NS13Jarhead

I'm just distubed by the concept of two counter-rotating engines INSIDE the fuselage!

Sometimes it's strange what works and what doesn't. I remember seeing an attempt to hide incoming aircraft by putting lights on the leading edge of the wings. Early attempts at camouflage were a somewhat hit or miss affair and as noted often resulted in what we would call odd coloring. It's not limited to aircraft, either. Here's a shot of a camo paint job on a pre war armored car.

My favorite bit of new information was that they hid valuables (money, maps, etc.) in cigar tubes that they would insert in their ..... well, nevermind. Curiously enough, the cigar brand was "Upman"

Well, since he runs this place, I bet "Wild Bill Kelso" aka, Fates could help you out.

Nbryant, You should be getting "Honored Veteran" status. That is unless you like being a zoomie.

Lou, Great find. It almost looks like they took it and turned it into a WWI version of a double-breasted "Eisenhower Jacket". Interesting how the herringbone detail on the top two chevrons differs from the bottom one. I guess they just added stripes as they got promoted. Now, we replace the entire insignia with the next rank up (or down).

Trying to get the modified signature done. I just have to upload it somewhere and link to it. I'm just a little slow sometimes.

No, no, no, I'm not demeaning the BOC (or BOC S/Fou) badges. OK, I keep forgetting that not everyone has memorized "Classic American Cinema" like I have. I was referring to this timeless scene from Blazing Saddles or the original verion from Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Badges, we don need no stinkin badges!

Can't say that I'm surprised. LIke I mentioned when this first came out: "Where are the machine guns? Why bother flying if you can't shoot someting down?"

Yay! Back in my Commodore Amiga days (1985-94), Cinemaware was one of my primary game providers: Defender of the Crown, The Three Stooges (sorry), and of course, my introduction to WWI flight - Wings! Edit: Just checked out the website and realized I had forgotten about Sinbad and It Came from the Desert.

Olham, I think you may have missed it. In the US, we used to have a kid's show that featured two spies, Boris and Natasha, who were always chasing after Bulwinkle and Rocky (moose and squirrel). For most of us, the typical Russian accent is that of Boris. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md-q5GRo9E0

Lou, I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately, because he died as a bachelor, Pvt Kelly's niece was his last living relative and she was getting up in age. The place for that type of artifact is with the family. Without that connection, the story can get lost. And unfortunately, nobody at the Marine Museum hears the full story about Pvt Kelly unless I'm taking them on a tour. Most people just look at it as "cool stuff behind the glass" with no thought about whose they were and what they did to earn them. On a side note - if anyone on this forum ever makes it to Quantico, Virginia (about halfway between Richmond and Washington DC), let me know ahead of time and I'll take you on a guided tour of the Marine Museum that you will never forget! We have four biplanes and as a bonus we even have a replica 18th century tavern on the 2nd floor.

It's too bad that no family members were able to retain Pvt Godley's medals. I was present when the niece of Pvt John J. Kelly donated her uncle's medals to the Marine Corps Museum. Two Medals of Honor, six Silver Stars, three Purple Hearts and many others. She said that all of "Uncle Johnny's medals are there, except for one. There was an award that the King of England was supposed to present to him, but being the good Irish Catholic that he was, he reportedly said "No f-ing Protestant is going to hang a medal on me." and refused it. He received one Medal of Honor from the Army and one from the Department of the Navy for the same action at Blanc Mont in October 1918. John Kelly's citation for the Medal of Honor reads: "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy at BLANC MONT RIDGE, France, October 3, 1918. Private Kelly ran through our own barrage one hundred yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machine-gun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, shooting another member of the crew with his pistol and returned through the barrage with eight prisoners." What the citation didn't say was that when he returned, he told his liutenant "See, I told you I'd take care of it."

I've tried smoking fish, but the damn things won't stay lit!

Like many of you, I check both places. If I have anything interesting to say, I post on both. If I'm responding to a thread, I just post on the board with that thread. To me, it's no big deal to check multiple boards. I do it with my general PC gaming sites (6 of them) as well as news sites (about 10-15 different ones) so two WWI aviation is not really all that much of a challenge.

Very exciting, indeed. Can you give us some more details? I'm always curious about the other "non visual" information that you can get from a first hand experience such as yours. Like the sound of the nearly 100 year old fabric as it was moved or the smell of it. Was it musty or had it been well preserved along with the aircraft? Were you allowed to handle it (hopefully with gloves)?

Olham, I've been on a business trip in Okinawa, Japan (currently dodging Super Typhoon Guchol) and I'm hoping to get a Track IR 5 when I get home. I saw four of them in a used book store two weeks ago just before I left. They were $75 US each and still in the original packages. I think your higly recommended profile may be just the thing to push me into getting one of them.

I have to add that two U.S. Marine aviators received the Navy Medal of Honor. 1sLt Ralph Talbot (pilot) and Gunnery Sergeant Robert Robinson (gunner/observer). I believe that they awarded the Tiffany Cross version rather than the traditional Navy medal. http://en.wikipedia....ki/Ralph_Talbot http://en.wikipedia....ert_G._Robinson

My son just got an e-mail about a new product in the Lego catalog. http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Sopwith-Camel-10226?CMP=EMC-SH2012_June_SopwithCamel_Remail_US&HQS=heroimage Only 883 pieces. It's 40x50 cm in size and about $100 US.

Thanks, Olham. Those were very nice photos. One of these days I hope to make it over to see some of these memorials in person. I was very close a few months ago - I had applied for a job opening at the American Battle Monuments Commission, but they chose someone else.

Olham, A somewhat funny side note to this effort. When my unit was in Somalia in 1993, we were supposed to all be awarded the Humanitarian Service Medal [left image] for helping to deliver massive ammounts of food to the local villages. But my supply officer had mistyped the requisition and ended up getting us 250 copies of the Medal for Humane Action (otherwise known as the Berlin Airlift Medal) [right image]. I wanted to keep one for a souvenir, but we had to return all of them.