Wing Walking

Wing walking, of course, is one of the crazy stunts pilots got up to in the earlier days of aviation. It is still done sometimes, but with wires and straps and thing to make sure the practitioners won't die. Back in the days these photos were taken, there were no such safeguards. Pilots would simply climb out of their cockpits and stand, sit, or hang from the wings or fuselage. This kind of thing was very popular in stunt shows of the 1920s, though it was being done for fun much earlier.

The majority of these photos depict an American barnstormer of the 1920s named Carter Buton, whose antics are documented in scrapbooks temporarily held by the San Diego Air and Space Museum. However, the albums of WWI pilots-in-training yield plenty of examples at least as daring, done just for the benefit of fellow pilots, and/or just for the hell of it.

If you're afraid of heights, you might want to click away now...

San Diego Air and Space Museum

Carter Buton, 1920s. Source

Deseronto Archives

RFC pilot and flight instructor Lt. Ned Ballough, known as the "wing walker", Ontario, WWI. From this album. Source

Deseronto Archives

Lt. Ned Ballough again, Ontario,WWI. Source

Spitfires, in Colour

This blog has seen a number of striking photographs depicting the Spitfire; today, more great photographs of the iconic Second World War plane--this time, in full colour!

© IWM (COL 189)

A Spitfire in flight over England, 1939-1945. Source

© IWM (COL 190)

Three Spitfires flying in formation over Essex, 1939-1945. Source

© IWM (TR 823)

Spitfires of the Royal Canadian Air Force in Tunisia, 1943. Source

Scramble!

Scrambling, in WW2, was the order for pilots to get to their planes and in the air right away, because approaching enemy aircraft had been detected. Of course, as soon as you know enemy aircraft are on their way you want to be after them really, really fast, so pilots trained to scramble really, really fast. One moment you'd be chilling at the base (in your gear, of course), the next you'd be off to risk your life in the skies.

© IWM (CL 570)

A pilot of 175 Squadron RAF scrambles to his plane, Britain,  1944. Source

William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Pilots to scramble to their planes, Britain, 1940. Source

© IWM (D 9521)

American pilots of the RAF scramble to their planes, Britain, 1942.  Source

Portraits from the Cockpit

We've seen some of the photographs WWI era pilots took of each other's planes whilst aloft; today, the photographs they took of each other in the air! A lot of these are taken by the pilot of the other guy in the plane (usually an instructor, as all are from training airfields), though a few are from the other guy of the pilot. I think these are amazing. I love the fact that these (very) young guys took cameras up into the air to take pictures of each other. I love that they did this despite the fact that these cameras (probably Vest Pocket Kodaks) can't focus below about six feet and have slow-ish shutter speeds and I love the fact that they still managed some good pictures. I love picturing a biplane pilot turning away from the dashboard to snap a picture of his friend (most of the instructors weren't much older than the pilots). I just love them. 

From two seperate collections of the San Diego Air and Space Museum: the collection of Walt Claverie, a pilot who trained in 1912 and taught at Selridge and Rich Fields during WWI; and an album belonging to Paul Aldin Smith, a pilot training at Kelly field in Texas during WWI. Both are terrific views of life as an aviation student and are highly reccomended. 

San Diego Air and Space Museum

I think this might be Walt Claverie; looks like him (he's adorable, by the way). Source

San Diego Air and Space Museum

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San Diego Air and Space Museum

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Aeroplanes Aloft

Photographs of WWI airplanes in the air, including tricks and antics that the young pilots were encouraged to do. These are from an American aviation training field in Texas, 1917-18. I think most of the planes are training models but I've no idea, if anyone has expertise do share!

The San Diego Air and Space Museum recently uploaded a whole heap of WWI photos, mostly aviation related--they're not in very good condition but there's an incredible variety.

San Diego Air and Space Museum

Source

San Diego Air and Space Museum

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San Diego Air and Space Museum

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Aviatrix

A few of the fantastic woman flyers of the early 20th century. (For some of those I've missed, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum  has a great online exhibit). 

From various institutions, but especially the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

Matilde E. Moisant, the second American woman to get a pilot's license, 1912.  Source

Ruth Elder, c.1920s.  Source

Lores Bonney, c. 1933. Source

RAF Recovery

Flying for Britain in the Second World War was probably one of the most dangerous things you could do, even in a wartime context. Thousands of very young men (literally; the average age for pilots was 22) went up into the air night after night to defend their country, and many of them never came back.

These photographs are slightly less depressing; taken at an RAF rehabilitation centre in 1942, they show the various aspects of recovery for lucky (ish) pilots. Naturally this is the nicer side of the process, for public consumption; but even so.

Exercising an injured leg. [The captions use 'damaged'; I dislike this, it makes the men sound like machines.] Source

Pilot taking a bike ride as part of his post-broken leg rehab. Source

Exercising injured legs. Source

By Air Mail

More photographs of those postal men and their flying machines. The sequel, of course, to this blog's first airmail post .

The first day of airmail service in the United States, May 15, 1918, with pilot Lt. Torrey Webb. Source

Unloading the first airmail plane to fly across the continent in 1924, at Omaha, Nebraska. Source

Pilot Eddie Gardner with his plane, 1918. Source

Pilot Robert Shank (one of the first four airmail pilots) after a crash, 1918. Source

The airmail field and hangar at Omaha, Nebraska, 1927. Source

Airmail plane taking off, undated. Source

Photograph of pilot Arthur Roy Smith, who flew for the airmail service from 1923 until his death in a crash in 1926. Despite the skill of the pilots, crashes were sometimes unavoidable and several pilots were killed in the decade of airmail.  Source

Pilot John F. Milanzo, c. 1924. He flew with the airmail service from 1923-1927, when he sadly became the last pilot killed while working for the airmail service, his plane crashing in an April snowstorm. Source

Pilot Lt. James Edgerton and his sister, 1918. Edgerton was one of a group of army pilots who were the first to fly mail for the Postal Service. Source

Pilot William Carroll, c.1921. Sadly, in February of that year he and two other men were killed when their airmail plane burst into flames and crashed. Source

Pilot William C. Hopson in winter flying gear, c.1926. Source

A Group Portrait

Something different today. Among the archives are loads of group photographs, both posed and not -- and honestly I often hardly give them any attention, preferring to 'get to know' individuals like I do. And yet-- when you get the chance to zoom in on a group photograph, how fascinating it is. From a distance they're just a group of soldiers (or, whatever), but then when you really look, they are all individuals. So, today, that's exactly what we're going to do. 

 This photograph (source here on Flickr and here on the Australian War Memorial site) is a group portrait of the officers of the 68th Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps, taken on 7th December 1917.

Ordinary people in an ordinary photograph-- and yet, very real and individual people!

From left:

Lt. Clive Chisholm Sands

Lt. Harry Taylor, MC, MM (accidentally killed August 18, 1918)

Lt. Lewis Septimus Truscott

Lt. Frank Armstrong Power

Lt. Percy Harold Lawson (killed in action January 6, 1918)

Lt. David Charles Allardice

Capt. Henry Garnet Forrest, DFC.

(A photograph of him and his wife on their wedding day is here; also included is the fact he was born in 1895, making him about 22 in this photograph)

Capt. Frederick George Huxley, MC (who went on to be an early Qantas pilot in the 1920s (thanks for that information to a descendant of his!)

Back row: Lt. Louis Francis Loder

Lt. (Thomas) Grant [there are several T. Grants; I believe Thomas is the only Lt. though)

Captain Leslie Hubert Holden MC

Capt Richard Watson Howard MC (died of wounds March 22, 1918)

(The men in front are also in the photos above)

In back: Capt William Alexander Robertson
Lt A. Pratt.--very possibly Archibald James Pratt, but I can't say with certainty. 

In front: Lt Col Walter Oswald Watt, OBE (seen also in this photograph and this one) 
Lt L. R. Clark [I couldn't find his first name]

As a postscript: a photograph of the officers of the squadron, renamed No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, four months later on March 28, 1918 . Some of the same individuals can be seen (I'll cross-reference at a later date, this is a recent find), though many have either switched squadrons or been wounded/captured out of the war, as well as the noted men who were sadly killed in the interim. 

Aces

I've just finished a truly absorbing and moving book--  Aces Falling: The War Above the Trenches, 1918 , by Peter Hart, full of firsthand accounts about the experience of piloting aircraft in the First World War. I've become so captivated by this topic -- there's something about the war in the air that is both admirable and tragic. A pilot counts as an 'ace' once he has shot down at least five enemy aircraft, and was a much coveted title on both sides. I, of course, find the stories of pilots who didn't do this just as compelling as those who have (see Australians of World War One), but all the same the talent, daring, and often pure luck of the top aces is just stunning. All of the following men are among the top aces, though I've brought these photos together without focusing on ranking, and only one is the very top of his country.

Frederick McCall, a Canadian ace with 37 victories. Fred McCall is of particular interest to Calgarians (of which I am one) for the role he played in early aviation in the area-- and of fascination to anyone for the time his plane stalled over a large crowd and managed to land his plane safely on a merry-go round! (a picture is here!)  Source

Albert Ball, a British ace with 44 victories, fourth highest amongst the British aces, and recipient of the Victoria Cross. He crashed following a dogfight in 1917, and died in the arms of a French woman who had pulled him from the wreckage. He was 20.  Source

Roderic Stanley Dallas, an Australian ace with 39 (or so) victories, and a hugely respected squadron leader. The day the message was sent promoting him to Lieutenant Colonel and ordering him to stop flying, he was shot down on a solo mission. According to everyone who knew him he was a truly wonderful person, the kind who never said anything but nice things about everyone and didn't even seem to think them (paraphrased from an account in Aces Falling; see above). He was 26.  Source

Raymond Collishaw, Canada's second top ace (behind only Billy Bishop) with 60 credited victories. Like McCall he was fortunate enough to make it home to his native BC (and in fact, Nanaimo's tiny airport is named for him).   Source

Manfred von Richthofen-- the Red Baron himself. Not only the top-scoring German ace, but the top ace of the whole war with 80 wholly confirmed victories. He was not only a talented fighter pilot himself but inspired and encouraged his pilots to excellence. He was finally shot down in 1918. Even he, the legendary Red Baron himself, was only 25 when he died.  Source

Australians of World War One

 This seems like a random post theme, I'm sure-- I'm not Australian, for one. There isn't any particular reason other than that I've been browsing the endless collections of the Australian War Memorial, and World War one really, really gets to me. [Though I've apparently got a bit of traffic from Australian Google, so I suppose this can be a recognition of that as well!]


I am going to include some of the stories behind these pictures this time (details coming, of course, from the Australian War Memorial collections, though I've reworded), but again, I feel the greatest impact comes simply from looking into the faces of these very young men who fought and often died, and shouldn't have. 

Second Lieutenant Alexander Finnie, 4th Squadron, Australian Flying Corps (AFC), of Botany, New South Wales. He enlisted in 1914 as a sapper, was evacuated from Gallipoli in 1915 with gas poisoning, returned in 1916 and trained as a pilot in 1917. He was killed in a mid-air crash in May 1918 while shooting down balloons over the German lines-- aged 25. 

Source.

Corporal Mechanic Alexander Willliam Connington, 3rd Squadron Australian Flying Corps, of Goulburn, New South Wales. He enlisted in 1916, serving in France from August of 1917, and was in the process of training to be a pilot when he fell ill with pneumonia and died in Wales, October 23, 1918. He was 23. 

Source

Gunner Cecil 'Bill' Molle Feez, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, from Yeronga, Queensland. He enlisted in 1916, aged 18, and graduated as a pilot in 1917. In March of 1918 he was shot down in France and taken as a German prisoner of war until December 1918. He returned to Australia in April 1919.  Source

Lieutenant Frank Alexander Butterworth MM, 30th Battalion, of Hay, New South Wales. He enlisted in 1915 and was awarded the Military Medal the next year for gallantry. He was killed in October 1918, just a month before the end of the war, aged 23. His brother also died in the war.

Source

Lietentaunt Frank Hubert McNamara of the Australian Flying Corps. In 1917 he performed a daring rescue of a fellow pilot behind enemy lines (nearly dying in the process) for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. He lived until 1961. 

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Another photograph of Frank Hubert McNamara, 23, recovering in hospital after the rescue for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. 

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2nd Lieutenant John Michael Stanislaus Gregor Stevens, a pilot of No. 1 Squadron, RFC, originally from Sydney. He was described in his squadron's records as "a very jolly fellow who could do anything with a Nieuport except take it off." In 1917 he was wounded while flying and died from complications of the following surgery. He was 17 and ten months. 

Source

Thomas Charles Richmond Baker, taking a picture of himself in a mirror. He enlisted in 1915 and was awarded a Military Medal for gallantry in 1917. In the same year he joined the Australian Flying Corps, where he flew over forty raids as a flight commander. He is credited with destroying at least eight enemy aircraft, and thus an ace. 

On November 4, 1918, he was killed in action. He was 21.

Source

I find this one especially touching in the way it shows how little difference there is between a twenty year old in 1916 and a twenty year old today. Just like any number of young people, he's taking a picture of himself in a mirror. You see these pictures all the time today. And yet, through all this he was fighting in a war that wasn't his, going up into the air every day not knowing if he'd return... and ultimiately, not returning. Today Thomas Charles Richmond Baker would have had such a different life-- and that just breaks my heart.