RAF_Louvert

. Merci pour le médaille. And a citizen of France to boot! I shall treasure both. Vive la France! .

. I knew I had the pic somewhere showing a replica of MvR's funeral pillow honours display, and here it is: I believe this display is, or was, at the Burbank Aviation Museum in California. The card in the corner notes that this collection of original orders and medals was badly damaged in a fire in 1978, and then restored back to usable display condition after that incident. Noticeably absent is the Orden Pour l'Merite, but that may be somewhere higher up in the case and out of the camera shot. Also of interest is the Order of the Red Eagle, (Roter Adlerorden), at the middle top of the pillow. I seem to recall that this was the only honour given to MvR that he never got to wear, as he was killed before he was officially presented it. .

. Oh, I'm going at least a five spot on that relic, so you best be ready for a bidding war Rickitycrate. .

Well, I did some checking, and as I suspected not all medals and honours of the German, Prussian, and Turkish empires were displayed on the medal bar. Neal O’Conner’s article, “Orders, decorations and medals awarded to leading German airmen”, (found in Cross and Cockade, Volume 11, #3, 1970), notes that Richthofen ‘s funeral cushion had the following decorations: (worn separately on the uniform) Orden Pour le Merit - Prussia Order of the Red Eagle, 3d class, w/Crown & Swords - Prussia Iron Cross, 1st Class - Prussia War Merit Cross, 1st Class – Lippe Order of Bravery, 4th Class – Bulgaria Imtjaz Medal, w/Swords – Turkey Liskat Medal, w/Swords – Turkey War Medal (aka Iron Crescent/Gallipoli Star) – Turkey Pilot’s Badge – Prussia Pilot’s Badge – Austria-Hungary (worn together on the order bar on the uniform) Iron Cross, 2nd Class – Prussia Order of the House of Hohenzollern, Knight’s Cross w/Swords – Prussia Military Order of St Henry, Knight’s Cross – Saxony Order of the house of Ernestine, Knight’s Cross, 1st Class w/Swords – Saxony Order of Military Merit, 3d Class, w/Crown & Swords – Bavaria Order of Military Merit, Knight’s Cross - Wurttemburg Duke Carl Edward Medal, w/Swords on Band – Sax-Coburg-Gotha General Honor Medal for Bravery – Hessen Cross for Faithful Service – Schaumburg-Lippe War Merit Cross, 2nd Class – Brunswick Wound Badge - Prussia Hanseatic Cross - Lubeck Hanseatic Cross - Bremen Hanseatic Cross - Hamburg Order of the Iron Crown, Knight’s Cross, w/War Decoration – Austria Hungary As you can see MvR pretty much had them all. Cheers! Lou

. Ah yes, I've had problems with the juxtaposition myself. That one and the lotus position. hee hee hee .

Check Six, if you are referring to the separate links for each Google page yes, Dej pointed out that those won't do it for you folks across the pond and/or round the world. That's why I put together this zip file download for you: WWI Books Download Let me know if this does the trick. Also, yes I do remember that thread, and I was very impressed with all the neat flying rooms and libraries so many have out there. It's great to see. Cheers! Lou

. BTW, I will also mention that these books are in the public domain, so they are free and legal to download and print out if you so wish. And, I just checked the download myself and it worked find. Enjoy! .

. Oh yeah CheckSix, I'm ordering two of those babies. One for myself and one for the Red Baron Museum in Marshall, Minnesota. .

Here you go folks. Let me know if the download and zip file works for you all. WWI Books Download This download contains the following titles: Biogrophies, Diaries, Personal Writings “A Flying Fighter”, by E.M. Roberts, c.1918 ”A Happy Warrior”, the letters of William M. Russel, c.1918 ”Above the Battle”, by Vivian Drake, c.1918 “Air Men O'War”, by Boyd Cable, c.1918 ”An Aviator’s Field Book”, the field notes of Oswald Bolcke, English Edition c.1917 ”Cavalry of the Clouds”, by Alan Bott, c.1918 ”En l'air!”, by Bert Hall, c.1918 ”Fighting the Flying Circus”, by Eddie Rickenbacker, c.1919 ”Flying For France”, by James R. McConnell, c.1917 ”Go Get 'Em!”, by William Wellman, c.1918 ”Green Balls: The Adventures Of a Night-Bomber”, by Paul Bewsher, c.1919 ”High Adventure”, by James Norman Hall, c.1918 ”Night Bombing With the Bedouins”, by Robert H. Reece, c.1919 ”The Flying Poilu”, by Marcel Nadaud, c.1918 “The Red Battle Flyer”, by Manfred von Richthofen, English Edition c.1918 ”The Way of the Eagle”, by Charles J. Biddle, c.1919 ”Winged Warfare”, by William A. Bishop, c.1918 References: “Aircraft Mechanics Handbook”, c.1918 ”Heroes Of Aviation”, by Laurence La Tourette Driggs, c.1918 ”How To Fly”, by A. Frederick Collins, c.1918 “Learning To Fly in the U.S. Army”, by E.N. Fales, c.1917 “Practical Flying”, by W.G. McMinnies, c.1918 “The Aero Manual”, c.1909 “The German Air Force in the Great War”, by Georg Paul Neumann, c.1920 ”The Romance Of Aircraft”, by Laurence Smith, c.1919 Cheers! Lou

. CJ, if I'm not mistaken the OPl'M was displayed separately. I think they normally are, at least from what few German medal displays I've seen. Cheers! Lou

. Rickitycrate, nice screenies, and it looks like you're getting set mentally for the weekend. You, Ras, and the rest of us who call the land of 10,000 taxes home are in for some of that white stuff on Saturday, at least according the the W-Man. Cheers! Lou

. Not to worry Dej. In about 10 minutes I will have a zip download for you and everyone else who would like these books, and a few others to boot. .

. As noted in the eBay listing, these original medals were collected together over the course of many years, so they no doubt came from many different estates and individuals. It is unfortunately not uncommon to come across an original WWI-issued medal or honour with little or no history attached as to who it belonged to. While this is less so with the British awards as they were more often than not inscribed on the edge with the name of the recipient, it still happens far too often, IMHO. .

Currently on eBay there is a full set of original WWI medals that have been collected as a duplicate of Baron von Richtofen's funeral cushion medal bar. While it is exorbitantly expensive, it is still worth a look. MvR Medals Display Now, since most of us will never have the ready cash for such an investment, I've assembled the high quality pics posted of this great item and placed them into a display case so folks can at least have it as a screensaver. The medals are, from left to right: 1. Iron Cross 2nd class Prussia 2. Order of the House of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords Prussia 3. Military Order of Saint Henery, Knight's Cross Saxony 4. Order of the House of Ernestine, Knight's Cross 1st Class with Swords Saxon Duchies 5. Order of Military Merit 3rd Class with Crown and Swords Bavaria 6. Order of Military Merit Knight's Cross Wurttemberg 7. Duke Carl Edward Medal with Swords Sax-Coburg-Gotha 8. General Honor Medal for Bravery Hessen 9. Cross for Faithful Service Schaumburg-Lippe 10. War Merit Cross 2nd Class Brunswick 11. Hanseatic Cross Lubeck 12. Hanseatic Cross Bremen 13. Hanseatic Cross Hamburg 14. Order of the Iron Crown 3rd Class with War Decoration Austria-Hungary 15. War Merit Cross 3rd Class with War Decoration Austria-Hungary Cheers! Lou

. You're in for some excitement now Stiffy! .

. I use Paint.NET myself for all my OFF painting and general graphics work. It's free and has all the features you will need and then some. Give it a go if you don't currently have an image editor that allows you to work in layers. Cheers! Lou

Dutch, if you're having trouble with your browser pulling up the links, go to Google Book Search and type in the title of the book, go to advanced options and check "full text only" and hit search. You should be able to get to all of these that way. Thanks BTW, about my little library, and "no" I do not have the Bodenschatz Diaries...yet. But I will have very soon. Bullethead, TKS for posting the link to the USAF Research Library. I have used that resource many times over the years. Cheers! Lou

. Yuppers, I love the books too Rickitycrate, which is why the long wall in the dining room looks pretty much like this from floor to ceiling: But I do read the online versions when I'm on the road via my laptop. Cheers! Lou

Greetings All, With winter fast approaching I thought it might be nice to start a post where we can list any WWI aviation full-text books we might know of that are available online. Here is a list of a few that can be downloaded for free, just to get you all started: "Flying For France", by James R. McConnell "Fighting the Flying Circus", by Eddie Rickenbacker "Winged Warfare", by William A. Bishop "Above the Battle", by Vivian Drake "En l'air!", by Bert Hall "The Way of the Eagle", by Charles J. Biddle "Night Bombing With the Bedouins", by Robert H. Reece "Green Balls: The Adventures Of a Night-Bomber", by Paul Bewsher "High Adventure", by James Norman Hall "The Flying Poilu", by Marcel Nadaud "Go Get 'Em!", by William Wellman "A Flying Fighter", by E.M. Roberts "A Happy Warrior", The Letters of William M. Russel "Cavalry of the Clouds", by Alan Bott "Air Men O'War", by Boyd Cable "Heroes Of Aviation", by Laurence La Tourette Driggs "How To Fly", by A. Frederick Collins "The Romance Of Aircraft", by Laurence Yard Smith I encourage any and all to share other such links that they may know of so that we can all have some good reading to look forward to. In particular I would really like to see some from the German perspective. I have only a few such books on my shelves here at home and can find about zero in full-text offerings on line. Cheers! Lou

Congrats to you BH on scoring a copy of this outstanding book. It is on my own list of volumes to have one day. I keep watching for a first edition that won't cost me an arm and a leg, but so far the best price I've run across was $75. That's just a little more do-re-me than I'm wanting to part with at the moment. But hey, Christmas is coming, and Santa knows what I like pretty well by now. Cheers! Lou

. Yes, it certainly does Olham. More slang for you Sir. .

Here's about as close as I can get with an OFF Camel, landing it dead stick with full left rudder. Camel Landing I'm sure as hellfire no Udet. That man could fly. Cheers! Lou

And here are a few more I couldn't fit in the first post: http://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escadrille/escadrille003.htm http://www.historicaircraft.org/WW1-Gallery/index_3.html http://thevintageaviator.co.nz/ http://www.pilotfriend.com/aero_engines/aero_rotary.htm http://www.wwiaviation.com/toc.html http://www.casey.tgis.co.uk/web/dfc/wayphotos.htm http://www.minnesooota.com/main_AeroSquadron.asp http://www.ottocubano.com/MUSEO%20VIGNA%20DI%20VALLE%202.htm http://membres.lycos.fr/wings2/3vues/3vues.html http://blog.nasm.si.edu/category/archives/ http://www.ah1a.galleon.com.ar/ http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/artifacts/aircraft/by_period/ http://www.wereldoorlog1418.nl/index.html http://www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/wiki/index.php/Afbeelding:Fokker_D.V_met_Paul_B%C3%A4umer_en_Paul_von_Hippel_op_het_Jasta_5_vliegveld_in_Boistrancourt.jpg .

As promised, here is the list of websites and pages I refered to during the recent "What's My Plane?" contest. They are in no paritcular order, so consider it a journey of discovery. Enjoy. Cheers! Lou http://www.ww2aircra...php?photo=15938 http://www.aviafrance.com/10037.htm http://www.scribd.com/doc/7158602/03 http://pagesperso-or...t/L.Breguet.htm http://www.sciencean...?image=10285165 http://fluid.power.n...t/const003.html http://www.jasta11.co.uk/ http://books.google....%201915&f=false http://bayourenaissa...stop-trans.html http://www.collector...pel_english.htm http://www.aeroconservancy.com/ http://www.ctie.mona.../denny_ww1.html http://www.aviastar.org/index2.html http://memorial.flig...spadcockuk.html# http://www.memaerobi...ntselection.asp http://books.google....ssigbrod&f=true http://latvianaviation.com/LVG.html http://williamwhitso...tle-planes.html http://gwydir.demon....s/diary1918.htm http://www.enginehis...et/leborget.htm http://www.airliners.../photo/1485712/ http://en.wikipedia....y_Ilya_Muromets http://www.wwi-model.../S16/index.html http://www.wwi-model...ie11/index.html http://www.wwi-model...PAD7/index.html http://www.flickr.co...@N08/2498551503 http://uh.edu/engines/epi2184.htm http://ark.com/~mdf/Nieuport_id.html http://www.3squadron.org.au/index.htm http://www.flightglo...20-%200337.html http://www.flightglo...20-%200787.html http://www.flightglo...20-%200021.html http://www.theaerodrome.com/ http://www.nvva.nl/r...aeronautics.htm http://webpages.char...tten_fokker.htm http://www.awm.gov.a...raft-1914-1918/ http://commons.wikim..._War_I_aircraft http://www.bundesarc...dex=0&id=0&nr=2# http://www.aht.ndire.../r33/index.html http://estrid.de/luf...pelin-index.htm http://www.zeppelin-...irships&id=l-30 http://www.ctie.mona...ve/sopwith.html http://translate.goo...l%3Den%26sa%3DG http://www.flieger-album.de/ http://www.geocities.../Richthofen.htm http://www.webshots....query=Airco+DH2 http://pw20c.mcmaste...ion-world-war-i http://www.vlib.us/w...050203/key.html http://www.stardusts...ying_Circus.htm .

. Not as long as it's mica axle grease, Al. Cheers! Lou .