Crikey! The Gong Fairy went medal shopping wholesale at Costco.
Congrats to all involved!
Thanks Lou, one more thing Toby has to stitch onto his uniform.

Francois Gaston Pistache
Chevalier de France
Sergant, Esc 90
Mix N-23 and N-24 Bis
Toul, Verdun.

May 21, 1917.

3 victory's
1 unconfirmed

Up with 5 ships for a Escort of B-1's, but didnt get far. We approached the line when 1 Sections 2 a/c got hit by Zee Bosche Scouts ( Kest 7 ?} then they shot through to tangle with the B-1's. I turned to help and was picked off by an Un seen e/a. He shot very well, inside 2 bursts My top wing was holed and the wings aileron flew off in the slip stream leaving me in a full spin headed for Zee Vineyards. I was able to recover just in time to put her down on a farm road. A close one Mon Amie !
After walking most of the afternoon, I ran into a Farmer who offered to help.

The Gong Ferry has certainly been busy. Thanks for the Gong

Lou, the Kaiser has found an attractive alternative to a pay raise! Thank you for the lovely gong.

Beauty job on that skin ! N5997 arrived at the squadron on July 7 1917, and served until shot down by defensive fire into the sea 300' over the Zeebrugge Mole during a raid on 18 October 1918. Between those bookends, it shot down, with different crews, a DV, a seaplane, and a scout, all off Oostende.
Cheers,
shredward

Thanks Shredward, I had no serial number since the tail is cut off in that picture. I guess it’s a little ahead of its time if it arrived on July 7. I’ll also have to make sure I’m not flying it on October 18.

The binge is ON is several messes about the Western Front.
Congrats to one and all and many thanks, Lou, for the beautiful Gong.

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Carrick – Not sure what it is, but your pilots often seem to find their way to a vineyard, and a farmer’s daughter. Smart pilots. Some great screenshots too.

Fullofit – I agree with Shredward, super job on that new livery, it should be added into WOFF. Toby wasted no time getting right back into the swing of things, and it looks like he got lucky there with his new G/O, the fellow seems a crack shot. Lucky those Hun planes keep falling apart for him too. Nice videos, as always.

Raine – Another fine episode. I hope Hans-Dieter manages one of the new Albs soon, he deserves one. And no surprise that Goering would talk about himself.

Epower – Another outstanding catch-up from you as well. Beautiful screenshots to highlight the reports. Those go-rounds with Jasta 11 are always nailbiters.

Congratulations to all on the well-deserved awards and honors. And thanks to Raine for writing them up. And now, to my man and the latest twist in his story.

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21 May 1917
No.5 British Red Cross Hospital
Abbeville, France

“Your wing is going to feel considerably better once we get this dam’d stubborn bit of metal removed, Captain”. The RAMC doctor, Major Symons, was adeptly working on Swany’s left arm, just below the shoulder and directly above the wound the young ace had received during his scrape with the Circus at the beginning of the month. Having declined morphine, choosing rather to endure the temporary pain, the Captain gritted his teeth and steadied himself as the doctor sliced into his flesh. A comely nurse was assisting, dabbing up the blood as it oozed from the incision the doctor had just made. The woman appeared to be in her early twenties, was trim, tallish, and knew precisely what she was doing as she anticipated, step by step, what the doctor required before he even asked. She handed him the large curved forceps.
“Yes, very good Miss Mead, just what I needed.”


The wound itself had been healing nicely, yet each time the Captain would work his arm during the course of a day’s sorties it ended up aching and throbbing to the point where he had to put it back in a sling. While there was no sign of infection he had noticed a small bump forming just above the grazing itself that was extremely tender; not red or hot to the touch, just tender. And this morning, as he was washing up, he spotted something sharpish just under the skin at the center of the bump. Swany stepped over to the shaving mirror to get a better look at what was going on, and as he gently pushed around the spot, wincing slightly as he did so, a metallic sliver suddenly pierced through the skin from below and a small trickle of blood began to wend its way down his arm. He grabbed a wash cloth, doused it with a splash of Lilac Vegetal to act as a temporary disinfectant, pressed it to his arm gingerly, and headed out to find Lieutenant McCoy, the squadron’s resident medic, (the fellow served primarily as recording officer, but as he was the only one in camp with any medical training whatsoever he was also their de facto doctor). After a cursory inspection of the protruding shard of metal, and a failed attempt to remove it by vigorously tugging at it with a pair of tweezers, (said attempt aborted when Swany threaten to punch McCoy in the nose if he didn’t stop with the ham-fisted yanking), it was determined that the Captain should get himself to the Red Cross hospital in Abbeville and let a surgeon there have a go at extracting the object. Major Boyd agreed and ordered up a driver and car to take his star pilot over post-haste while Swany went back to his quarters and quickly finished getting dressed as he’d been wandering about in only his trousers, greyback, and boots.


“A-ha, there we have it!” Major Symons proclaimed proudly as he held up the offending object while Nurse Mead quickly pressed a clean dressing against the incision to stem the sudden increased bleeding. The object turned out to be a twisted strip of aluminum slightly more than half an inch in length, and after seeing it Captain Swanson surmised it was likely a chunk of one of the lacing grommets from the padded cockpit coaming of the Pup he’d been flying. The Hun bullet must have torn it loose and driven it deep into his arm as it passed through. The medic who had originally dressed the wound had missed it entirely.

“Well Captain, now that we have that evil little blighter removed, your arm should be right as rain in a week or so. But I want you to spend at least one night here with us so that we can keep an eye out for any potential infection.” Nurse Mead had already begun cleaning the incision as Symons gave it a final inspection. “We’re going to leave that open and let it drain a while just for good measure, Miss Mead”.

“Yes Doctor. I’ll place a dressing over it now with a light wrap, then check it again in an hour and redress it for the afternoon.”

“Excellent, spot on as always Miss Mead,” Major Symons smiled, then turned to his patient, “Captain, once our good nurse here has fitted you with a more permanent dressing and a sling, and given her permission, you are free to take the afternoon in town if you like. You’ll return and rest here in one of our wards and I will check in on you tomorrow morning and we’ll see how you’re coming along.”

Swany thanked the Major, who promptly left the room to attend to other matters. Nurse Mead took charge and began dressing the Captain’s arm.

“Now Captain Swanson, when we’re done here I want you to come with me to the garden”, Miss Mead ordered in a firm, yet very pleasant voice. “It’s a rather fine day and you can sit and enjoy it for an hour while we leave that incision to drain, after which I’ll return and we’ll do a proper dressing.”

“Thank you nurse, sorry for the bother”, Swany responded, flashing an appreciative grin.

“No bother at all Captain, it’s my job”, Nurse Mead replied, offering a polite smile in return.

“So I can go for a stroll around Abbeville then this afternoon?”

“Once we have that arm properly taken care of, yes, you may. Was there somewhere in particular you wanted to go, Captain?”

“Please, call me Swany. And no, nowhere in particular. Any recommendations? And is there a first name I could call you?”, the young pilot asked slyly.

“Depends on what you had in mind - Swany”, Nurse Mead responded, giving her charge a sideways glance. “There are some fairly fine restaurants and shops, as well as a library and a museum of sorts.” As she finished up the temporary dressing and placed the Captain’s arm in a sling she added, “It’s Nora.”

“Nora. Nora Mead. That’s a nice, solid name”, Swany noted as she led him into the hallway and out to the garden.

“I’ve always been fond of it”, the young woman replied matter-of-factly.

“Well Nora, I suppose you wouldn’t be available to show me around Abbeville this afternoon”, Swany stated.

“You suppose correctly”, Nora laughed as she escorted him to a wrought iron bench and motioned for him to sit down. “I’ve a million things to do.”

“Yes. I assumed as much”, Swany sighed, slumping down on the seat, doing his best to look dejected. “Ah well, I’ll just have to take in the sights on my own then.”

“And aren’t you the pitiful sight”, the young woman chided in a playful tone. “Tell you what, I’ll see what I can do and let you know when I come back in an hour to redo your dressing. If nothing else, I may let you take me out to dinner.”

“I’ll be waiting”, Swany cooed back.

“Yes, yes you will be”, Nora assured as she strode away.


(to be continued)

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Swany, that devil! Someone should tell Paul nurse Nora that you have to be careful when a lumberjack takes you to the woods.

The curse of the Gong Fairy

I've noticed a pattern of late where recent gong recipients start dropping like flies. Poor Hans-Dieter Vogel has not even heard of his EK2 before he was injured yesterday. He took off for an early morning patrol and ran into an energetic group of British Spads. He managed to down one of them over enemy territory and, finding himself alone, climbed away towards friendly lines. On his return flight he spotted a lone RE8 and soon caught up with it. He was still about 300 yards away when he was noticed. The British machine began turning to the right and Vogel began a turn to the left in an attempt to stay under the tail of the Harry Tate. By this time about 200 yards separated the two machines. The two seater's opening burst knocked Vogel's "pilot health" down to 65. He immediately turned east for friendly territory. Because he was bleeding out, his health was down to 50 by the time he got over the lines and on the ground. That's when I learned that Vogel would be out of action until – get this – 28 June!

Encouraged by epower, I have decided to begin a new career today and I will pick up Vogel when he is healthy again in late June. The way things are going I do not think I need to worry about having two DiD pilots for very long. We'll see what happens…

Spring and l'amour is in the air.

Carrick - Any one you can walk away from. Nice spot for a forced landing. Mademoiselle farmer looks très jolie.

Lou - Swanny is quite the silver-tongued rogue, putting the moves on nurse Nora like that.

Raine - That Harry Tate gunner sounded like that pesky Otto from the late 90s Warbirds era. Yikes. Glad Hans made it back alive. Excellent news that you'll be starting a second pilot. What are the odds that you'll be juggling the both of them come July? That would be a first.

Francois Gaston Pistache
Chevalier de France
Sergant, Esc 90
Mix N-23 and N-24 Bis
Toul, Verdun.

May 22, 1917.

4 victory's
1 unconfirmed


Up to times and ran into Zee Bosche Scouts. On the 2nd go around I bagged one, his wing came off and he dropped like Zee rock into a valley near the front. The e/a had a white band painted around its belly. E/a 1, we lost 3 damaged.

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Carrick – Congrats on the latest victory, well done.

Raine – Oh man, what is with this awards curse?! Sorry Vogel is out of it for so long, but on the bright side he is still alive. Better luck with your new fellow.

Epower – Swany a silver-tongued rogue? Well, maybe.

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22 May 1917
No.5 British Red Cross Hospital
Abbeville, France


“So Nora, what’s he like”, Nurse Ellison asked as she spread a new sheet on the cot she was making up.

“Honestly, Lizzie”, Nurse Mead paused for a moment as she tucked a blanket in at the foot of the cot she was finishing. “Not what I was expecting.”

“And what were you expecting? He isn’t half handsome – so rugged. And a pilot too!” Lizzie went dreamy-eyed as she stared at the pillow she was slipping into its cover. “I’d bring him home to meet mum if I had the chance.”

“God, you’d bring anyone home to meet mum and you know it, you silly girl”, Nora chided.

“Yeah – yeah I would”, her friend giggled.

“I guess I was expecting another one full of himself, all hail the conquering hero, you know the sort.” Nora moved on to the next cot, quickly stripping it down and tossing the dirty bedding into the large canvas hamper parked in between the rows of beds.

“Yeah – yeah I do”, Nurse Ellison replied. “All those ribbons, and the VC on top of it. And four strips of braid on his sleeve. Four!”

“He’s been in the thick of it, that’s for certain, but he didn’t talk about it really.” Nurse Mead took a stack of fresh bedding from the second large canvas hamper parked directly behind the first and began dressing the naked mattress in front of her. “Actually, he wouldn’t talk about himself much at all unless I asked him questions directly.”

“What did you talk about then – the weather?” Lizzie laughed.

“Me, mostly”, Nora remarked. “He asked all sorts of questions about me; where I grew up, where I went to school, how I’d become a nurse. It was actually quite sweet.”

“Huh, he is an odd one then”, her friend noted as she moved on to another cot herself. “And he doesn’t talk half funny, even for an American. Did he happen to say why that is while you two were having dinner?”

“His family is Norwegian, which accounts for the different accent I suppose, and he grew up in a place called Minnesota, on the border of Canada. They have a large farm, and a lumber mill. Sound fairly well off actually.” Nora gave the pillow she had just covered a fluff before dropping it at the head of the cot as she continued, “His English may sound odd Lizzie, but you should hear the man speak French. You'd think he grew up in Paris rather than in the States. I took him to the Café du Bourdois, you know that tiny one on the square, across from the Monument.”

“Oooo yeah – yeah I do. Did you have the chicken and potatoes they do there? Sooo scrumptious.”

“We did, and Swany was talking and laughing with the waiter like they were old chums. I only caught about half of what they were saying; you know how awful my French is. But I did sort out at one point that he was telling the waiter that he should pick the wine to go with our meal as Swany couldn’t tell a merlot from champagne, which our waiter found hilarious. As it turned out we had the most wonderful white bordeaux I’d ever tasted.”

“A man of the world then, despite his funny English. I think someone’s taken with Captain Swanson”, Lizzie teased.

“Shut up, I am not taken with him, I was just surprised by him that’s all”, Nora stated, almost too vehemently. She moved on to another cot and pulled the bedding from it as if the thing had somehow offended her.

“Now now Nora, I was only having fun”, Lizzie apologized. “You don’t actually have feelings for him already, do you? I mean, if you do that’s fine, but you did just meet him.”

“I do NOT have feelings for him”, Nurse Mead insisted.

Nurse Ellison smoothed out the blanket on the cot in front of her as she studied her friend. The two had been working together for over a year and had gotten to know each other quite well. She was careful with her reply.

“Nora, sweetie, I know you say you don’t? But really? Yeah – yeah you do.”


(to be continued)

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le coup de foudre for Nurse Nora. Lot of that going around lately.

or is that idiom of more recent vintage?

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Not a recent idiom by any means seeing as how Chaucer used it. And the tenuous and troubling times of war do seem to be an incubator for the phenomenon.

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Your pics really make me want to start a Nieuport career. Those fragile lower wings make them a challenge to fight and fly in for me! Congrats on bagging a Hun!

Carrick - I second Hellshade, except for the part about actually wanting to fly the Nieup. Outstanding pics. Well done Francois on Quatre Boche. The afternoon with the farmer lady has spurred him to greater things.



28 April 1917
54 Squadron RFC
Flez, France

0450 hrs. Dawn Patrol. News of an incoming raid scattered our morning briefing. We dashed to our waiting Pups and managed to get clear as the bombs fell on Flez.





Two bombers high and out of reach. We scrambled and chased but they were long gone. As we returned the scale of the damage was evident. Four hangars shredded; the maintenance shed destroyed as were three enlisted men’s tents. Four men killed. Seven wounded. Bloody April indeed.

1320 hrs. Afternoon patrol was an escort of 2 Harry Tates from RFC-34 to bomb enemy reserve positions.
Pixley led Stewart, Foster, and Hudson.
Circled the RV point for 20 minutes. No sign of RFC 34 so Pixley led us home.

We buried McIntosh, Smith, Hamilton, and Percival in the churchyard across the field. Hamilton was the only one I knew and that was just in passing. Hamilton, nearly as wide as he was tall, always smiling as he scuttled about the hangars often carrying some massive load. A Kiwi, he’d fought at Gallipoli before transferring to the RFC. Dead now, 12 miles behind the lines, far from the land of his fathers.

Confirmation from Wing of yesterday’s black snake Albatros. Five now. Fifteen more and I’d be up there with the Baron’s men. I didn’t care and was in no mood for celebration. A subdued mess tonite. I left after dinner.

Lou, it would be nice to have the skin in WOFF, but there are no aces to use it. You’d never see it. I don’t know what it is. All the Albatroses are just falling apart. I checked twice to make sure the Multimod switch is on. Maybe something changed in the latest patch and that setting doesn’t work anymore. Only Jara would know.
I must applaud Swany’s determination to get a girl, any girl, at any price, as long as it’s free.
Well done getting nurse Mead to take pity on poor Swany (and getting a good meal in the process).

Raine, looks like those medals are really affecting their recipients in strange ways. Tough luck with Hans.
On a related note, the funny thing about WOFF is that it typically miscalculates the number of days one should be out of action. Usually what happens is the recovery only lasts until the end of the month. If you get injured on the 28 and WOFF tells you your pilot will be out for 15 days, in reality he will be back to fighting form on the first of next month. Have you checked Hans isn’t ready to fly on 1 June? If not, I will not complain - always nice to read about new career. I think it’s time for a Yank.

Carrick, congrats on yet another dead Hun. You are putting Nigel to shame.

Epower, congrats on making it to acedom. I have no doubt you will soon be up there with the best of them, Hun or otherwise.
Don’t you find it strange that those bombers always find their way over our aerodromes just as we are taking off?

22 May, 1917 06:45 morning mission
St. Pol-sur-Mer, Flanders Sector
RNAS-2
SC Tobias Chester Mulberry VC, DSC&Bar, DSO&Bar, Ld’H, Od’L, WS
12.3 confirmed kills

One of the machines from morning mission and the one his gunner shot down in the afternoon had been confirmed.
Bombing of Ghistelles aerodrome went well. Toby scored a pair of hits on a few hangars. On the way back he caught a glimpse of some commotion behind him. It looked like some Germans made a diving attack and were in the middle of a fight. Toby would continue on, but noticed one of them was coming after him. He turned to face his foe and began a series of head on passes. The German pilot had to be inexperienced for he never returned any of Mulberry’s fire. Eventually the Hun lost his nerve and began evasive turns, always aiming for the Front and back home. Toby found him retreating and got on his tail. After numerous salvos, the wings on the Boche’s plane collapsed and the naked fuselage tumbled down. There were no more surprises on the way home.

YouTube Link

Francois Gaston Pistache
Chevalier de France
Sergant, Esc 90
Mix N-23 and N-24 Bis
Toul, Verdun.

May 23, 1917.

4 victory's
1 unconfirmed


Two Patrols today No contact: Its just as well since our 3 replacements came in, we need a little training time.

e power great little story and pics that are spot on.

Yes, great pics and story to go with it!