Gents,

While returning from a transport convoy attack I noticed a Camel parked up sausage side, something which I had never seen before in RoF. It could easily have been overlooked but I was just scanning around for E/A. Even most 'plane wrecks disappear after a few seconds.

Closer inspection revealed that it was our flight leader 2/Lt., Sebastian Baker who I had become detached from a good deal earlier in the sortie. No signs of life as I passed by and no damage. I was about to attempt a rescue if the the poor sod was still alive, without giving any thought to the impossibility of cramming two occupants into a Camel. However, I quickly dismissed the idea when I recalled that I owed Seb five guineas.

He was posted MIA.

Folks,

Dux:

It is the observant fellow that you are sir. There was no apparent damage to the plane, eh? Either 2/Lt Baker was caught short due to the Castor oil blowing back in his face from the engine or he may have struck up another dangerous but mutually beneficial relationship with a homesick Bosch nurse.

To my certain and profound knowledge you had a similar experience. Yes, I clearly recall good old Lt Percy Propbenda returning with you draped across the fuselage of his Tripe. When we ran out to the taxiing plane I just knew you had bought it. There was blood all over yer greenish face.

To our astonishment when Percy cut the rope that bound you to the plane and you slid to the ground with a thud that sounded like a 100 pound sack of spuds there was an audible groan, a disgusting belch and several choice profanities.

Turns out the 'blood' was French lip rouge and the green countenance no more than the result of swilling far too much rather ordinary French champagne.

Old Percy was a good chap and an excellent pilot. After a year of war and hard drinking his hand trembled a bit too much to reliably join the firring squad detail or to remain on the squadron championship competition pistol team. Worse still it was his ultimate misfortune that the French madame he picked to fight a duel with was not only bloody bad tempered but also a crack shot.

JRT,

Email should be in your mailbox about now.

Dux et al with access to the Beeb; tonight at 9 on BBC One:

Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Brothers Colin and Ewan McGregor follow up their documentary The Battle of Britain with a film exploring Bomber Command, a rarely-told story from the Second World War.

The film focuses primarily on the men who fought and died in the skies above occupied Europe, with numerous examples of individual heroism and extraordinary collective spirit, and Colin learns to fly the key aircraft of the campaign: the Lancaster bomber. But this is also the story of a controversy that has lasted almost 70 years.

The programme covers six years of wartime operations, and traces the obstacles and challenges that were overcome as the RAF developed and deployed the awesome fighting force that was Bomber Command. < Show less

Brothers Colin and Ewan McGregor follow up their documentary The Battle of Britain with a film exploring Bomber Command, a rarely-told story from the Second World War.

So cuddle up with a warm blanket and a cup of something.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00nr7gf

Folks,

MG:
I wish that I had time to follow that link. However it is back for at least another long night at the hospital for my lady and moi. Hopefully we will be home this time tomorrow night and for a long stay this time. If so I'll check it out then.

Dux:
I'm not sure who wrote last. Check your icicle encrusted mailbox to be sure it wasn't I.

That book by Holland still pleases. I am doing my best to draw it out by forcing myself to read a few pages at a time and slowly. Half the book is devoted to Hitler's rise and his early aggression, next the battle for France and the miracle of Dunkirk. Now in the second half the time of the "phony war" is about to close. The battle for France is over. Soon the BoB will begin.

Gents,

JRT, Jens n' all...

Captain Marty Wilde is nearing the end of his career in RoF. This was a late start in September 1918 and it is far from certain that he will exceed the record 62 victories held so far, let alone survive. With just two days to go before the Armistice, he needs another six and will need to volunteer for every dog-hanging to get them - unless they get him first.

I have wondered how it will end. A fanfare of glorious martial music and the presentation of an illuminated scroll signed by His Majesty King GeorgeV? A sumptuous celebratory meal at Claridges back in Blighty then off to console a whole list of grieving widows and fiances before taking up his new position as cross-border gun-runner in Mexico?

I'll fill in the details later...

Later...

The final two days of the war earned Marty three more victories but he spent the final, crucial Squadron hours in hospital after claiming the final victim - a DFW. Three E/A short but at least he survived.

Congrats are in order Dux. As I understand it, your hero actually managed to survive the great air war, unlike many of his fellow aces; McCudden and Mannock spring to mind, both too good to be brought down by the enemy, save for a possible mechanical error on McCudden's machine, and an unbelievable hubris on Mannock's part, when totally disregarding his own rule of not following the crashing enemy down.

A man such as Capt. Wilde will surely go on to make his mark in a post-war world.

In a strange coinkydincky, I've been reading the Holland book in parallel with you Roger. Entirely agree with you on the readability of this book. It also added to my understanding of how thinly stretched were the resources not only of Fighter Command, but also of the Luftwaffe.

From this, and also following my recent research and studies of the Norwegian campaign, I am quite astonished to learn, that had the Nazi onslaught been met with proper strategy and tactics, Hitler's hordes might have been defeated not only in Norway, but also in France. I wonder which events the world would then have been witness to.

Folks,

MG:

The French were complacent and well prepared for another trench fest. Once surprised they made blunder after blunder. The British never expected Guderian, Rommel and their blitzkrieg. They were lucky to escape with their tin hats.

Indeed, not only Corporal Hitler but also Fat Hermann lacked the skills to wage a world war. Goering was a better business man. Against the advice and will of their generals and field marshals they extended their necks more than once. Probably no one was more surprised than the German General Staff when those necks were not immediately chopped right off. Hitler was rather like a man who had won big at a casino and thus encouraged tried to break the bank. How could the Germans fail to have understood the significance of RADAR? They discovered it. Hindsight is of course 20-20.

It is, in my humble opinion, one of the finest books I have yet to read on the subject.

Dux:

Luck, perhaps; they all needed that to survive for long. Skill certainly had a large hand in it too. If your proxy is treated as many of the others were after that terrible war he might wonder how much England really appreciated his sacrifice. Addicted to the adrenaline rush of combat perhaps he will become a Will 'O the Wisp-like "barnstormer" risking his life in the air performing stunts and aerobatics for a bit more glory and certainly more profit in your country or perhaps in mine. Some did you know.

RoF fans and such devotees of cotton-on-cottonwood aircraft technology simming will be intrigued
to hear RoF is planning to release a new game terrain, of SE England and the channel, featuring
such notable locations as Canterberry and Folkstine.
http://riseofflight.com/Blogs/post/2012/02/10/ROF-Development-Plans-2012.aspx

Folks,

Thanks PV1.

I nearly broke my fool neck racing down those 3,000 crumbling steps to the HWH archives. I desperately needed to consult our 999,000 page HWH Handbook in 87 deluxe leather bound volumes. My memory must be slipping because I simply could not remember a single major or even minor air battle fought over Canterbury in WWI.

Sure enough, according to the definitive pages of that massive tome, German air activity over England seems to have been for the most part limited to air ships. Are they modeled in RoF? Please say they are....

Added water, ports, shipping, seaplanes and the heroic Belgian air force may whet Dux's appetite enough to lighten his purse however I cannot run RoF so I am immune to this compelling marketing ploy.

I am pleased that the game is still being updated. Maybe one day I can upgrade my ancient steam operated P4 computer to a spanking new electronic job with all the new bells, whistles and dangly bits.