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majorshrapnel
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Date Posted:27/03/2019 04:04:19Copy HTML

A new topic, in which we cover great aviators and their aircraft, along with designers, companies and generally all things aeronautical.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:27/03/2019 04:51:36Copy HTML

We start with a man who changed history and he comes from Tom's neck of the woods, Buffalo New York and his name is Clarence Wade McCluskey. He joined the US naval academy in 1926 and emerged a naval pilot in 1929. In 1940 he found himself a squadron commander aboard the USS Enterprise and thus in the forefront of the Battle of Midway to come. It did not start well for the US, with the Midway Atoll being attacked by the Japs, causing substantial damage. At sea the carriers Enterprise, Yorktown and Hornet launched three squadrons of Devastator torpedo planes in the hope of attacking the Japanese carriers, from which the Midway attackers had flown. It was a disaster, with only 4 of the 41 planes that took off surviving, without a single torpedo hitting a target. Undeterred the carriers flew off 2 squadrons of Dauntless Dive bombers with orders to find and attack, the group was commanded by McCluskey. When they reached where they expected the fleet to be, it was gone. McCluskey now had a momentous decision to make, they were low on fuel, so did he risk them all in a vain attempt to find the Japs or do the  sensible thing and turn about, he carried on. His men must have had grave doubts about his sanity at that time but on they went with him, no quibble. It was when they were at the limit, they suddenly spotted a destroyer, racing at full speed and McCluskey rightfully determined it was chasing after the fleet, so he continued on that line and there they were, three Japanese carriers and escorting vessels. He attacked immediately hitting two carriers almost before they knew they were there and a short time later a new squadron arrived and attacked the third carrier. In what was almost a blink of an eye, they had sunk three carriers, destroyed over 300 aircraft and killed 4000 men and altered the entire balance of the war. It was a spectacular example of determination, skill and courage and it was Clarence Wade McCluskey's gamble that turned the war in the Pacific around, as from then on, the Japs never took the offensive at sea again. After a long career he died in Bethesda Maryland, aged 74 in 1976.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:27/03/2019 06:35:47Copy HTML

Excellent start-up Major. McClusky was a Buffalo native & the true hero of Midway which was really the turning point of the war in the Pacific. Just 6 months after Pearl Harbor. Turns out Yamamoto was right.
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:27/03/2019 06:59:05Copy HTML

When you've dealt with the lesser figures I'll come in with something on the giant of aviation Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:27/03/2019 07:35:57Copy HTML

After a long career he died in Bethesda Maryland, aged 74 in 1976. The original Bethesda is a tiny slate village in North Wales, near Bangor, which is the unofficial capital of North Wales. Bethesda holds a special place in my life, as that was the village we used to head for every Friday night when we were young'uns. I have no idea to this day why we picked that backwater, but we did. It was a village built on and in slate. The pavements (sidewalks) were slate slabs, the garden gate posts were slate, the church was built entirely of slate, the houses were built of slate  and the bridges over the river were..... yep, built of slate. It was a dour place when I think back and as I have mentioned, it was 80 miles away from home and I only ever failed to get there just once on the day. I arrived sometimes at 2-3 in the morning, but we got there, with the help of people who would graciously stop and give us a lift, no matter what time it was. Even single girls gave us lifts and I say to them all, I salute you, you were heroes. It was a different, more trusting and trusted world back then.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:27/03/2019 07:53:30Copy HTML

When you've dealt with the lesser figures I'll come in with something on the giant of aviation Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Lesser figures! It's not given many men to alter the entire course of human history in a couple of minutes, like McCluskey did. Western civilisation would have survived without big balloons but western civilisation might not have survived in its present form without McCluskey. Without his strike, the Japs could easily have done the same to the Yanks and then where would we be now?
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:27/03/2019 09:45:24Copy HTML

Bethesda must have a religious significance, a lot of Methodist Chapels are Bethesda Chapels. There's a good one in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, known as the Cathedral of the Potteries. It was built in 1819 and can seat an incredible 2500 people.  

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You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:28/03/2019 08:08:40Copy HTML

Without his strike, the Japs could easily have done the same to the Yanks and then where would we be now?


Probably would all be sitting in some sushi bar drinking sake and waiting for our turns to get up on the stage to do a little karaoke singing.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:01/04/2019 09:00:13Copy HTML

In 1919 Britain's Allcock and Brown became the first to achieve a none stop flight of the Atlantic in a modified WW1 bomber, the Vicker's Vimy. From that moment the golden prize would be a solo flight across the Atlantic. In 1927 eleven people had died in the attempt and many thought the goal was unachievable, until a shy, gangling, scrawny, wholesome man suddenly threw his towel into the ring. He was 6' 2", weighed just 128 ibs, had never been out with a girl in his life, never drank any alcohol in his life, or even a coca cola. He had a childish sense of humour, which came close to cruelty at times and his greatest claim to fame was that he had parachuted out of more crashing planes than any man alive and walked away from more aircraft crashes too. He had even survived a bail out from just 350ft. His family name was originally Mansson and they came from Sweden, where his grandfather was a politician, who was accused of financial impropriety and scandalised the family name by having an affair with a common cleaning lady, whom he had a child with. This prompted him to flee to the US, along with the woman and illegitimate baby. He settled down and got a job at a sawmill, where he unfortunately fell straight into a spinning wood cutting blade, which opened him up from his stomach to his neck, exposing his internal organs in places and left his arm hanging precariously to his body. He lay for three days until a doctor arrived and cut it off and sewn up the various holes. He would live for another thirty years. Their son became a trapper, which allowed him to acquire enough money to put himself through University, where he studied law. He married but she died not long after, so he married again and in 1902 they had a child, which they called Charles Augustus, followed by their adopted name in the US, Lindbergh.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:01/04/2019 12:07:19Copy HTML

If Charles had a few strange habits, it's not surprising considering his childhood. Charles Augustus, for it was always that, or Charles, never Charlie or Gus or any nickname whatsoever, grew up in a strangely sterile and unemotional atmosphere. It's a miracle he was ever born, as his parents were peculiarly formal with each other, never showing any signs of affection whatsoever and even shook hands when they went to bed. Whenever Charles corresponded with his parents, he would always sign his letters C A Lindberg. The affection starved Charles grew up to be shy and reserved, so much so that after becoming famous an army of reporters couldn't get a single anecdote out of his old school pals. His dad managed to get himself elected to Congress and thus Charles yoyo'd back and forth between his hometown and Washington and even spent time playing with Teddy Roosevelt's kids. Eventually, his father decided he needed a bit of action and ended up humping his stenographer, whereupon his missus put a gun to his head and threatened to blow his brains out, so not surprisingly they both decided to call it a day, although they never told anybody. Unsurprisingly, Charles was a useless student and upon leaving school, went to university to study engineering, which he abandoned half way through, announcing to the world that he was off to become an aviator.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:02/04/2019 09:25:25Copy HTML

If you think the US was some kind of aeronautical superstar at this time, you'd be very wrong indeed, as compared to Europe they were backward, with the Wright brothers being their only 'first.' In Europe KLM became the world's first true airline in 1919 and in no time, there were many others, as countries vied with each other in this new field of travel. Competition was fierce for what was, by today's standards, a comparatively small market. By the time Lindbergh was starting up his engines for his historic crossing, France had nine airlines, virtually every major city in Europe was now accessible by properly scheduled flights, British planes were covering a million miles a year and a British plane had shown the world's first in-flight film and the whole industry was properly regulated, with licensing, safety measures, correct scheduling, record keeping and maintenance. Flight was never going to be safe but it didn't stop Europe trying. Guess how many scheduled flights the Yanks had at the time? Correct, none. All American boy Louis B Bruchenschnitzelburger the fourth could get a plane from his parents for his 16th birthday and carry passengers the next day, having never sat in a plane before. Licences? What were they? Never heard of'em. Guess how many people had been killed in aircraft accidents in the States? Don't know? Neither did anybody else, as nobody bothered keeping track. There was one good use of aircraft in the US though, carrying mail, although 31 of the first 40 pilots were killed in accidents, which finally prompted the authorities to introduce their first regulation and that was to keep track of just how many people were getting killed. Lindbergh was a product of this school of excellence.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:02/04/2019 10:55:44Copy HTML

There were a few dubious flying schools about at the time and Charles went to one, he was twenty years old. This man couldn't spell fear, never mind understand or feel it. With his limited skills he took a job as a stunt performer, wing walking and other lunatic acts and with no training whatsoever, he began parachuting out of planes' just to excite the crowds, when parachuting wasn't an exact science. Following a few years trying desperately, but unsuccessfully to kill himself barnstorming, he finally got some correct training at the Army Air reserve. From there he survived a few more years as a postal flyer before he was infected with the overwhelming desire to fly the Atlantic alone. If you were to make a film (yes I know they have) about this mighty enterprise from now on, nobody would believe the story, as it's too far fetched. Lindbergh embarked on his own campaign for backers, with mixed misfortunes, until he finally contacted a small company called Ryan Airlines, who boasted an impressive staff count of 25 people, and asked them to build him a plane that could cross the Atlantic none stop and, how much was that please? $6000 plus the engine, they told him and he said, go ahead. When I tell you that they had to pop over to the local library and check how far away Europe was before they began, you might be forgiven for thinking Charles was fishing in the bargain basement store and in a way he was, but what a basement! They were to build him a plane that was practical but not groundbreaking. The plane was a derivative of another design, with a number of modifications, having larger fuel tanks for instance but surprisingly, no fuel gauge. They didn't want to unduly worry him with such trivial matters I suppose and let's face it, what use would it be, as there are no filling stations in the Atlantic. It had no forward view windows, which I think would have made my list of one from one. Imagine flying alone for all that time and never seeing what was directly infront of you? It would drive any sane man mad, but not Lindbergh. They actually fitted him a periscope but he never used it. It certainly looked a lot more streamlined than it practically was but Lindbergh didn't want anything innovative and therefore untried, he only wanted what he knew already worked and had stood the test of time and action. There was one other factor in his success and one that nobody truly understood why and that was petrol from California. It just happened to burn cleaner and go further, a fact they would understand only seven years later when the concept of octane in fuel was discovered. Following many tests, with his fuel weight rising by the takeoff, he was keen to go, especially as he had learned of two rivals in the race, which unfortunately dropped to one when one of them disappeared at sea. Feeling the time was now, he took off for St Louis, breaking two records before he even got to the Atlantic, one being the first man to fly over the Rockies in the dark, as well as the longest none stop flight to date in the USA. From there he went to New York, the last stop before his flight of destiny.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:03/04/2019 08:45:12Copy HTML

In New York people suddenly woke up to the enormity of what this man and his little plane were about to do and many, including some of the press, actually tried to talk him out of it, fat chance. Everybody wanted either a piece of the action or just a glimpse of him and he found the attention annoying and oppressive at times, as he just wasn't built for it. His mother actually turned up and naturally the press wanted their photos, so they asked her to give him a kiss, she declined but did give him a pat on the head and as she turned to leave him she called out, "good luck Charles," adding ominously, "and goodbye." On the evening before his expected departure he went to his hotel but was back at the side of his aircraft at 3am, being unable to sleep. His aircraft, The Spirit of St Louis, was being fuelled up and final checks made, as Lindbergh packed himself five ham sandwiches and two pints of water and would only eat one of them, as he passed over France before landing. At around 7am he climbed into the cockpit, accompanied by all of the imponderables this unique flight could throw up, right from the first moment. This engine had never carried so much weight before and the prop was set for efficiency, which meant a lack of power, so would he get off the ground? The engine coughed into life and minutes later 'The Spirit' made its ponderous way down the runway. Fact is, nobody could possibly know if the plane could actually get off the ground and if it didn't he was going to crash and die right there, with over 3000 miles yet to cover, as there was absolutely no chance whatsoever of survival. The plane rose and dropped back down, rose and dropped back down and on its last possible chance, it lifted painfully off the runway and laboured slowly into the air, gaining precious height as it slipped forlornly out of sight, leaving all those on the runway not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:03/04/2019 03:12:26Copy HTML

You would think those spectators present would be cheering themselves hoarse but they simply stood in total silence and watched that bundle of fabric slowly become a dot and then gone, no sight or sound and in a solemn mood of reflection they turned about and quietly departed. What they had just witnessed had frightened them shitless and now the man, who looked like an 18 year old boy was attempting the impossible and all alone and the enormity of it suddenly struck home. Only an intuitive genius of a pilot could have got that plane into the air. For the first few hours he was still in sight until Newfoundland and then he was gone. He would now be out of touch for the next 24 hours, and probably for good in most people's opinion. All around America people prayed for him and even the crowd at the Yankee stadium stopped to pray for him. Alone in the cockpit Lindbergh had the task of navigating himself across the vast ocean, which was a triumph in itself. Through a mixture of dead reckoning, a compass, wind speed, aircraft speed and all done on his lap whilst flying a plane, sat in a whicker chair and having not slept for a day. There was absolutely no excitement, or even a mild fuss in Paris, as everybody thought he would land in Ireland, or Britain, there was no chance of Paris but they didn't know that when Lindbergh said Paris, you could take that to the bank, as the thought of anywhere else simply never occurred to him. In his cockpit Lindbergh was now in a personal battle to stay awake. He had little sleep the previous day to take off and now the long lonely hours were taking their toll on him. He opened the windows, he shouted and even flew down to just a few feet above the sea to get the cold sea spray on his face. At one point he even began to hallucinate and thought he saw ghosts alongside of him in his cockpit. In Paris the US Ambassador, Herrick was attending a tennis match when news began to spread that Lindbergh had been spotted over Ireland and suddenly, Lindy fever began to get a hold of France, as well as the US and as the news spread, 150,000 people were beginning to make their way to the airport.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:03/04/2019 10:29:58Copy HTML

Fifty years ago America put a man on the moon (or the Arizona desert) & returned him safely to earth. A prophecy proclaimed by John F. Kennedy to do this in a decade, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:04/04/2019 06:42:03Copy HTML

Yes Tom, one of the greatest achievements in mankind's history and don't mention the desert, as I get very upset by it. To think, that was a mere 42 years after Lindbergh's flight. What a quantum leap in technology? I once read about a man who as a boy was a pony express rider and later in life he was doing the same route on a motorway, sat behind the wheel of a Cadillac. We discussed Concorde a few weeks back and its ageing technology but also the fact that it worked and worked wonderfully well before a strip of metal effectively ended its career. Same with the Apollo craft, it was all cogs and wheels, but it worked and it's amazing to think, it would still work and would in another 100 years.
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:04/04/2019 09:33:38Copy HTML

An Israeli spacecraft blasted off this evening, aiming to land on the moon. And if the mission is successful, it would make Israel the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface – after the U.S., the former Soviet Union and China.

 

It would also be the first privately initiated project to do so, although it was assisted by government partners, as Nature notes. "The feat seems set to kick off a new era of lunar exploration – one in which national space agencies work alongside private industries to investigate and exploit the moon and its resources," Nature added.

 

The spacecraft, which is called Beresheet (Hebrew for "in the beginning"), was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

 

It was initially conceived as part of Google's challenge called the Google Lunar XPRIZE for a private company to complete a soft landing on the moon. The Israeli non-profit SpaceIL was one of five international teams in the running for the $20 million grand prize; Google announced last year that the contest would end with no winner because no team was prepared to launch by the deadline. Still, the Israeli engineers at SpaceIL continued to work toward landing a spacecraft on the moon.


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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:05/04/2019 11:10:22Copy HTML

Lindbergh could also have landed in England, in Cornwall, as he passed over it but he continued on to Paris. Twice he had the chance to succeed with no further danger and jump into that bed he was so desperate for and both times he refused himself. This was a driven man. It's endearing to understand what was now going though his mind. Would anybody at the airport be able to speak English? Would he get in trouble for not having a Visa? He decided he would first make sure his precious plane was stowed correctly and then cable his mother. Then he would have to find a hotel with a room and buy some clothing the next day. Eventually he saw the Eiffel tower, which he circled to get his bearings for he now had just 16 miles north east to go and he should reach Le Bourget airport, which he hoped would have some lights on. As he approached he was confused by thousands of lights, which he suddenly realised were car headlights and the earth, that appeared to be moving, were the multitudes of people, pushing, pulling, swaying in the hope of getting a glimpse at him landing, which he did 33 hours 30 minutes after take off and in an instant was the most famous and celebrated person on earth. His plane was instantly surrounded and seconds later he was being hauled out of his cockpit and carried off, like some kind of prize and behind him he was horrified to hear people ripping his plane to pieces for souvenirs. In a comical incident, one of the spectators was pointed out as being Lindbergh, as he looked quite like him and he was hoisted up and carried off in another direction. This was terrifying for Lindbergh, as he could feel his clothing being torn off him, as hands pushed and pulled at him from every angle. Eventually he was rescued and taken into an office, where he met Herrick, the Ambassador. He persuaded him to give a quick press interview and following that they took him to a bed where he slept for ten hours.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:07/04/2019 03:37:05Copy HTML

If you think France went mad over this event, it was naturally nothing as compared with the US. The New York Evening World called it the greatest achievement of a single human in the history of the human race. The American review called him the first citizen of the earth, which gives you some idea of their enthusiasm. The press had not even met him and they still managed to write 36 million words on him. Lindbergh had subscribed to a newspaper clipping service, with everything being written about him to be delivered to his mother, which concluded when a few trucks delivered 7 tons of various articles. The President announced that 11th June be made Lindbergh day and proposals were made to make him tax exempt for life, not to mention a thousand sites, buildings, parks etc which were named after him. He received a few million proposals from women too and 250 songs were written about him. The French were keen to keep him for a while and feted him in the palaces of the grand and noble. Believe it or not, he was still considering flying back or even continuing on and flying across the world to the US west coast. Fortunately he would do neither, as the President was keen to make sure this prize asset didn't do what he'd been attempting for the last 8 years and kill himself, so he sent a naval cruiser the USS Memphis to bring him safely home. He did however get to fly to London first, where another 100,000 were there to meet him at the runway. The police were forced to cover him over with a coat and convince the crowd he was an injured woman, to get him out safely. He was then hauled off to Buckingham Palace, where King Goerge V shocked him by asking how he went about having a piss on the trip, which embarrassed Lindbergh. Good job he didn't want to know if he had a shite or not. He eventually boarded the Cruiser and went home, where he received the biggest ticker tape reception in history, one even bigger than the Apollo astronauts received. A remarkable man indeed and a true aviation great in every sense of the word.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:07/04/2019 06:11:32Copy HTML

With an interesting and tragic life in the years afterwards.


You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:07/04/2019 06:40:16Copy HTML

Until he started siding with the Nazi's Major.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:08/04/2019 03:12:29Copy HTML

Michel Bacos died recently. Who the hell is he most will ask. Well he is the Air France pilot who became a hero at Entebbe. June 27, 1976 on a flight from Tel Aviv to Paris his Air France flight was hijacked by 2 Palestinian & 2 far left German terrorists & forced to fly to Uganda. There were 248 passengers & 12 crew members who were taken into a hostage situation for some three days when 150 were released. The rest were Israelis or had Jewish sounding names & continued to be held in terrorist custody. Bacos was born in Egypt where his father worked on the Suez Canal, & at 17 he himself joined the Free French Forces battling the Nazis & was stationed in Morocco as a naval aviation Officer. Bacos was offered his freedom by the terrorists but he insisted the passengers were his responsibility & stayed with them until they all were freed by Israeli forces. He was later decorated by both France & Israel but insisted he had simply done what was right. "I fought the Nazis & I knew precisely what fascism is all about."
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:08/04/2019 03:27:48Copy HTML

Until he started siding with the Nazi's Major. Many did Pete, before their true nature was exposed. This is about aviation greats though and they don't come much greater than Charles Lindbergh.
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:09/04/2019 11:11:54Copy HTML

You want stories more like Wop May's or The Falcon of Malta (George Beurling's story) then.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:09/04/2019 11:24:15Copy HTML

Many did Pete, before their true nature was exposed. This is about aviation greats though and they don't come much greater than Charles Lindbergh.


I think that you are putting Lindbergh on too high of a pedestal Major. If he hadn't done it then some European would have done it in a year or two or maybe sooner. All airmen of his time and before flew by the seat of their pants and spent more time crashing that they actually did flying.

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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:10/04/2019 06:41:31Copy HTML

I think that you are putting Lindbergh on too high of a pedestal Major. If he hadn't done it then some European would have done it And if Allcock and Brown had not done it, somebody else would have and if Bleriot had not done it, somebody else would have..... but they didn't. I've not finished with Lindbergh yet and he'll pop up later with a contribution that was a major winning factor in the far east. I read about George Buerling's brilliant career in Malta about 25 years ago. Why don't you cover him?
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:10/04/2019 07:50:10Copy HTML

What Buerling's and Lindbergh both shared besides a love of flying was they were both loners and had to do everything their own way. It was the same for many of Britain's great Aces in both wars. In other words they thought and acted outside the box and that's when they were at their best. No different that the Wright brothers when you think about them making pedel bikes and then trying to fly a motorized kite.

While doing ancestry I was surprized to find out how many trans-atlantic flights were being done to both Britain and Africa in the height of the war by a commerial carrier, TWA. We known that military planes were being ferried across mainly by women but I knew nothing of the military brass and messages going by TWA. (Trans-World-Airlines)

MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #27
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  • Register:12/11/2009 09:24:59

Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:10/04/2019 08:45:35Copy HTML

Without looking it up how many people do you think flew across the Atlantic before Lindbergh?
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
majorshrapnel Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #28
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:11/04/2019 06:48:57Copy HTML

It was the same for many of Britain's great Aces in both wars. In other words they thought and acted outside the box and that's when they were at their best True, many were introverted and not exactly the life and soul of the party.
MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #29
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:11/04/2019 05:35:59Copy HTML

Without looking it up how many people do you think flew across the Atlantic before Lindbergh?


No guesses then you wimps? I'll have to tell you - 91, 65 of them in airships.

PBA-3rd-1949 Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #30
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Re:Aviation greats

Date Posted:11/04/2019 06:23:18Copy HTML

Good for you Mark for taking the time and looking it up. Just like Sir Edmond Hillary gets all the credit for being the first to climb Mountain Everest and since then hundreds have climbed the same mountain in less time.

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