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#4620826 - 02/15/23 12:06 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Paul climbs in and we look at the cockpit. It’s quite spacious and gleams with brass and nickel gauges.


[Linked Image]



I watch him speed down the field and climb into the air.

Since I’m not expected, I have to go to the office to ask permission for a quick spin in the captured machine.

I’m given permission to take the SPAD up for fifteen minutes.

I flew a number of captured machines at the Jagdschule, but they didn't have an operational SPAD at that time.

After Paul lands he stays in the machine, some of the Schwarzer Mann guide it back down the field where I’m waiting.

“Anything I need to know?”

“Just that the throttle is a little strange and she’s a little unstable in a climb. I had no problems with the takeoff or landing.”

One of the Schwarzer Mann helps me get strapped in, down with the goggles. Los gehts!

The throttle, instead of being attached to the stick is over to the side, in front of another handle for fuel mixture. That will take some getting used to. Also the cane like stick feels strange after so much time in the Albatros with its two handles.

There’s plenty of power in the Hispano-Suiza V8 and I climb to 1,000 meters in a little over two minutes, almost twice as fast as the Albatros.

There are so many gauges I don’t really know what I’m looking at so I just listen and feel to try to get a sense of how the motor is running.

I don’t see any of the instability Paul mentioned. It seems like a very stable gun platform to me. The only thing I really have against it is the poor forward and downward visibility. The downward visibility I can deal with. After all, I flew a Walfisch for quite some time. Still, the forward view is so restricted I feel as if I’m boxed in.


[Linked Image]

Attached Files U cockput SPAD.jpgu CAPTURED SPAD B VISIBILITY.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/15/23 12:07 PM.
#4620827 - 02/15/23 12:14 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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[Linked Image]


I try a quick Affenfahrt* at full power and recovery, during which I almost black out. There is no vibration in the wings at all during the dive, this thing is very strong.

I try a couple of shallow turns in a figure eight. Then I try some tighter turns. The big rudder is very sensitive but the turns aren’t as tight as an Albatros can make, this I already knew, having flown against our fellow sportsmen in this machine a number of times. During the tightest turns I could get out of the crate it warned me of a stall by starting to shudder so I could let up in time to avoid it. I can see why the Engländers and Baguette’s who fly these machines prefer the straight in diving attack to any sort of maneuvering.

I cut the gas back to an idle to see how she glides. There’s none of the floating sensation you get in an Albatros. It starts to drop like a brick

All things considered, I think I could live with such a machine and have a certain feeling of security from its strong construction. I’d prefer to have two guns though.

I try to land it like the old Walfisch, just letting it land itself, but she wants to put her nose down, and again, feels heavy as a brick so I have to pull the nose up and give more power for another go around. I don’t know how you would make a dead stick landing in the thing.

On the second try, a little bounce but not a bad landing.

Paul and I discuss the SPAD on the way back. Having flown it and seeing the vulnerabilities first hand, we’ll have a better idea as to how to handle one in a fight.

There was a good deal of discussion about the SPAD in the Pilotenkasino. Some of the others are going to try to get over there to fly it themselves, Auffarth in particular. He’s a very intense fellow.

* Monkey ride



[Linked Image]



ENDE







Attached Files u CAPTURED spad FLYING A.jpgu CAPTURED SPAD FLYING B.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/15/23 12:23 PM.
#4620888 - 02/16/23 11:54 AM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Freitag, 31 August 1917

On this, our fifth day of Flliegerwetter, der Eiserne has arranged for us to make a visit to Bubi Voss’ Jasta 10 at Huele to have a look at his experimental V4 Fokker Dreidecker.*

Paul and I got a distant look at the one the Richthofenstaffel has when we were at Moorsleede yesterday as it took off. We were there to pick up the photos Paul has been taking for 4. Armee of the Kortrijk area in the captured FE2d with Schober as pilot.*

*This is one of the first two Fokker Triplanes to reach the front line for further evaluation by Richthofen and Voss. They were not yet designated Fokker Dr1.

*This FE2d was captured 7 May 1917 by Ltn Walter von Bülow-Bothkamp, then a member of Jasta 18. It was from No. 20 Squadron and was used extensively for taking back area photographs during this period.


[Linked Image]



[Linked Image]




Attached Files V FE.jpgV  tripe taking off.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/16/23 11:55 AM.
#4620889 - 02/16/23 12:02 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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As a result of this trip I became acquainted with Ltn Benzsch who is in charge of the photograph developing section of FA 250s. We were able to come to an accommodation about the development of the film from my little camera. I’ve been able to visit several of the Jastas in the area during this bad weather to take photographs of some very interesting and beautifully painted aircraft.

As soon as my photographs are developed I’ll have another round of trips to make since I promised copies of these photos to many of the pilots whose picture was taken with the aircraft.

We’re going to Huele* rather than Marckebeke where the other triplane is because most of us already know Bubi and there’s just too much of a circus going on at Marckebeke.

This is, of course where Richtofen’s Staffel is and Tony Fokker is over there taking moving pictures of the Baron flying the thing and there’s brass @ssh01* deep over there.

Bubi was acting Staffelführer for us for about a month back in Jasta 14.

Berthold looks very dapper in his favorite Litewka**

All of us pilots, including Margot, load up in the two cars and one of the gray trucks for the short ride across the Lys. We NCO’s, of course, are in the truck. We are all well lubricated, and a jolly time we have of it.

Bubi is standing outside one of the hangars in a rumpled uniform with his hands in his pockets when we pull up and pile out of the vehicles. He looks old and exhausted. Used up at the age of twenty-one. But he seems as glad to see us as we are to see him.


*”Jasta Pilots” and a number of other publications has Jasta 10 at Marckebeke but “September Evening: The Life and Final Combat of the German World War One Ace, Werner Voss” by Barry Diggens, Grub Street 2012 says there was not enough room at Marckbeke so Jasta 10 was at Huele.

**Litewka, a dress down type tunic of lighter, softer fabric with a turn-down collar


[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]

Attached Files V worn out Voss.jpgV Lewtka.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/16/23 12:03 PM.
#4620890 - 02/16/23 12:07 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Introductions all around for the ones who haven’t met him before. I thought Höhndorf was going to faint when he met such a star as Bubi. He and Berthold have met and he gives der Eiserne a halfhearted salute, as you would expect from Bubi.

Bubi shakes my hand and slaps me on the back, “FELIX, wie geht es dir du alt Perversling? Keeping your nose clean are you?”

“As far as anyone knows. What have you heard?”

Then I say what everyone is thinking.

“You know…you look like die $ch!*$$e!

“Yes…you know this Staffelführer business is killing me.”

“Take leave.”

“Soon. By the way you look like $ch!*$$e too, but that’s normal for you. Nit wahr?”

“Just so.”

“Let me introduce you to my baby,” he says to all of us and leads our little party over to the edge of the field where his baby sits and pats it lovingly.

To me it looks like a stubbier version of the Fokker DV with three, equally stubby, heavily cantilevered wings. The top wing looks too heavy and makes the machine look as if it will fall over any time it is moved.

The wings are attached by a single thick strut. No bracing wires at all except for a few in the center with the engine struts attaching the top wing to the fuselage. This just doesn’t look like enough bracing. I don’t see how that big top wing can stay on under any kind of stress.

It’s painted with layers of different colored streaks such as I have seen on a few working machines, mostly DFWs. According to the light at various angles, it appears to be light blue, greenish brown or gray. The round cowl is a dark gray. It has two cooling holes in the cowl that suggest eyes. Bubi, always inventive with his aircraft’s painting has put the outline of a white face on the cowl using these holes as the eyes.



[Linked Image]

CAPTION: : off_Fokker_DR1_ace_t_Jasta 10 1917_Werner’Bubi’_Voss.

Skin made by Terry Kerby and James Romano in 2010. The sky is from BuckeyeBob’s cloud Mod BB Heavy Dark Clouds.

Unfortunately, Voss never flies this DR1 in campaign. BHH2 does not assign this aircraft to Jasta 10. If you want to see or fly it you’ll have to do it in QC or maybe it’s used in a Quick Scenario. Don’t know, never use them.



Attached Files V voss and baby.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/16/23 12:09 PM.
#4620891 - 02/16/23 12:12 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Bubi tells me that this face was suggested to him when he remembered the Japanese kites* he saw as a child.

He tells us that his baby, FI 103/17, has a le Rhone engine because they just can’t get the Oberursel right yet

Bubi says she’s a dream to fly, the most perfect machine he has ever flown. It is as if she were made specifically for him.

He assures me that the bracing for the wings is more than adequate and that, although she’s not fast, she can reach 1,000 meters in a little over two minutes and that’s without any momentum from a dive.

She has excellent visibility once you’re in the air, except for the center wing placement. A little tail heavy but you get used to that.

“I can slap her around to reverse direction with rudder only, no banking at all, just whipping my tail behind me.”

I’m impressed with what he tells me and I’m glad for him but I just don’t think this is a machine I want to fly. First of all, I hate rotaries with their verdammt Schirpsknapf (blip switch) and I’m just not interested in fancy aerobatics. The Albatros and the captured SPAD I flew last Sunday are more my style.

I get him to stand in front of his baby and let me take some pictures with my little Brownie. He’s interested in the camera, photography is one of his hobbies, and I let him play with it.

I think the machine smells of fish but don’t mention it. It must be the ersatz oil…Voltol.*

Karl and Christian* come out to see me. It’s good to see them again. We exchange a little gossip.

*The face was from a Japanese fighting kite. Voss father was a business man who did trade with various Asian countries and Werner had seen these kites as a boy.

*Voltol is an ersatz for castor oil, which was unavailable in adequate quantity to the Germans. It was a blend of fish oil, rape seed and various minerals.

* Gfr Christian Rüser and Flieger Karl Timm, Voss’ mechanics. These men followed him to all his assignments and he was on a first name basis with them. Part of the problem the military establishment had with Voss was his familiarity with the enlisted men.

September Evening: The Life and Final Combat of The German World War I Ace: Werner Voss,” by Barry Diggins (214)

Also, I call the triplane Voss’ baby. I have no idea if he called it anything or not. I just made that up too for the sake of a good story. This is semi-fictional, after all.

#4620892 - 02/16/23 12:15 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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I separate myself from the crowd and walk around the airfield. There are some of the new Pfalz DIII types here too, painted in a mauve and green camouflage scheme.

Jasta 24 shares Heule with Voss’ Staffel and I take a few pictures of those as well



[Linked Image]


CAPTION The Pfalz is the wingman skin OvStachel made for the new Pfalz DIIIa model and the Albatros is the stock WOFF Skin Pack skin for Heinrich Kroll, Jasta 24.


[Linked Image]

Attached Files V Pfalz.jpgV DV J24 Kroll.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/16/23 12:16 PM.
#4620893 - 02/16/23 12:18 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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While I’m taking some pictures of the new Pfalz I run into a newcomer here at the Staffel, a Leutnant Julius Bender* and we hit it off quite well.

He’s a tough looking Badener, with none of the airs of an officer. We talk about the Pfalz, one of which he flies and he’s quite pleased with it. It’s not a trick machine like Voss’ toy and it’s a little slower and a little less responsive than an Albatros but it’s solid, rugged and it dives like hell.

I offer him one of my precious Bond cigarettes which he likes very much. These are a new acquisition of mine. They’re made by Philip Morris of London whom King Albert of Belgium named his Royal Tobacconist. They’re, I think, the best smoke I’ve ever had.

Bender is very much interested in how such things can be found and I promise to take him along on some of my shopping tours. When we part, I give him the rest of the pack

*Bender’s record in “Jasta Pilots” is wrong, it says he was assigned from the Infantry to pilot training 3 Sep 17, FEA 11 and Jagdschule I on 22 Jan 18 but he is flying a Pfalz on 23 Sep, 1917 in Jasta 10 when Voss is killed. He is listed in March 1918 as being in Jasta 10 on the roster in “Hunting with Richthofen” p55, age 24. He is also shown in Jasta 10 only from 9-30 May 1918 in Jasta pilots.



[Linked Image]


Attached Files V Bender.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/16/23 12:18 PM.
#4620894 - 02/16/23 12:23 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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I come back over to the group, which appears to be breaking up. Bubi is complaining to Berthold, grumbling about all the paperwork of being Staffelführer.

Böhme* is here looking at the Dreidecker as well. I walk up and salute him and we shake hands. I didn’t know if he would remember me or not. He was one of my instructors at Fliegerschule at Liepzig-Lindenthal. He was a Vizefeldwebel then. Now he’s a grosskanon and Staffelführer of the prestigious Jagdstaffel Boelcke. They’re up near Bruge now at Varsenaere.

Quite a good fellow. A bit serious, but then this is a serious business. He and Voss are old mates from when Bubi was in Jasta Boelcke.

*Erwin Böhme



ENDE


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[size:18pt][/size]

Attached Files V Errwin Bohme.jpgKortrijik cenema.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/16/23 12:34 PM.
#4620961 - 02/17/23 11:27 AM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Samstag, 1 September 1917



[Linked Image]


It is 0830. The upper patrol, led by Bertold, is 4,500 meters over Warneton, just above the thick cloud layer. Following him are myself, Paul, Otto Schober, Jan Klein, Richard Runge and Sigi Keller.

Sepple has the lower patrol below the clouds at about 2,000 meters.

Storms are expected this afternoon but for now it’s calm enough.

It’s good to be back with Beomia. She has her new manifold and exhaust, new undercarriage and a beautiful new top wing with printed fabric in the lozenge camouflage pattern.


[Linked Image]



Caption- Replacement wing in 5 color lozenge. Windsock’s “Albatros DIII” by P M Grosz p 143 indicates that the 5 color lozenge began to be used with the 2nd batch of Albatros DIII OAWs, ordered May 1917.







We’ve also given her a new overall paint job but in the strong sunlight, her many wounds are made evident by the overpainted patches on her body and wings like the numerous scars on my own body, telling our stories.

Schüssler got Jahns’ old machine. He’s painted a Deutsch Michael on its side in white, with a red nightcap.




[Linked Image]


Caption-This figure on the fuselage is deutsche Michael, he’s the German national symbol of how they see themselves, like John Bull or Uncle Sam. Michael represents the people of Germany, an easy-going everyman. I spent two tours of duty in Germany and have seen this guy and never realized what he was, go figure.
The sky is from BuckeyeBob’s cloud Mod: BB Clouds and Fog, Low. The aircraft is at 15,500 feet.

Attached Files W MAP  b.jpgw Beomia new wings.jpgW Deutch Michael.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/17/23 11:48 AM.
#4620964 - 02/17/23 11:38 AM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Paul takes his Kette to chase after some fleeting dots and we lose track of him.

Paul and company find us again over the Houthulster Wald.

Since there seems to be nothing doing above the clouds we drop below them on our way to Wulverghem and Ploegstreert Wood and receive heavy Flak.

Over Warneton again, der Eiserne takes Klein, myself and Keller to chase after a pair of REs.

Berthold is far out ahead of us and a pair of Nautical raggies drop out of the clouds and start for him. I signal to the others and we climb to them, causing the boys in blue to think better of the idea and break off their attack.


[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]


Attached Files W berthold chasing.jpgw tripe goes home.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/17/23 11:38 AM.
#4620965 - 02/17/23 11:45 AM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Berthold leads us home by way of Comines and our wheels touch the grass again at 0930.

The dots Paul chased after turned out to be Albatrosn.

It begins to rain just about 1100 and increases to a full blown storm by mid-afternoon. Der Eiserne seems to have gotten over the idea of having us do training in heavy rain.

Today we get a ration of Heer und Flotte Zigaretten und Zigarren , a box of 10 cigars and 2 boxes of 20 cigarettes, not nearly enough for me, but I don’t really need them since I was able to procure plenty of tobacco for myself and the other pilots during the Flliegerwetter.

I’ll keep these issue items as a reserve or perhaps use them to grease some palms.

While shopping for the Offz bVz I got my hands on considerable amounts of various types of tobacco. These Bond cigarettes are marvelous and I’ll keep them close to me but I was able to get Vater some of those odorous clove scented French Gouloises and the equally obnoxious Gitanes favored by French officers, nasty things.

I found a very few Woodbines which are worth their weight in gold on the other side of the lines. I found a good number of Ecksteins, which are one of my favorites, some Pilots which Seppl favors and some Turkish Regie gaspers.*

I sold most of them off to the rest of the boys but make no profit off my flying comrades. This would be very poor form.

The alcohol ration was renewed also, I leave it in the Pilotenkasino account for drinking when I’m there, I have preferred brands I get by other means for more private use.


Paul is packing up to go on a well-deserved leave. He won’t be back until Oktober. Many things are in short supply back in the Heimat, I help him find some things to take back to his people in Schorndorff.

*Entirely fictional. I have no idea what type of cigarettes these people favored, other than that Veltjens smoked the R6 brand postwar.

ENDE



https://SimHQ.com/forum/tmp/44051.jpg

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Attached Files cigarettes Gaouloises french a.jpgcigarettes j turkish ww11.jpgcigarettes g.jpgcigarettes woodbine british cheap strong unfilered popular w enlisted.jpgcigarettes b.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/17/23 11:55 AM.
#4621024 - 02/18/23 12:03 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Sontag, 2 September 1917, Sedantag



[Linked Image]



Today is Sedantag* and as we have more Flliegerwetter, we can have a proper celebration.

I saw Paul this morning getting into the Benz to be taken to the train station in Kortrijk. He was loaded down with luggage and boxes. Maybe he’ll get home with all of it.

*Celebration of the victory at Sedan, 2 September 1870, during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71.
In Germany, this war is called the German-French War rather than Franco-Prussian since it resulted in the unification of the German states into a Reich, elevating Wilhelm I from King of Prussia to the Kaiser of the German Empire.


[Linked Image]



No training today. I spend my morning working on Beomia.

I run into Malmann. We have become, if not exactly friends, friendly. His broken arm isn’t slowing him down much. He joined me and some others from the Staffel on an expedition to Houtmarkt to work off our Geilheit* during our down time this past week.

The cooks and the OzbV outdo themselves. There are oak leaf wreaths around all the plates and serving dishes, flags and streamers all over the dining room and some very fine china and crystal, stolen from who knows where.

The cooks have prepared der Eisernes favorite dish, Bamberger Zwiebel,** a dish usually referred to as beer onion outside Berthold’s native Bamberg. With it are potatoes, a salad and a great deal of good beer. And, of course, there is the punchbowl which is usual during any Fliegerfreier (Flier’s celebration.)



[Linked Image]




Everyone is in their best finery, an eclectic group as is usual in a flying unit, almost everyone in the uniform of their Stammeinheit.*** I myself wear the tunic of the König von Sachsen 4. Infantrie-Reg. Nr. 103 with gray air service straps piped in the blue of my regiment and the number 4 in red below the red Fliegertruppe insignia. On my cap I wear the white green white cockade of Saxony below the black white red one of the Reich.

We put oak leaf sprigs in our cap bands and in our button holes as a patriotic gesture.

Berthold is at his best, turning on that considerable charm that has been less and less frequently seen in recent times.

We toast the Kaiser and the heroes of the Deutsch-Französischer Krieg von 1870 bis 1871 and the victory at Sedan.

I was not there at Sedan, having suffered a fatal wound in the rubble of Saint Privat on 18 August while with the 1st Saxon Brigade.

* randyness lust


**A large onion, hollowed out, filled with sausage meat, eggs and bread, then braised in a beer sauce. Usually served with potatoes or sauerkraut and, of course, beer.

***Parent unit





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Attached Files 2 sep Airfield in the rain.jpg2 Sep Berlin 1895.jpg2 Sep Saint Privat B.jpg2 Sep bamberger.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/18/23 12:23 PM.
#4621025 - 02/18/23 12:13 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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This was one of those times when I died in the field hospital and awoke in a row of other bodies to be buried. As often happens in the confusion in such places, it was just assumed that an error had been made.

My recovery from that was longer than usual as my leg was badly mangled. I had to fight the doctors and orderlies to keep them from taking it off. After I threatened to kill them all they left me alone. Why waste time on a madman when there were others who wanted to be saved. “Let the fool die if he wishes.”

But, of course, I did not die and the leg, though scarred is as sound as ever. Just as things have always been for me.

After this war, a united German nation, a Reich came into being and I, once again, served a Caesar.



[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]



Attached Files 2 Sep Fraco Prussian a.jpg2 Sep Franco Prussion b.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/18/23 12:25 PM.
#4621026 - 02/18/23 12:19 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Lively discussions buzz above the table and there is much singing as we become more lubricated.

We are treated to a fine comic story from der Eiserne about a fight he and I had during our period of being Franz und Emil.

“I had Felix here with me out to do some photographing when we were attacked by two enemy scouts.”

Imitating the maneuvers of our opponent with his hands he says, “The leader of the two came sliding from the side over our right wing…so high…I would say a hand’s breadth…I had to duck so that he would not take off the top of my head with his undercarriage.”


“I don’t think he even noticed my shouting ‘Good morning’ to him as he was in such a hurry to make a steep curve with his aerial chaise and plant himself below our tail. His fellow sportsman dropped down from above and nagged at us…from the right, from the left. I could have used a machine gun which turns in all directions like a garden sprinkler and sprays bullets.”


[Linked Image]


He now dabs with his handkerchief at his face, upon which the exertion of eating and drinking has caused drops of sweat to form.

“They made a sieve out of us. Horrible?”

Nicht Wahr Felix?”

I add my part to the exaggeration, “Just so…a complete sieve Eiserne…yes. I did not count the holes but there must have been hundreds…thousands!”

Eiserne continues, “But, in the end, that was our salvation. The Frenchmen could no longer see us because of all the holes and we escaped home.”

There was much merriment over his story, retold many times before but not to many of this particular crowd.

Since that one went so well he continues with his second story. “On another occasion, long before I flew with Felix, the uralte alt Kiste (ancient old crate) I was flying in received so many hits from ground fire between the two cockpits that the tail began to detach. But with presence of mind I flung both my arms around my Emil and held on tight, and in so doing kept the tail on. During the landing afterwards we flipped over. There we were lying on our back, and only when I freed my arms of my Emil did the fuselage break into two halves.”*

Auffarth is laughing so hard that he swallows the wrong way so that Seppl has to pound him on the back as his face turns blue.

Cigars are lit and we adjourn to the main room of the Kasino for more talk and drinking until Abendsbrott.

We talk about some of the various superstitions of pilots and Frontswein we have known. Their efficacy or lack thereof. The swindles perpetrated on the gullible by fortune tellers. Margot has a tale about a pilot he knew whose wife asked him to send some of his pubic hairs, long ones. She was paying a woman to make a charm from them that would protect him.

I ask,”Did it work?”

“Unknown…a Frenchman cremated him and his Franz before the charm came in the mail.”


[img]*These are adaptations of stories told at an Easter celebration at FAA 292b from Otto Fuchs Wir Flieger, translated with commentary by Adam M. Wait and published by Shiffer as “Flying Fox.”


ENDE


NO POST TOMORROW[/img]

Attached Files 2 Sep Aviatik vs Nieuport.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/18/23 12:30 PM.
#4621170 - 02/20/23 12:01 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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43

Dienstag, 4 September 1917

Alter Herr Dingel,* our jolly Uhlan has joined us from Jasta 14 this morning and Barnekow has gone to Jasta 4.

Dingel’s Spitzname, is rather amusing to me. He’s all of twenty-nine, but an ancient to these young men.

Physically I believe I must have stopped aging around twenty-five or six. So, I’m a bit of an ancient to them myself. How surprised they’d be if they knew my true age.

Margot is the oldest of the old Jasta 14 crowd at thirty-three.

*Old Mr. DIngel - Walter Dingel served with Berthold in FA23 and Jasta 14. Born 19 April 1888 in Magdeburg. Reserve officer, originally in Uhlan Regiment #16. Jörg Mücker and Rainer Absmeier’s “Jasta 14, Die Geschichte der Jagdstaffel 14 – 1916-1918,”



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Höhndorf is no longer with us. Something about him displeased der Meister and he disappeared into the ether, such are the consequences of losing favor with the gods.

We had fine weather yesterday and made three hunting flights but none of the Lords wished to come over and play.


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Today their reconnaissance machines are out in force.

It’s a beautiful day, sunny, no clouds with a favorable westerly wind.



Attached Files X Dingel.jpgX RE8s RFC 21.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/20/23 12:03 PM.
#4621171 - 02/20/23 12:05 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Berthold finds a nice, unwary RE, the Franz preoccupied with his tasks. He attacks, bringing it down near Ypres.* I see it crash on the northern edge of the city.

*This RE8 was B3411 of No. 7 Squadron, crew Lt. Wray and 2Lt Payne MC were killed. The Luftsieg was confirmed and credited to Berthold. This according to “Iron Man, Rudolf Berthold” by Peter Kilduff.




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Attached Files X RE8 flames.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/20/23 12:06 PM.
#4621172 - 02/20/23 12:10 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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At 1700 we have a third hunting flight with only myself, Seppl and der Eiserne. Heavy clouds are beginning to come in from the northwest.



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A British Artilleriehaschen (Artillery rabbit) is going about his business east of Ypres. Eiserne points to the RE and and then upward. Sepple and I nod at him. He will attack while we cover him from above.

He sends it down, stinking, a few kilometers north of Ypres.* Two in one day. Der Eiserne is back in form.

*Again, from “Iron Man, Rudolf Berthold” by Peter Kilduff; this RE8 was from No. 9 Squadron. This was confirmed as Berthold’s 15th on the basis of Germans who saw the RE going down, although it was within its own lines. So much for fairness in the confirmation process.



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Attached Files x 3 man patrol.jpgx RE8 flaming distance.jpgX MAP.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/20/23 12:13 PM.
#4621173 - 02/20/23 12:19 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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Today's two REs are der Eiserne’s 14th and 15th Luftsiege, the first of which has already been confirmed when we touch the field this evening.


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Berthold, as you would expect is in great high spirits. Assuming that the 15th Luftsieg will be confirmed as well, the OzbV has a wreath made, which is presented to der Meister at Abendsbrot.

Eiserne, of course, makes a speech which turns into a bit of a rant and gives us an indication of why Höhndorf is gone.

“I wish to remind each of you that it is your duty to shoot down your countries’ enemies whenever the opportunity presents itself.



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Not to do so is to transgress against your soldierly duty, which demands that one render an opponent harmless wherever one encounters him. At times, this means taking him prisoner if one surprises him in a defenseless position. More often, and for us, because this is impossible in the air…killing ..”

“Some may think that it is honorable…chivalrous to spare an enemy when he is at your mercy!”

I SAY IT IS NOT!

“To fail in this duty betrays the spirit of comradeship in that a dangerous fellow is allowed to go who perhaps tomorrow will extinguish the life of one of our own without batting an eyelash!”

“Is this not mutiny and does it not demand a court martial?”

“I will have no such person in my Staffel!”







Attached Files X airfield ha landing circling f.jpgX tripe stinking.jpg
Last edited by jerbear; 02/20/23 12:31 PM.
#4621174 - 02/20/23 12:22 PM Re: DEAD IS NOT DEAD [Re: jerbear]  
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My personal take on this subject differs somewhat. Although I recognize the truth in what der Eiserne says, my focus is more on preventing the enemy from accomplishing his mission. If I can damage a number of them so that they retreat, then I consider this more important than making sure they die.


I have, of course, no problem with killing an enemy. This is necessary in war and I’ve certainly killed my share.



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But it should not be your only object. The same or better results can be obtained on occasion by maneuver or by disabling an opponent.

So in a Luftkamps my main focus is on supporting my comrades rather than destroying individual opponents.

But then, I don’t seek any glory, nor do I really care one way or the other about the victory achieved by any nation or monarch. I’ve seen them come and seen them go. I identify with my comrades and with peoples with whom I’ve lived among in the past, such as the Sachsen.

At times, however, the traits I inherited from my sire surface and I am taken by the Jagdfieber.

Violence and the act of killing can become addictive if one is not careful.

When we discuss the speech later, none of us saw the incident der Eiserne seems to have been referring to. It’s just as possible that it was just something Höhndorf said that led Berthold to the conclusion that he didn’t have what it takes to be a Jagdflieger.

The best of luck to him.*

*As before stated, I have no information on Höhndorf other than his name and approximate time of assignment to Jasta 18. This story about him is fiction and is not meant in disrespect. I needed someone to be the object of Berthold’s speech, also fictitious, and he fit the bill.

The speech itself is an adaptation of a conversation between Otto Fuchs and Otto Kissenberth, referring to an Englishman Fuchs found napping and decided, on a whim, to spare.

It was Fuchs, not his commanding officer, who suggested the the act was a form of mutiny and he should be court martialed.

Otto Fuchs, Wir Flieger, translated with commentary by Adam M. Wait and published by Shiffer as “Flying Fox.”

ENDE

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Last edited by jerbear; 02/20/23 12:34 PM.
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