos. Camera jambed. Engine test. Crashed u(nder)-carriage Photos. R. E. 8 escort. V(ery). Cloudy. Aerial Combat: 10 Camels. Travelling flight. Tour of Area. Patrol. Low reconnaissance. Shot down. Frackelton pilot. Engine test. Patrol. Comic photos. Patrol. Pitot shot. Photos. Shot Hun down. - Lt. Hett pilot. Engine and rigging test. Patrol. Many E. A.

That would do it for me, WM. Unfortunately the H-word has been overtraded... we need to find a new one for blokes like Upham.

I've been doing some number crunching of data over at The Aerodrome, looking at the attrition rate of aces throughout the war and what the loss of an ace meant in terms of their experience... expressed as the number of victories thay had achieved before their demise. I came up with the attached bubble chart which may be of interest. It's slightly distorted as I've had to scale the bubbles to 50% to avoid complete overlap, which knocks out the year/month alignment slightly. What surprised me was that I'd always 'felt' that Entente superiority in 1918 resulted in German aces suddenly falling like ninepins, but if you look at the 3 month moving average lines, the German 'aces attrition rate' was much more steady that that of Britain, who really got hit hard in the same period. It also shows a trend for a higher average in the number of victories per German ace vs. a plethora of Brits who only just make the grade, so to speak.

You are correct, Monsieur. I too noticed (only this morning) that the US series was a few months short. I have revised the graph and replaced the original. I appreciate your attention to detail.

Now that's a sensible suggestion. I'm happy to play the Bristol Scout as she is and would hope the BE gets Pol's attention sooner..