Knights Without Parachutes

Cher Ami was a male pigeon. And the Lost Battalion knew exactly where they were. In a second-Saturday talk at the Vintage Aero Flying Museum, Andy Parks told the story of Cher Ami. According to Wikipedia Cher Ami means "dear friend" in the masculine. Maybe so, but good thing male pigeons don't get teased by schoolmates about having a pretty girl's name.... We plan to have a transcript of the talk soon. Meanwhile, the short version of the story is, there were many ways to communicate in WWI, and your enemy knew them too. So if you saw wires your enemy...

Boys will be boys, and might survive to be men Perhaps you know, as we do, a little boy who is nice, friendly, outgoing, and also the terror of the preschool. This is the one who makes teachers happy by being home sick, the one who can't sit still, and who could find a way to injure himself or someone else even in a padded cell if he were unsupervised for five minutes.  So it was encouraging to read how Frederick Libby, of Sterling, Colorado, was described in a book recommended by one of our readers, "Fred's father delegated brother Bud to keep...

In trying to keep up with all the events of World War I in general and aviation in particular, occasionally we come across a date which is notable that turns out to be, well, today - a hundred years ago, that is. Today's event was a victory for Raoul Lufbery - his first as "the ace Raoul Lufbery." In other words, his first through fifth official victories came between 31 July and 16 August. Then none for a long time - until 27 December. Actually, though, "today's" was just his sixth confirmed victory, and probably nothing all that special to him....