RAF_Louvert

. I promise Gentlemen, once the cold grey days of winter settle in here again in the north country I will get back to Herr Blum's saga. .

. Widowmaker, your example illustrates perfectly my point. Lady Butler's painting beautifully captures the energy and the excitement of that charge of some three hundred men against several thousand of Napolean's troops. Even the clouds are supporting these brave riders, seeming to surge forward with them. It does not "look just like" the event it is attempting to capture, but it certainly evokes a fair amount of the emotion that must have existed in that moment. BTW, here is a slightly better image of the painting for you WM: .

. I agree with Dej and Flyby. Art is meant to evoke feelings and emotions a crystal clear photograph or technically perfect recreation of a scene cannot. IMHO, one of the worst things that can be said about a work of art as concerns it's subject is, "It looks just like it". .

. A PT-17 was the first plane I ever flew in, (at about age nine or so). It's ashame that one in the video had to come to such a fate, but it's good the pilot was OK. I will say however that it looks to me as if he simply climbed too quickly and began to stall, then affected a turn to starboard and dropped the nose to try to regain air speed and ran out of sky to do it in. .

. HEE HAW! Funny Dej. Creaghorn and Javito, no need to worry Gents. You did not miss anything, Paul is still very much alive and well. I simply took a break from his campaign and hopped back across the mud for a while. I will be returning to Blum's adventures in due time. Thanks for asking about the young hero of the Alsace. I do have to chuckle a bit though as it's been six months since I posted his last adventure and you are just now noticing. .

. Just so long as it stays silly Olham and doesn't devolve into some Gawd awful bovine war. Just imagine, the Guernseys and Jerseys lining up against the Holstein-Friesians on some French field, fighting to the death over pasture rights, (the Brown Swiss of course would remain neutral through the whole thing...typical). .

. Oh, and don't forget Cud Powell. .

. Yuppers, having worked on dairy farms as a kid I know for a fact that cows are big jazz fans. And their favorite jazz aritst? Mooie Armstrong of course. ...groan... .

. Good Morning All, After several posts back and forth in another thread it occured to me that it might be quite excellent if folks would share some of their own OFF-inspired poetry and prose with the community at large, as well as their personal favorite WWI pieces from authors of the day. I for one would love to read not only what inspires and moves others, but also what they have been inspired and moved to write themselves. We get a good taste of it in the form of short stories over in "Reports From the Front" and "Krauts vs Crumpets". However, prose and poetry is decidedly absent. So how about it? Why not consider posting your own works and/or your favorite works of poets from the Great War era. If you don't mind, I'd like to kick things off with the following piece I wrote in the style of the day. Ode To A Flying Fighter He was but a son of sixteen and one when he heard Lord Kitchener's call. To take up the fight, to do what was right, and to give it his all-and-all. His youth made him pure, and by that he was sure his cause was holy and just. So with ner' a thought, his service they bought, and bound him to Ahriman's trust. He battled at Mons, and at Ypers, and yon, faced death in a million grim ways. Saw brave comrades die in the blink of an eye, or in agony lasting for days. He was still young in age, but now old as a sage in his new understanding of War. The trench was a grave from which no one was saved, yet ev'n in damnation there's more. Looking up one dark day through the death and the grey he saw in God's war-torn sky, a visage above, like Hobbs' own sacred dove. Salvation fast climbing on high. And so he departed, a new path he started to find fairer fields for the killing. With Trenchard he signed, and with more of his kind, to become a War Bird he was willing. His training was brief, there was little relief, Death was busy with Hera's lot too. Of the score that arrived, but a dozen survived, to go back to destruction anew. None-the-less he had done it, his freedom, he'd won it, from killing and dieing in mud. He would now be aloft, in clouds pure and soft, that could never be stained with the blood. So he took to the air, to again do his share of the work that old Mars had in store. And with vigor imbue in the bright shining blue, a return to the killing once more. No longer he'd slog through the carrion bog, midst bayonet, rifle, and shell. He would now live and die in the limitless sky, for'er Between Heaven and Hell. Lou .

. Olham, many thanks for the translation of the Georg Trakl poem. It is very dark, and very sad...and very, very moving. Sometimes you must let the sadness of such experiences wash you clean before you can ever really move on from them. .

. As Widowmaker so poignantly noted, history is marked by such horrific actions and heroic events. I wish it could change in the future and we could offer our children and grand children a better world, but I fear it is this very dichotomy that makes us who were are as a species. God bless us, and God forgive us. And a belated "Happy Birthday" from me as well, Jarhead. .

. I just returned home and saw this thread Gents, and while I am tired and am heading up to bed I will briefly add my two pence to this fine discussion, (how could I refuse after VB mentioned my name). Now then, I have been under the assumption for a good many years that Ball was standing in front of one of the English-built Caudron G.3 E.2 single-seat trainers, (if memory serves, the Brits built just over 200 G.3's in various configurations). I go with the E.2 because the plane in the photo has the shorter top wing which the single-seaters sported to allow for a bit more nimbleness than the G.3 D.2 two-seater trainers had, (the Penguins had both top and bottom wings clipped on the French R.1 version, while the U.S. version simply removed large areas of the wing cloth, IIRC). However, there is yet another possible candidate and that is a Caudron Type F, which looked very similar. But as these had been relegated to trainer use by the French before the end of 1914, I doubt one would have popped up at an English flight school, and if it had I can't imagine it would still have been in use by the fall of 1915 when that picture was taken. Alright then, I'm off for a bit of kip. Later all. .

. Did a bit of research and found that the standard safety harness for the gunner in the FEE was nothing more than a leather waist strap with a small cable that clipped from the the strap to an eyebolt in the floor of the front office, (this rigging was lovingly referred to as the 'Donkey Strap'). The gunner would often unhook even this little bit of security in order to get a better shooting angle when the situation required it. It seems the stirrups I mentioned in the previous post may have been a field modification. .

. Yes, that is the trick of course: To maintain as much of your energy as you possibly can while attempting to get that firing solution on your target. I will often pull up and away from a lower enemy after a diving attack while I am still well above him, as it is much easier to drop back down again and repeat the attack when you still have the alt AND the energy. A dogfight honestly is a very subtle and delicate dance of death, and the ham-fisted pilot will nearly always die in such a dance. . Great video BTW Olham. Thanks for sharing. .

. Lederhosen, I really like your photos, and the documents as well. And the stories are a good read, but I am finding it a bit confusing, (and it's likely just me). You are mixing your own prose with excerpts from other resources, yes? It seems a bit tricky for the reader to know exactly which is which. Anyone else experiencing this or is it just me being thick? .

. Javito, your short story is very good Sir. Please keep writing and sharing. And Wayfarer, that poem of yours is on a whole nother level Sir. Really quite outstanding. .

. Actually, if memory serves, there were leather stirrups attached to both the seat base and the floor of the gunner's office in the FEE which the brave man could jamb each foot into when firing either the rear gun while standing up on the seat base, and do the same when standing on the floor and firing the forward gun. Still not much security, but at least it was something. . .

. Flyby, from my studies over the years, I would say the majority of soldiers in WWI had no desire to take to the air in what most considered death traps. Pilots and observers were seen as being crazy by most others of the day. The trenches were often wretched places to exist in but at least you were on the ground, and unless there was a push going on you were in relative 'safety'. Or at least when compared to the men in the air who could spend anywhere from 10 weeks to 6 months in training only to be killed within their first week at the front, (provided they had even survived the training). I think you might see it differently because you would have been one of the crazy ones...just like I would have been. .

. I can just see myself fumbling around trying to change out ammo drums now in the heat of battle. And if Olham is willing to become a DH-2 pilot, well then I say you must have a winner on your hands Pol. .

. Where's Major Hawker to brush those Hun's from your six when you need him!? Beautiful stuff there Pol, really stunning. Although, I have to wonder about that French farmer who has his field angling right into his neighbor's. Too much of the grape me thinks. .

. Greetings All, On Tuesday I was fortunate enough to purchase a very fine example of the Eiserner Halbmond, (i.e. Harp Madalyası, Turkish War Medal, Gallipoli Star, et al). This particular Star was made by the German firm B.B. & Co of Berlin and is a beautiful enamelled version of the type often seen on the tunics of German officer pilots who served with Turkish forces during the Great War. To find an affordable example of the TWM has been a long and enjoyable quest for me, and now I only need wait a few more days for this one to arrive from England. It is accompanied by a ribbon that was found with the medal in amongst a collection of Turkish items discovered during an estate clearance. Here is a small photo of the medal and ribbon, and I will post a few HQ images once I have the items here: I have a question posted at the Imperial Militaria Forum over at the Wehrmacht Awards website concerning the ribbon as I have never seen one for the TWM with the thin white band along each edge as shown above. I am unsure as to whether or not this is the true mate to this medal, but either way it is a wonderful find. Me so happy! Cheers! Lou .

. My latest little gem arrived yesterday from England and it is a very clean, crisp original with a beautiful patina. My cheapy digital camera really does not do this Star justice. It is an extremely fine German-made example of this WWI Turkish combat medal. Me so happy! .

. Yes Shiloh, that is a good little video, despite the inaccuracies as you say. I remember seeing this one quite some time back, but well worth watching it again. Thanks for sharing Sir. .

. Very cool, and amazing detail in some of those. Foreigndevil, please post a pic or two of your finished project. I for one would love to see it. .

. Just as a point of interest, back in the day those clipped wing trainers were lovingly referred to as 'Penguins' by students and instructors alike. .