Knights Without Parachutes

The Russian Revolution in Aviation History

October 28, 2017 • bert hall • igor sikorsky • red baron

We are almost to the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution, but first we have to wait for November. The revolution was not exactly mis-named; one of the revolution's reforms was to join the Western world in using the Gregorian calendar instead of the Julian calendar, which meant skipping about two calendar weeks. But they didn't do that till 1918, so the revolution date of November 7, 1917 still counted at the time as being in October.

Exotic Animals and WWI Aviation

October 27, 2017 • lafayette escadrille • pilot attributes • raoul lufbery • red baron

Any exotic animal might have a longer expected life span than aviators, who were pioneering every new idea aircraft designers could think of and rush into production for the war. Anyone who would go two miles up in a crate with wings would probably not be overly intimidated by playing with a lion. It might seem like pretty much the same activity.

Rickenbacker's Revenge

October 14, 2017 • eddie rickenbacker • ivy league

Eddie and the Ivy Leaguers One hundred years ago in October, the Red Baron was already legendary. Other pilots - Boelcke, Guynemer, Ball, Immelmann - were also legends, and already dead. The Lafayette Escadrille was legendary. Some were dead, and some were getting ready to pass on their experience to arriving Americans, as the last round of WWI aviation legends began to assemble "over there." Eddie Rickenbacker (still spelled "Rickenbacher" since he had not yet, as the newspapers later put it, taken the Hun out of his name) had recently had his first solo. He didn't wreck the plane on his...

Eugene Bullard vs. the Flying Circus

October 06, 2017 • eugene bullard • georges guynemer • red baron

Serving his country in a roundabout way A few weeks ago, we wrote how in September 1917, Arthur Gould Lee was fighting Richthofen's Flying Circus. But around this time of year, it was Eugene Bullard's turn. It was late in the year when Eugene Bullard tried to transfer from the Lafayette Flying Corps to fly directly for the US. They were saying all US pilots flying for France would be allowed to transfer, and be promoted to officer status. So Bullard was given a physical. The American doctors said he had flat feet, and he pointed out his flat feet had...

Spiders as Passengers on WWI Airplane

October 05, 2017 • wwi

Spiderwebs Rated for 90 MPH Winds One hundred years ago on September 27th, Arthur Gould Lee had an uneventful patrol. So uneventful he had time to take note of natural science. He noticed some spiderwebs attached to his struts trailing in his slipstream, not breaking even at speeds of 90 mph. "They were the very fine kind that float in the air and catch your face when you're walking alongside a hedge." After he landed, he found there were not only spiderwebs, but spiders, tiny red ones, that had gone along for the flight, and were presumably ready to start on the next web....