Heroism Vs. Foolhardiness

[Michael Skeet]

For quite a while I held to John's view about WWI aircrew being mostly scared most of the time. The more I've learned about people, though, the more I've had to adjust my view. I still believe that the majority of aircrew were indeed suffering to some extent from stress. But I've also come to the conclusion that some men adapt very well to stressful situations. Some of these are just plain psychotic; we should never forget that some of the men who became heroes fighting in this war might never have fitted into "normal" society. But most of those who became aces were, I think, just self-centred and self-absorbed enough (call it borderline sociopathic, if you want) to be able to cope under the stresses of daily flights under the most hazardous conditions. And once you learn that you're able to cope with stress, it seems to me a natural response to want to test your own limits. This would, I think, explain the deadly situations some pilots sometimes put themselves into. Factor in the social constructs of the time (very real to many aircrew, if somewhat preposterous to us) and I have no trouble believing that many pilots did believe, some of them throughout their time of service, in the sorts of social myths Mr. Ralph describes.

[Barrett]

Wayne and Michael both make strong cases. The only thing I'd add is the testosterone factor: young (some VERY young) men already selected for their Type A personalities were placed in not only a highly stressful but highly competitive environment. Couple that factor with the feeling of peer pressure and Victorian obligations to perform well and "do one's duty", and you can well understand how many of those folks pushed themselves to the limit--and beyond. That goes a long way toward explaining men like Guynemer, Nungesser, Berthold, et al. Remember, these people were OLD at age 25; 30 was ancient.

[stephen]

Wayne has described a good portion of the rank and file flyers, but there is another demographic that is largely represented by the aces. Those who thought they were good enough to beat the odds... and they almost were.

Voss.

Luke.

Manfred.

And the supreme example... Foncke.

"It ain't braggin' if you can do it."

[Wayne Ralph]

Dear John, Michael, Barrett, and Stephen,

Thanks so much for your thoughtful dialogue to my note of a few days ago. A
happy new year to you all, and a wish for a healthy and safe 2001.

I think your comments do cover off most of the variables on this topic. I
certainly agree that a great many young men, perhaps a significant
majority, simply wanted to survive their wartime service - with the hope of
acquitting themselves with honour, but at least making it home intact
physically and mentally.

Even William Barker wished at times for a wound, a "blighty" as they were
called, that would give him a rest from combat. Even heroic aces suffered
from trauma and the stress of daily operations, and of having to be a
stirling example to their comrades.

I have recently interviewed a World War Two Spitfire ace, Rod Smith, DFC
and Bar, about his fighting career in the UK, France, and Malta, 1941-44,
and he had many insightful comments about the character of fighter pilots,
and particularly the aces (he himself had 13 victories).

He said that some of the finest fighter pilots he ever knew never shot down
one aircraft, let alone five. He observed that enormous luck was required
to be in the right place at the right time to shoot down the enemy - some
outstanding pilots never got their chance.

He also observed that ambition had to be mixed with prudence. There were
several examples among Canadian Spitfire aces of men who lacked prudence,
and ultimately were killed, albeit having racked up pretty impressive
victory totals. Death from ground fire on air to surface attacks was also a
serious risk.

The most impressive achievement, in this ace's eyes, was to shoot down the
enemy without any damage to one's own machine. The most admired men were
not those with the highest scores but those who had the genius for
leadership in the air, and could execute multi-squadron missions, and bring
home their pilots safely most of the time. This combination of prudence,
fighting instincts, and survival was extremely rare, in both the First and
Second World Wars, and held in great respect.

[Barrett]

Wayne, please extend my fond regards to Rod Smith. I've not had any contact with him in about a year and a half, but as you note he is an extremely perceptive and knowledgable student of "the game." He impressed me no end when I met him in the 1980s; he knew that USS Essex (CV-9) was the lead ship of the class, and there are active duty USN admirals who don't know that much. Rod's brother (Jerry?) was the Spit pilot who lost his drop tank on launch from USS Wasp (CV-7) off Malta and safely landed without a tailhook! I had the pleasure of introducing Rod to the landing signal officer, Dave McCampbell, c. 1990.

Re: the mindset of the time -- I was looking at WWI recruiting and war bond posters yesterday and contemplated the pressures that existed for every man, woman and child, especially the young men. I recently watched _All Quiet On The Western Front_, a work hatched close enough to the Great War to credibly voice these pressures. Every soldier must experience a push-pull effect, and each soldier deals with this differently, in mood and action. Gung-ho ambition and national pride acts as an accelerator and cautious self-preservation and reason act as a brake.

I think the "successful" soldiers of any war and any army ride the edge of maximum acceleration without going over the edge of the envelope. Their ride was swift enough to spark recognition, yet their careers were long enough to let that spark kindle. The survivors of the war (Fonck, Bishop, Udet) kept a realistic hand on their emotional brake, burning up the victory scoreboard without plunging into "Blaze Of Glory" demises (Luke, Voss, and almost Barker).

Like newspaper headlines, VCs seemed to be attracted to acts of valor to the nth degree, a neighborhood where the lines between heroism and foolhardiness become somewhat blurry. Over his well-tempered career, 45 victories and a phenomenal wingman survival rate did not earn Barker a VC. Only when a disgruntled, desperate Barker, flying solo against all reccomendations, tangles with dozens of EA and barely escapes with his hide does he get the VC nod.

In contemplating this thread, I've come to the conclusion that VCs, PLMs, CMHs and other highest-valor awards are not indications of exemplary soldiering. They are a recognition of exemplary sacrifice, for those who, for whatever reason, let go of their self-preservation brake in the service of their country. eg. Frank Luke doesn't win a lot of check marks on the soldiering chart, but as to how much he would give for his country -- well, he couldn't give any more...

I remain,
RayK

Fear is a natural defense mechanism, so a "fearless" soldier is likely to end up a casualty rather sooner than later. The hero's trick is understanding one's own fear and preventing it from becoming mind-numbing terror.

The successful pilots of WWI were the ones that survived long enough to gain confidence in the air. Considering confidence as an opposite to fear, overconfidence is credited to the demise of many fearless soldiers, (MvR, Voss, Ball).

I think many pilots were fixated on victory scores and decorations as a maintenance routine for their confidence. <Wondering where I'll meet my fate is not the way an ace should be thinking...I'm a 40 victory ace in the making, so I won't be dying before then. Don't focus on the horrible losses in my squadron; focus on the horrible losses I will inflict on the enemy. Don't worry that death may come soon; wonder if that DFC is coming soon.>

I'm sure in most cases, this confidence-fortifying is a careful front to a healthy dose of fear and self-preservation, and many would trade their medals and scores for an end to their peril.

I remain,
RayK

[Vin]

The Luke groupies are at it again. In one post in this thread, the name “Luke” is separated from “Voss” only by a comma !! What an insult !

Voss. Decorated Jasta Commander, having been acting commander in 2 previous jastas. 48 victories over aircraft - those things that are about the same size as your ‘plane, move as fast as you and shoot back - NO balloons.
Luke. 4 victories - the rest balloons.

One clown even included Von Richthofen 80 and Foncke 75 !


Vin

Vin, All i can say is Lati-da. Get that nose up any higher it'll be in god's ass.

The greatest example of glory seeking i've seen is WWII Canadian Ace "The Eagle of Malta" "Buzz" Buerling. He lost many wingman, would break formation (Though he was disgusted with being given tail-end charlie all the effin time) and only survived WWII because they finally grounded him for gross insubordination. I think they should have let him have a double range mustang and let him go to Berlin...gotta learn how to use these maniacs in war.

Canadian Ace of Aces in WWII and a hell of a story but he was no Doug Bader.

> The Luke groupies are at it again. In one post
> in this thread, the name ?Luke? is separated
> from ?Voss? only by a comma !! What an insult!

It was my comment, and I don't yet consider myself a "Luke" groupie. I have suspicions that if he had been born Francois LaLuke and had flown for France, an identical story would not garner much notice in the 51 states. I also wonder about giving such an upstart highest military decoration. But I haven't read his bio yet, so until I do, I reserve further judgement.

My correlation between Luke and Voss was to point out their bulletproof attitudes.

As to your apparent opinion that balloon hunting is for sissies, many high-flyin' aces dreaded balloon duty. Attacking low targets heavily guarded with anti-aircraft weapons surely wasn't a treat. The relatively stationary balloons made it more dangerous -- attacking pilots had to maintain a straight course to shoot them full of holes, making them an easier target for a deflection shot. Bishop makes comments about dreading balloon attacks, and the "flaming onion" fireballs launched from the balloon ground crew. He much preffered flying above the archie and swooping down on enemy formations; it seemed a much less <foolhardy> endeavor.

I remain,
RayK