Alex
Another good example of how OTF has lost its way. I caught one of their luminaries on TV a little while back being touted as an expert on the WW1 air war on a military show on the History Channel called Roll Call. One of his expert comments was that the plywood fuselage of the Albatross provided German pilots more protection from fire than the canvass fuselages of the Allies.
Having myself fired literally thousands of rounds through machine guns at plywood figure targets - you might as well stand in the open as seek protection behind plywood. In turn I'm drawn to the example of the Js 5 ace, Kurt Schnieder who was wia on 5 June 17 (I think) - wounded in the thigh. He went on to die of blood poisoning on about 14 July. In this I'm drawn to the fact that wood splinters were the greatest cause of blood poisoning in regards the wounds suffered by naval personnel in the sea battles of the 17th & 18th centuries.
And of course, I'll dig the actual figures up - but in the last three months of WW1, the British Army took nearly as many guns and prisoners as the US, French & Belgians combined!
Cheers Russ