Capitaine Vengeur

The use of fake war machines is not new even to WW2. They were largely used during WW1, the first war which largely used kite balloons and observation planes. One can see in documentaries the pictures of soldiers carrying on their shoulders heavy gun tubes made out of balsa. During the American Civil War, the Confederates held Mcclellan's Federal army at bay for a month from their depleted "fortified" lines, garrisoned by tree trunks painted black in place of the heavy guns removed for long.

Considering the high kills-to-losses ratio of the Israeli Mirage III over the Arab MiG-21, I used to think that although these dogfight planes were roughly comparable, the Mirage held an edge of superiority over the MiG. But I've heard that many of the Israeli pilots that have tested the MiG delivered by an Iraqi defector would have preferred to fly it in dogfight rather than their own Mirage, and were happy that the Arab pilots were so poorly trained in cooperating with each other. At least, the Israeli made a good use of the Mirage as a fighter-bomber, a role unfit for the short-winged MiG-21. Such vain comparisons remind me of the tests the Americans made in 1945 on captured Japanese fighters of the latest generation. During these tests, they found these heavy energy planes to be roughly comparable to their own best planes, and even superior on some points. But these tests had been made using US pilots with more than 3000 hours of flight, not conscripted Japanese students, and using rich US fuel, not the infamous washed blend the Japs used by the end of the war, which stole 300 to 500 hp to their engines.

This looooong post (sorry!) is intended to commemorate the week, June 13 to 19, 1930, when my grand-uncle accidentally became a legend in the history of aviation. Henri Guillaumet, his name was, was a pioneer of the French Aéropostale (Air Mail service). Flying old Bréguet 14, he had opened many commercial routes during the late 1920s over hostile Saharian Africa. Later in 1929, flying Latécoère 25 or Potez 25, he was entrusted one of the most hazardous route of the whole South American continent: Buenos Aires – Santiago de Chile, across the Andes (a route just opened by his colleague and friend, the fearless Jean Mermoz). But he soon learnt through own experience the best tricks to safely cross the Cordillera about twice each week (using updrafts that he called "Taking the lift", then cruising at 7000 m. alt. without radio, heating, or oxygen). On Friday 13 (sic!), June 1930, entering Southern winter, Guillaumet was flying his 92nd mission across the Andes for the Company (Santiago de Chile –> Mendoza, Argentina). Trapped for hours by violent winds and running out of fuel, he had to emergency-land his Potez 25 next to a frozen mountain lake (Laguna Diamante, 3288 m. alt.). For two days, he waited in his overturned plane for the blizzard to die down, sheltered under mailbags. Then, having seen aircraft passing over without seeing him, he let a farewell message in the wreckage, and began his journey East across the snowy and windy mountains, without any food and without any other protection than his leather coat against a temperature under -30 °C (-22 °F). He walked for four days and four nights long, crossing three passes, without sleeping, or even pausing for more than some minutes to avoid freezing on the spot. On day 4, he heard a rooster singing far away. On the morning of day 5, June 19, he finally could escape "the White Hell" and reach the nearest inhabited valley, falling exhausted some dozens meters away to the first hut. The frightened local Argentinian Indian shepherds he met first couldn't believe that the mountain in winter could give back a man still alive: "Es imposible!". After all, his face was so burnt by ice-reflection, his shaking bare hands so black with frostbite, that he barely looked human. There he learnt that he had already been considered as lost. During his whole martyrdom walk, Henri Guillaumet behaved not as a poor wreck declined to the Age of Ice and struggling only for his own survival, but as a Man carrying the legacies and duties of Evolution on his sole shoulders, through the icy wilderness and against all odds – and himself carried by this exclusively human gift whose name is Hope. While recovering, he said with the pride of Man to his colleague and friend, the writer Antoine de St-Exupéry: "What I have done, I swear to you, no animal would have ever done it." St-Exupéry also reported these quotes: "My friends, if they believe I'm still alive, believe that I'm walking. My wife believes that I'm walking. I'm a bastard if I don't walk." and "What saves you is to take a step, and another one. It is always the same step with which you restart." In spite of having lost his gloves, this incredibly mighty force didn't even lose a phalanx or toe to frost in this adventure. This feat has been portrayed in Jean-Jacques Annaud's "Wings of Courage" (1995, the first 3D-Imax fiction movie ever), with my grand-uncle interpreted by Craig Sheffer as the main character (and Val Kilmer as Jean Mermoz). The plane and mailbags were eventually recovered in summer (December 1930). Many envelopes still exist at some collectors, displaying the delay stamp. The five French Potez 25 allocated to the Andes crossings were later given to the Aeroposta Argentina, who used one of them at least until 1967! One of the Argentinian passes Henri Guillaumet had crossed, and her associated needle, were named after him: Paso Guillaumet and Aguja Guillaumet. After this accident, Guillaumet, now nicknamed "The Angel of the Cordillera", flew 301 more missions across the Andes. In July 1939, now working for Air France, he also broke a record of distance over North Atlantic on a six-engined flying boat Latécoère 521 (New York –> Biscarosse, 5875 kms without stops, including 2300 kms with one motor less). On November 27, 1940, Henri Guillaumet conveyed from Marseilles the new Vichy French prefect for Syria. His four-engined Farman never reached Beirut, his radioman's last message reporting that they were under attack and taking damage. My grand-uncle was very unlucky about the route and date, for on the same day, a minor aeronaval battle occured off Sardinia between the British and Italian Navies (Battle of Cape Teulada). Although his death was first and is still commonly credited to the Italians, it is now sometimes believed that a British FAA pilot could have shot him down after seeing his Vichy French roundels, fearing that this evil Axis puppet hidden under neutral markings could report the position of the British fleet. Aged 38, he would have deserved a different and later end. He was a great airman, and a great man.

Loose translation: "Some say you have to be especially brave to do this job. Above all, I believe you have to be especially crazy. When the sky is blue, when our look touches the horizon, we are giants liberated from the chains of gravity. But when the snow falls, when the wind blows, when our crying eyes can't catch but vague shadows from the landscape, the ground roughly remembers itself to us. Hard. Cold. So close." If you compare the art with the pictures of the recovered plane in my post, you can see that it is the same Potez 25 "F-AJDZ". Probably also the same pilot, but it could also depict the first crossing of the Andes on the route Buenos Aires - Santiago de Chile by Jean Mermoz. The pictures of my grand-uncle don't really display this long face with thin nose, the pretty boy in the Aéropostale was rather Jean "Archangel" Mermoz. During the last two or three years, we have had in France an impressive release of comics about aviation, from many editors and with many eras and areas explored: Normandie-Niemen, Free French Air Forces, USMC F-4s in Vietnam, German night fighters and Soviet women pilots on the Russian Front, German and Italian WW2 pilots over Malta and Libya, Malvinas 1982 on Argie side, fictional operations from the carrier Charles de Gaulle, pre-WW2 flying circus acrobat airmen going to war, first flights of aviation and competition for the Channel crossing, beginnings of the Royal Flying Corps... I probably forget many of them, it's understandable I have missed this one, but I have seen this graphic style already in some others of the last released books. Some are very good products. I don't understand why this frenzy in aerial publications, for before, we barely had one or two series every five years.

Remember how useful and reliable this plane was in "Bat-21"...

By the time Iraq gets a rliable Air Force, all of those cadets will become four-star generals ! Meanwhile, the Iranians could perform reconnaissance missions over every Iraqi airbase. God, they could even do it at 100ft high in inverted flight, hands off ! Just a little more humiliating, if webcasted on Youtube...

One of the many and few spoken-about collateral victims of the attack. This one at last won't stay anonymous to us.

The Danube is threatened to be polluted by massive amounts of highly toxic red waste down to its estuary. The Black Sea won't become another Red Sea, indeed, but it shall be a continental-scale environmental disaster.

AFGHAN CORPORATION : You have two cows. You beat them for not being bulls, prohibit them from going out of the cowshed (or if so, only hidden under a tarpaulin), throw stones to them if they dare to look at the nearest bull, and beat them again for being too traumatized to give milk. IRANIAN CORPORATION : You have two cows. You neglect their milk but patiently harvest all of their methane, and try to convince the methane brokers that it is for your own personal domestic use. ISRAELI CORPORATION : You have two cows. You take advantage of a dubious outdated 3000-year-old title deed to gather an extensive rich pasture out of former anecdotally or marginally inhabited lands (allegedly), and wonder why a large herd of skinny cows outside are looking aggressively at your legitime pasture and cattle. (oops, turns a little political...)

Some of my favourite Quit-complaining-about-your-job! pictures:

HONG KONG CORPORATION : You have two cows. You get a fine for breeding cattle in a flat. NORTH KOREAN CORPORATION : You have two cows, and almost no fodder. You indoctrinate both of them all day and night long, starve one of them and scarcely feed the other one, instructing her to keep a watch on the starved one. You soon suspect her to plan to betray you, and plan to purge her later. ORWELL CORPORATION : You have never had cows. Nobody has ever had cows. Cows have never existed.

This one I have included in the Württemberger panel of my Medals Pack, of course, as the highest award for repeated feats (equivalents: Militär-Max-Josef-Orden in Bavaria, or Militär-St-Heinrichs-Orden in Saxony, that I also use for Prussia). This is a military-only decoration, as she doesn't need the word Militär, and doesn't have the crossed swords often added for military use on many other German dual-purpose crosses. Neither Boelcke nor Richthofen were Württembergers, but they were exceptionally awarded this coveted cross. Her most famous Württemberger recipient was of course Erwin Rommel, who earnt it after the splendid rush forward of his elite Württemberger battalion after the breakthrough at Caporetto, October 1917.

"Do you eat oysters, Antoninus? And do you eat snails?" (Spartacus, 1960). A tasty boy at that time, indeed.

Massive Ordnance Penetrator... Ffff... I thought it was the name for a sextoy !

On The Aerodrome website, you can compare for many aces the date when they received a decoration, and the dates for each of their kills. You can see for example that Gerhard Fieseler, the Storch's father, earnt this Prussian Verdienstkreuz after his 13th kill, before he finally became a Leutnant. You can also see that some brave NCOs had been granted this cross before their first kill, probably for feats noticed before they were transferred to the Luftstreitskrafte. I have used it much during my researches for the Medals Pack I released for First Eagles (for which I had not retained this cross, selecting only the awards for officers; planning to add a Bavarian panel, I won't include the Tapferkeitsmedaille either, the Bavarian counterpart for this Prussian Verdienstkreuz). During my researches, I have not found any air hero who had received the Order of the Crown of Württemberg, on any grade. Some information about that point, Olham?

I would never go out and pay to see a comic as poorly dressed and shaped as this Mr Mamadoujihad. Even Woody Allen would look like a Brummell close to him !

"Military medicine is to medicine what military justice is to justice and military music to music." Well, a thought from 19th century, I think. Many things have changed since. Safe for music.

It seems that a model exists somewhere for the F-84E Thunderjet, but I just can't find it on this site or another (the E model, J35-A-17D with stretched fuselage, not the B/C neither the G). Can somebody help me?

Thank you very much. I'm completely new to conversion to/ from SFP2, and to the associated Knowledge Base. It shall be an excellent training ground.

I had given up the Japanese sci-fi anims since my childhood's favourites (Goldorak, Ulysses 31, Captain Future...), and rediscovered this universe in my late twenties only. I never buy mangas, read only those I can borrow from the local public libraries. Since then, I've enjoyed sci-fi or alternate future mangas like Gunnm Last Order, The Legend of Mother Sarah, Ghost in the Shell (both the manga and the anim), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (both the manga and the anim), and some other future wars mangas read since long and whose names I can't remember, but appreciated at that time. Nowadays, I focus on more "serious" and contemporary mangas like Zipang, The Summit of the Gods, or Les Gouttes de Dieu (Kami no Shizuku, I know no English name, a welcome ode to French wines). I also like Jap anims when I can find a good one. I enjoy the oniric universe of Miyazaki, and have felt interested in some limited way in the latest Summer Wars.

I like the look of the picture. "Aoh, Jarvis, is that the button to warm my tea?" At last, a good thing he has replaced this damned silver spoon in his mouth with an Intercom.

On September 15, 1940, the Royal Air Force repulsed one of the more massive onslaught from the Luftwaffe over the skies of Southeast England, in an effort that proved to be decisive on Hitler's decision to postpone the invasion of the British Isles. 60 German agressors and 26 RAF fighters were shot down that day (13 RAF pilots KIA). This day has been chosen to be commemorated as the Battle of Britain Day in the UK. On September 15, 1950, General McArthur launched a massive landing at Incheon, not far away from the crucial network of Seoul, vital for the North Korean Army ventured deeply on the South Korean soil. A risky gamble that proved to be profitable, but poorly exploited afterwards. It was the biggest invasion by sea from the end of WW2 to that day. Saddam hussein expected a bigger one in February 1991, but has been deliberately deceived. One defensive victory for the last square of Freedom facing subjugated Europe, one offensive victory for the first military reaction of UN forces to a rogue state. Ten years exactly from one occurence to the other. I think this day has something special. Happy 70th and 60th commemorations to both.

Gone with the Wind...

9 years ago that day, I was coming back from my parents, a 6-hour-long drive. Browsing the radio channels, I heard this damned thing, too unbelievable to be believed. Browsing again and again, hearing that again and again. First reaction: another stupid Hollywood movie to be released, pfff... Second reaction, later: another Orson Welles-style bad joke, so far away from april's Fool? Not funny at all! Third reaction: still sceptical, but vaguely worried. Then at home, hurried to the pictures and saw... that: Kamikaze Boeings over Manhattan, clouds of flames tearing the towers of glass, desesperate people making the last decision of their lives while trying to escape the flames, and the final act, in the same time expectable and unable to believe, two proud and mortally wounded giants collapsing in turn, with their shroud of ashes covering the maimed City of New York... Welcome into the 3rd Millenium ! Three days before, I had come back from a tour in Greece, where I had met some British and Americans. The Americans had a longer stay and were planned to come back home on tuesday 11. I suppose they have been seriously delayed due to the interruption of any flight.

I've read the stats for Iwo Jima. Seven of the thirteen posthumous awards of the MoH to Marines there were granted for the same feat : throwing themselves on grenades to protect their fellows. Only one more received it still alive, crippled. Something of a miracle. Accidentally, seven to one seems to be the same rating today. But no medal will ever match the life-long personal gratitude from the buddies whose young lives have been saved by these braves. Bad luck here for the boy Giunta tried to save.