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#4620553 - 02/11/23 02:03 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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35

Höhndorf stands watching the rain with me in the hangar. We’re scheduled for training but I have just gotten through telling him that I don’t think there will be any flying today when der Eieserne comes storming up, cursing and wanting to know why we aren’t doing our training.


[Linked Image]


I simply point to the sky, at which point the volcano explodes. It’s all I can do to contain my own anger. I know Berthold can see in my face that I’m considering killing him no matter what the consequences. He doesn’t exactly back down but he does turn on his heel and walk away, not waiting for our acknowledgement or salute.

Fine, we round up our crews to get our birds up and running.

While I'm doing this, I'm weighing the possibilities. I could desert and make my way to Switzerland, taking up one of the alternate identities I always have in reserve. I could also go to America and even perhaps join their air service or get back into the ground war. Africa or the Far or Middle East? None of these alternatives sounds appetizing.

Beomia’s wings are sodden and heavy and the pilot’s seat is wet, causing my buttocks to itch intolerably. I have to constantly wipe my goggles with the silk rag I have attached to a string on my flying suit. The whole thing is a misery and I do it half heartedly.


[Linked Image]

Attached Files sata looking out hangar at rain.jpgSAA mock combat Hohdorf.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/11/23 02:07 PM.
#4620554 - 02/11/23 02:06 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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After we’ve done a few mock combats and follow the leader we come in. The ground is so sodden that it collapses beneath Beomia’s wheels and she comes up on her nose, breaking the propeller. I cut the power to the engine as she gracefully tilts forward until she lands upside down.

Hanging upside down in my restriaining belts I hear running feet and shouting. Even though I have shut the engine off it’s still best not to linger so I put an arm up so that I touch the ground and pull the pin that holds my restraints. There’s little room but enough for me to crawl out.

Hands reach in and quickly pull me from under Beomia. I stand and it appears I’m not much the worse for wear, a few bruises.

I look at poor Beomia laying there on her back, looking very undignified with her legs pointing skyward. Eine Damenlandung.*
*Ladies landing




[Linked Image]


I couldn’t, for the life of me, get a WOFF plane to flip upside down without bursting into flames. So, this is a modification of an internet photo of a DV turned turtle.

Attached Files SAAA ladies landing.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/11/23 02:06 PM.
#4620556 - 02/11/23 02:11 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Not far away Höhndorf, having suffered the same fate, is sitting by his overturned Albatros as well. Nuemann, the Sanitätsunteroffizier is looking at him.

I see Berthold standing at a distance with his hands in his pockets and think how satisfying it would be to break that skinny neck. I could do so easily. He turns and walks away no doubt satisfied that although he has three aircraft down no pilots are off the roster.

As I watch him go, I see his limp and the posture of an exhausted old man. I’m reminded of why he is the way he is much of the time and even though he is without a doubt an ass, pity replaces my hatred.

Training is cancelled for the rest of the day. How wise of der Meister. A bit late.

In between rain showers the Schwarzer Mann right our two kisten. She weighs about 1,000 kg (a ton) but most of that weight is in the front so the tail section is relatively light. Cables are attached to the tail section and a team of men pull Beomia up onto her nose while another group steadies her. The tail section is then pulled while the group under the fuselage hold her so that she is gently lowered to the ground in the upright position.



[Linked Image]



Her undercarriage is broken so carts are put under her and she is pushed into the hangar. Her upper wing is ruined and the struts will have to be replaced.

Margot has a propeller and everything that’s needed to replace the struts and the undercarriage but it will be a few days before a new top wing arrives. I’ll have to use a reserve aircraft unless we get some serious Flliegerwetter (pilot’s weather).

The only aircraft available is a DV which I don’t particularly relish flying with its lower wing shedding tendencies. The MGs will have been zeroed in by the armorer but they’re not set to my liking. I’ll put up with it until Beomia is back in condition. At least that ridiculous head rest has been removed on the upgraded production batch.
There’s nothing for Höhndorf so he’s grounded for awhile. He’s welcome to this kiste.

I spend much of the evening checking over the ammunition belts and looking over the DV with my crew.

We are informed that the assault of this morning was a complete success. I also found out that my old regiment, the König von Sachsen 4. Infantrie-Reg. Nr. 103 was involved in the assault and are presently holding a line of trenches near Polygonwald. Our 32. Infantrie-Division was reassigned as [i]eingreifdivision [/i](counter-attack division) to Gruppe-Wytschaete earlier in the month.*



ENDE

Attached Files Sc ladies landing.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/11/23 02:14 PM.
#4620557 - 02/11/23 02:18 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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36


Höhndorf and I have had a chance to get to know each other somewhat today so he sits with me in the Kasino. He asks me the usual questions.

I tell him, “When attacked it is always best to act immediately, automatically, even if it is not the best possible of all moves. If you think long, you will think wrong and do not run, always face your attacker. Turn under him and he cannot fire at you.”

“If you feel you are out of your depth, act as though you will ram him, make him get out of the way. Unless he is very cool, he will think you are mad and probably try to get away from you.”



[Linked Image]



“Of course, now that Paul has shown us that the spin is possible, that may prove to be just as effective in this case.”

“If you do so, it would be best to drop down to at least 1,500 meters as at that altitude your pursuer will come under ground fire and will most probably break off and go home.”



[Linked Image]


“If you find yourself separated from the rest of the Staffel and cannot find them, go directly back to Harlebeke. If you see other aircraft that your certain are Germans, and their going roughly your way, join them. It is much to dangerous to fly about on your own. There are specialists on both sides who hunt for such verfranztes hasen.” (lost bunnies)

Attached Files SZ head to head.jpgSZ spin.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/11/23 02:19 PM.
#4620558 - 02/11/23 02:21 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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“As for attacking, it is always best to climb onto the back of a single-seater, but a two-seater, if you can, it is best to get behind and below him where Franz cannot see you. But if this is not possible, I prefer to approach them from the front and below, you face the pilot’s gun but it is fixed and can be evaded better than the flexible mount of the[Franz.[/i]”


[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]

Attached Files SZ attacking SPAD.jpgSZ attacking 2 seater.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/11/23 02:22 PM.
#4620559 - 02/11/23 02:24 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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“Do not get into a Kurvenkempf (turn fight) with a triplane, any turns you make should be to the left, their rotary does not allow them to turn so well in that direction. If you become involved in a Kurvenkempf with a SPAD or SE 5 and they are above you, stay below them so that the distance between you is too short for them to attack you. Usually after a short time of this useless activity they will break away, using their greater speed to outdistance you and go home. If you have to break out of the turn, turn around tight and face him head on.”


[Linked Image]



“Never be shy about a frontal attack, use your rudder in either direction to throw his aim off while your MGs are still pointed at him. Begin your turn as he passes. This is your opportunity, you are already beginning to turn, complete it and you are behind him, at least for a few seconds and often that is enough.”

Attached Files SZ tripe dogfight.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/11/23 02:25 PM.
#4620560 - 02/11/23 02:30 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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He then asks me something more personal, “To what do you attribute your tremendous luck? The others tell me you have cheated death many times.”


“One makes one’s own luck, that is at least half of it.”

“I check my own ammunition more thoroughly than even der Eiserne requires and I fire my guns in short bursts, this also helps prevent jamming.”

“I stay on good terms with the Schwarzer Manner, I go over my aircraft every evening and check it over again, as carefully as possible, before takeoff.”

“I try to make sure I get enough sleep, eat well, do not drink heavily during flying weather. “

“Sleep is more necessary than food for you. You cannot fly well if you do not sleep well.”

“I take leave whenever possible.”

“I have good comrades who watch my back as I watch theirs.”

“Above all, do not depend on superstition. No god cares what happens to you. Depend on yourself.”

But you have symbols of luck on your fuselage, the horse shoe and four-leaf clover.”

“A joke only, because of my reputation and Spitzname, no more.”

He accepts this but I think he was hoping for something more. A magic charm such as a Himmelsbrief * or some other talisman sold by fortune tellers and other hucksters, or perhaps a special prayer..

[Linked Image]

Attached Files SZ Eber Nieu.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/11/23 02:31 PM.
#4620562 - 02/11/23 02:38 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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In my quarters tonight the railway station seems to be making much more noise than usual.

The conversation with Höhndorf causes me to reflect. Just how many times have I died and reawakened? I cannot count them. Sleep won’t be easy to achieve tonight.

*“Fighting the Kaiser’s War: The Saxons in Flanders 1914-1918,” Andrew Lucan and Jürgen Schmieschek, Pen and Sword 2015.


[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]



[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]
It’s just a flesh wound!




ENDE



NO POST TOMORROW



IN CASE YOU LOOKED IN EARLIER...I GOT MY POSTINGS OUT OF ORDER. THIS IS POST #36 AND I FORGOT TO PUT IN #35. TO CATCH UP - GO BACK AND YOU WILL FIND #35 NOT POSTED ABOVE THIS ONE.

Attached Files SZ dark ages thrones britannia c.jpgSZ dead agincourt c.jpgSZ dead napoleonic c watrloo.jpgSZ medival Ottoman sultanate vs france d JUST A FLESH WOUND.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/11/23 02:40 PM.
#4620587 - 02/11/23 10:49 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
jerber,
would you consider sharing your graphics card settings and your in game graphic settings? The photos are really great.

Thanks.


"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb." - Benjamin Franklin
#4620590 - 02/11/23 11:59 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Sorry NEC

Nothing to share. These are just snips off the internet. Except for the WOFF shots. I just use the vanilla graphics settings in the Sim.

No graphics card wizard here, all your modern technology frightens an old came man like myself.

Jerry H

Last edited by jerbear; 02/12/23 12:01 AM.
#4620683 - 02/13/23 11:45 AM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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37


Samstag,
25 August 1917

The weather is clear enough by early afternoon for me to take the DV out for a spin and familiarize myself with it.

It feels a bit heavy but handles well, It’s not as responsive as Beomia, but well enough. I don’t see any particular improvement over the OAW DIII. The fuselage is more rounded. Visibility from the cockpit is about the same.

I climb to 1,000 meters and find that it takes about the same four minutes to reach that altitude.

I dive and take it on an Affenfahrt* and find that I’m fine as long as I keep it reasonably shallow, but any truly steep angle brings a dangerous vibration in the lower wing.

I’m not at all impressed with Johannesthal’s latest product and I’ll be glad when Beomia is back on her feet again. I go to see Hermann (Margot) to find out if he knows anything about the new wing. They’re going over to the 4. Armee-Flugpark (aviation supply depot) today with a truck to pick it up.

In the meantime, Georg and Heinrich work on the bracing and it’s better when I take her up again but I’m still nervous about it.

Next we push her to the range and put her tail up on a trestle to sight the MGs.

*Monkey ride


[Linked Image]


This evening we’re able to make a patrol at 1855.

We have a cloudless sky with a westerly wind. The temperature reached 20 degrees by late afternoon but the patrol will be at 5,000 meters so it’s time to bundle up. I put on my silk shirt for extra insolation.

This will be a small patrol, Berthold, Paul, Auffarth, Turck, Schober, Veltjens and me in the DV, no lower patrol.

We fly back and forth between Ypres and Dieu. Flak is moderate today.



[Linked Image]



Attached Files TR DV test flight.jpgT Map A.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/13/23 11:46 AM.
#4620684 - 02/13/23 11:53 AM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Over the Ypres front are 6 SPADS about 500 meters below us and 6 SEs lower, perhaps another four to five hundred meters down.*

Berthold attacks the SPADS and we all follow.

*According to Greg VanWyngarden in his Osprey book “Jasta 18; the Red Noses,” these are SPADs from No. 23 Squadron and SE 5s from No. 56 Squadron.


[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]



Coming in behind him, I have to pull up because that #%&*$# wing is vibrating, the SPAD Berthold has attacked goes into a spin but one climbs and comes toward me. When I fire a burst from my Spandaus *fragments fly all over the aircraft and the noise from the exhaust becomes deafening.

VERDAMMT!

Something is wrong with the MGs or the ammunition!


*Maxim machine guns were referred to colloquially as a Spandau since they were manufactured at the Köngilich Gewehr und Munitions Fabrik (Royal Gun and Ammunition Factory) at Spandau, Berlin.

Attached Files Ta Six Spads below us cockpit shot.jpgTAa Bert attacking SPADs.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/13/23 11:53 AM.
#4620686 - 02/13/23 12:04 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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I pull away to assess the damage. The SPAD is now otherwise occupied with Auffarth. The intake manifold and exhaust are riddled and my oil pressure is down so the line must have been hit.


[Linked Image]



Looking around, it appears none of the Lords in the area have taken notice of me so I pull back the throttle further and turn east, determining that I’m between Zillebeke and Hollebeke. The engine temperature goes up dramatically so I have to shut it down before it seizes up.

I still have 4,000 meters under me so with the wind behind me I might possibly make it as far as the aerodrome at Menen if I’m not interfered with.

Now that the propeller has stopped I can see that it took some damage from the fragments as well.

I manage to glide to the aerodrome at Menen but break the undercarriage and damage one of the wings in the landing, entirely by accident, of course. A freak gust of wind, such things happen.

Menen is another of the airfields with a Bavarian unit in residence, Schusta 24b. So again I see ground crewmen dressed in blue. They’re not happy with having to hoist the DV onto a cart and drag it off the field
.
Jasta 33 is also here with their yellow noses. The Staffel livery is very plain, just a yellow spinner hub and a white number on the fuselage. They’re still flying the early version of the Albatros DIII. Clearly they’re low on the Luftstreitkräfte food chain.

The Schusta uses a white diamond with a blue number in the center on the DFWs.




[Linked Image]


These DFWs are from SS-24b. The first one in line is the standard WOFF skin, the 2nd is a custom skin from the Two-Seater Mod for Karl Kallmuzer, the only ace pilot assigned to this unit by WOFF.

Attached Files Auffarth.jpgTfb ss24b.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/13/23 12:05 PM.
#4620687 - 02/13/23 12:13 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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I have a look at the damage done to the machine. The MGs appear normal, it has to be the ammunition, probably the new incendiaries.

Then I go to the office, the Jastaführer is not there so I report to the Offizier zbV and get on the blower to Harlebeke.

I’m not offered the hospitality of the Pilotenkasino but have some bitter ersatz coffee in the office. Not all OzbV are equal and this one could probably use some instruction in the art of acquisition.

After several hours of waiting about, the Benz finally comes to collect me. It seems that der Meister suffered the same fate as myself when he used that ammunition, crashing his machine near the village of Gheluvelt.* The ammunition is being sent back to the depot and an investigation is supposed to be made.

Otto Shober is also down and we pick him up at a field hospital near the Menen Roeselare (Roulers) Eisenbahn.** He’s not injured seriously.

Last evening he and Paul had a number of fights with the the SEs I saw. Schober took a number of hits and used the trudeln to escape, leveling out at about 200 meters and making his getaway to the east for a forced landing west of the Roulers-Menin road.***



[Linked Image]



*In Jörg Mücker and Rainer Absmeier’s “Jasta 14, Die Geschichte der Jagdstaffel 14 – 1916-1918,” there is a newly discovered photo of one of Rudolf Berthold’s DIII OAW crashed near Gheluvelt in August or September 1917. The cause of the accident is not known and there is nothing recorded about Berthold being injured at that time so he must have survived the crash unhurt.

Gheluvelt is marked on the Map above as is the place where Schober landed.

*Literally, iron road - railroad

** Osprey “Jasta 18; the Red Noses,” Greg VanWyngarden. VanWyngarden believes this was RTC ‘Georgie’ Hoidge of No. 56 Squadron who claimed Schober as a victory.



ENDE

Attached Files TH Schober and Hoige no 56.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/13/23 12:13 PM.
#4620777 - 02/14/23 12:31 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Sontag 26 August 1917

I don’t get back to Harlebeke until the next morning at around 0730. The morning patrol is just returning. Berthold must not have suffered any injury since he led it. He has a personal reserve machine.

In the night enemy machines have come over, dropping bombs and machine gunning, they were met by heavy AA fire and didn’t linger. No visible damage was done except a few holes in the field which are being filled by the civilian workers.

A Ltn Schüssler* has arrived, whom I meet when I come into the office.

I have to fill out a report on the incident with the ammunition and my crash with the DV. Berthold and I speak about the ammunition when he comes in the office. He gets quite worked up about it to the point that it’s hard to tell if he’s angry at me or the ammunition supplier. But, that’s his way, you just shrug your shoulders and go about your business, usually. I wonder if he knows how close he came to being murdered yesterday?

I see Paul coming off the flight line. I get his version of what happened last evening and he and Schober’s fights with the “Pups” which were the SEs I saw, he insists on calling them Pups. I told him it was greatly to his credit that he had pioneered the spinning technique, it most probably saved Otto’s life.
So, that’s three of us down, two because of our own ammunition.

*The only information I have on this pilot is his rank and last name. He was with Jasta 18 from August to sometime in October.



[Linked Image]

Attached Files U patrol landing.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/14/23 12:31 PM.
#4620778 - 02/14/23 12:34 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Spiess tells me that orders have come down that von Barnekow is to report to Jasta 4 in Richthofen’s Geschwader by the 4th of September. He’s moving up to the big leagues. He’ll get along well there, lots of blue blood.

I expected to be grounded until Beomia is repaired but my luck only goes so far. Since Oblt Jahns is leaving us for Jasta 28w on September 4th, Berthold lets him go on furlough before he reports to his new command. I can take his machine.

Very nice of him.

No rest for the wicked.



[Linked Image]
Detail from the airfield at Harlebecke is from Rob Wiggins’ Consolidated Custom Facilities Mod.

Attached Files UA jahns machine in front of hange=ar.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/14/23 12:34 PM.
#4620779 - 02/14/23 12:39 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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The next patrol will be at around 1200 so I have a lot of work to do. I check out Jahn’s Albatros, his crew says it’s in good shape, the engine problems he had been having were fixed with a new carburetor.

I have no time to check the sighting of the guns but I pull out the ammunition belts and put Beomia’s in for the left gun. I take all the tracers out of her right gun belt and put that one in this machine as well.

I go over the machine’s controls, checked the cocking mechanism on the MGs. The rigging seems good, this will certainly be better than flying the DV.

By the time I grab a very quick afternoon meal it’s time. Berthold calls all of us to the front of the lined up Albatrosn for a quick mission briefing.

Only seven of us this time and no lower patrol, this one will be at 3,000 meters. Berthold will lead us, there are myself, Keller, Seppl, Auffarth, Turck and Richard Runge.

We will patrol between Comines and Ypres.

It’s cloudless and clear just overhead but a heavy layer of stratus is coming over from the Ypres front. The wind is quite strong and from the west.


[Linked Image]

Attached Files U Map a.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/14/23 12:39 PM.
#4620780 - 02/14/23 12:44 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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We take off all together into the wind, then turn in the direction of Comines to the southwest. A few minutes later, when we have reached about 700 meters, suddenly tracers are flying all around us. A Geschwader* of five SPADs attack out of the incoming clouds.

*The term Geschwader (squadron or formation) can be used to refer to any formation from a half-flight of three machines to a complete squadron of 12 to 18.




[Linked Image]



[Linked Image]

Attached Files UB SPAD attack.jpgUB SPADs attacking.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/14/23 12:45 PM.
#4620781 - 02/14/23 12:51 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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The SPADs use the same tactics as the last scrap we had with them, diving down on us with terrific speed then zooming back up out of reach.

These SPADs are so powerful they must be the new 200 hp type. All we can do was avoid their attacks as there was no way to come to grips with them.

In the end, they all shear off towards Ypres and we return home.



[Linked Image]




[Linked Image]




[Linked Image]



[Linked Image]




ENDE

Attached Files U Berthold vs SPAD.jpgU auffarth fighting.jpgU dogfight distance.jpgU spad going home.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/14/23 12:53 PM.
#4620825 - 02/15/23 11:59 AM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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39



Paul meets me at the hangar when I dismount. He’s going over to Moorseele to try out the captured SPAD* FA33 has over there. "Yes,,,of course I want to go."

I get permission from der Eiserne and we climb into the second Benz that was recently acquired by the efforts of our OzbV and Berthold’s clout.

As he starts the car up, Paul says, “I hear you have been busy.”

“Busy…oh, you mean that business with Malmann. Yes, but it is all sorted out with him. I had to deal with some of the men who wanted revenge on him while he can’t defend himself but that is all taken care of now as well.”

Der Meister shouldn’t use you as his personal ruffian.”

“But I am a ruffian. I don’t mind. It is something I have always been good at and I rather enjoy it.”

“Each to his own.”

Moorseele is only about 15 km away and the roads aren’t too jammed with traffic so we’re there in less than a half hour. The SPAD is already sitting out of the hangar, warming up, all the cockades now covered over by large white patches with the Eisernes Kruez painted over them

It’s a 150 hp SPAD VII. The serial number reads, B.3504. It was forced down by Flak in June and was flown by No. 23 Squadron.
.
*A picture of this SPAD can be found on page 87 “Above Ypres: The German Air Force in Flanders 1914-1918” by Bernard Beneckere, Firestep Press 2013.

It was forced down by Flak on 18 June 1917, flown by Cpt Davidson of No. 23 Squadron. This from Osprey “Jasta 18; the Red Noses,” Greg VanWyngarden, page 33, where there is another picture of the machine.



[Linked Image]




CAPTION: off_spadVII_ace_t_0 RFC 1917_Captured_B3504. This skin can be found in the Personal Skin Mod after the next update. Unfortunately you can’t take off from a German aerodrome but you can fly over and land on one. If you feel particularly evil that day you can join an Allied formation and backshoot everyone. What fun! clapping



Attached Files U Captured SPAD A sitting on field.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/15/23 12:18 PM.
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Carnival Cruise Ship Fire....... Again
by F4UDash4. 03/26/24 05:58 PM
Baltimore Bridge Collapse
by F4UDash4. 03/26/24 05:51 PM
The Oldest WWII Veterans
by F4UDash4. 03/24/24 09:21 PM
They got fired after this.
by Wigean. 03/20/24 08:19 PM
Grown ups joke time
by NoFlyBoy. 03/18/24 10:34 PM
Anyone Heard from Nimits?
by F4UDash4. 03/18/24 10:01 PM
RIP Gemini/Apollo astronaut Tom Stafford
by semmern. 03/18/24 02:14 PM
10 years after 3/8/2014
by NoFlyBoy. 03/17/24 10:25 AM
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