How did you get started

I'm with Dave K (way back on the first page). My first tentative exposure was to these little collectable discs from, I think, Lipton Tea; each disc had a picture of an airplane, some of them quite obscure (HP 42, anyone?).

Then I discovered Harris's "Knights of the Air" at about the same age (10 or so) that I met a kid in my Cub pack whose father built model airplanes. This kid had dozens of 1/72 WWI kits on display in his bedroom. I was hooked.

My interest has waxed and waned over the years as time and the demands of life have permitted; I regret that I'll never have the time and resources to spend as much time researching as I'd like. But however far I may drift from this field, something always brings me back.

And one of these days I'll have the time to build the 200 or so model kits I've been storing for the last 25 years or so...

[Michael]

Anyone notice a common theme?

"Knights of the Air" (Great Stories of Canada was the series)

model airplanes

ten years old

And they weren't Lipton's, those coins - they were Jello and Hostess potato chips. *Still got mine (in lousy condition)

It was about that time I got the big Harleyford book on the Aces - still have that too.

When the teacher said to add words to our spelling lists, I put in things like "Sopwith Camel", "Fokker D-VII". *Puzzled the kid behind me who had to correct them. *The other boys were more interested in what the Habs and Leafs were doing.

Fast forward to last year. The Seanster turns ten, reads "Winged Warfare". Dresses and presents as Wop May for a Cubs' Famous Canadians night. I find a copy of "Knights of the Air".

[Ira_Silverman]

OK, I'll bite.

It's 1958, I'm all of 8 years old, and I'm in the hospital getting my "bionic" leg adjusted . This was an early model, long before Steve Austin.

My favorite cousin comes to visit and brings me a copy of Quentin Reynolds They Fought For the Sky. My first "grown-up" hardcover book! And there ya go - I'm hooked for life.

I still have the original book, although the dust jacket has long since bit the dust. I must have read it a dozen times since, which is about as many pieces as the book is in, yet it still stands prominent on my bookshelf.

VBR,

Ira

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Gentlemen:
* *In 1927, my Father had a flying school, 'The Abbott School of Aviation' at the old Mills Field in San Bruno, CA, he subscribed to "Western Aviation" and in one issue was an article about the S.E.5a, he read it to me and I looked at the drawings and pictures and asked a gillion questions. *He introduced me to some WW1 pilots on the airport, one of the was Bernard "Mike" Doolin, of the 22 cd Aero Squadron, the designer of the squadrom emblem, the "Comet". * He and others told me their stories, I became hooked. *In 1931 I began making solid models. *My interest has never wained, *It also helps to be curious!
Ira:
* * I also have Quentin Reynold's "They Fought For The Sky", one of the best books written on the subject. My first WW1 book was "The Red Knight Of Germany" by Floyd Gibbons, I have read both of these books enumerable times, My second book was "WAR BIRDS", by The Unknown Aviator, my Father gave them to me as Christmas presents in 1928, both are pretty well worn out. Their dust jackets disapeared a long time ago.
I still remember seeing "WINGS" in San Francisco in 1927 with my Mom and Dad, that added to my interest, I just loved those German Hawk P-1 "D.VIIs." *My Father encouraged my interest in aviation with books and toy airplanes.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Blue skies,
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dan-San

[BobE]

This thread is too interesting to let die. Coming late to the party but have to tell my tale (more than you ever wanted to know).

During the depression my Uncle lost his job and his family shared our apartment in the Bronx. I was about three at the time. They tell me that my Dad and Uncle made a bunch of scratch built WWI models for my older brother and cousin to play with. They tell me I somehow managed to put my foot in the box and destroyed the whole batch. Could this have left me with a sub-conscious need to re-build them some day?

My entire childhood was spent growing up in apartment houses in the Bronx. We spent a lot of time at "Tar Beach" (the roof of the apartment house). During the late '30s and early '40s most of the planes flying over were double wingers and I distinctly remember blimps and possibly even a couple of zeppelins.

My model building career started with Strombecker models during WWII. These were made of solid PINE! You had to sand everything to fit and the propellers were steel attached with nails. Fitting engines into the wings of a four engine bomber was a major proposition! At some time in my early teens I built a couple of Guillow WWI kits and I remember an Aurora DVII being one of my first plastic kits.

My first major thrust of interest in WWI came when my sons were born and I built a bunch of 1/72nd Revels to hang from their bedroom ceiling. Somewhere in here They Fought for the Sky came into the picture but I'm not sure whether it or the models came first.

I have a wide range of interests in history and tend to go off on "kicks" but I do find myself coming back to WWI periodically
and am now racing Father Time to finish about a dozen kits acquired over the years.

Well, there you have it. Remember, you asked me!

Bob E

Still build Plastic.Still build balsa and tissue,still read Sci-fi,STILL LOVE AIRPLANES DAMMIT :-[

[rammjaeger]

With 10 years I saw a colourful backside of a magazine - profiles of WWII fighters. I looked at my pocket, found enough money and bought it. I continued to do so and my interest shifted to WWI since the mid-90s.

[totoroman]

well, being of the younger "shoot-em-up" generation (27) I actually first picked up an interest (if only in passing) because of "Snoopy and the Red Baron" by the late (and great) Charles Schultz.

I've always been interested in aviation-- but what sorta tipped my favor towards WWI was after getting the Sierra-Dynamix Aces series on a CD about 6 or 7 years ago. I originally wanted some Star Wars connected game-- but when I found out that those games were based (to the best of what was obviously their limited abilities) on things that actually happened I was hooked.

the other reason was when I learned just how chaotic and unusual things were back then-- that there was the peculiar blend of mass-production, wanton individuality and futility-- and some pretty good looking airplanes.

I liked the ability to try and think through situations strategically--it wasn't enough to just play the games, I wanted to learn more about the way things were.

a good example-- rather than just fly with a computerized facsimile of JG26 with Aces over Europe-- I went out and purchased Donald Caldwell's book on that aforementioned unit (it's still one of the best books I've read on the subject-- seems to be pretty accurate with the history-and is pretty easy to read-- I've only been waiting for the squadron logbooks-- because I already have the photo-album and the paperback original... PS> anyone know how Caldwell's work is progressing-- or not?

off-topic, obviously, but curious.

In 1966, at seven years of age, my dear mother took me to the local moviehouse to see THE BLUE MAX; I remember her pointing out that someone was portraying the Red Baron while the opening credits were rolling by... the red who? was probably my reply... I remember the planes coming in to land (they were DH Moths "done up"), and was captivated by the size of their rudders... that's all it took for me... just like Stachel, looking up from the mud to the blue sky...

[Testerchild]

For me it all started nearly 40 years ago. I was about 11 and my Mum showed me her father's medals, the bronze commemorative plaque given out to the families of those killed in action, a parchment scroll presented by the "Provost, Magistrates and Town Council of Kirkaldy", and a letter from the German Reichsarchiv in 1936. The letter was in reply to a question from my mother's adoptive parents (my grandmother died of 'flu a year after my grandfather) re the exact circumstances of her father's death, and stated that he (serving as an air gunner) and his pilot had been shot down and killed near Bousbecque, not far from Menin, by Lt Harold Auffarth of Jasta 18. I wanted to know more about it, so a succession of Biggles books, Airfix kits, and Winged warfare followed. But I lost interest in my 20's.

Then just over ten years ago my mother got me to take her out to France to visit the grave, and I haven't been able to leave the subject alone ever since. I still have the medals and other items, plus some of my Grandfather's letters to his wife. I spend masses of my free time at the PRO at Kew reading up and collating everything I can on his unit, 20 squadron, and the rest of my time - except for the odd visit to the pub - grabbing every book I can find about the air war, or WW1 in general:fascinating stuff. The ultimate aim is a detailed 20 Squadron WW1 history: but there's quite a way to go yet.