The Aerodrome Forum - View Single Post - Does this count.... as it's only an opinion?

Chock · 30 October 2009, 12:00 AM

I think it counts as an 'informed opinion'. But despite your intentions to have a bit of a pop the Hun (yup, spotted that - oh no! he said Hun!, burn him!) it is a fair point in some ways. Not specifically regarding

Werner Voss, but it is something I've often thought about actually, and I'll tell you why...

I'm currently re-reading 'In the Teeth of the Wind', which you probably know is a diary/memoir of RNAS Squadron Leader CPO Bartlett (but I'm not specifically singling this out, it just happens to be the one I'm reading at the moment). Now, without wishing to sound mean, if you read through that, or in fact pretty much any other WW1 pilot memoir (of any side), barely a page goes by without something such as this appearing: 'Had tea and crumpets and then went for a flight around the aerodrome to test the engine on B1234, crashed on landing and broke a strut and the propeller, later that evening we had a jolly ruck in the mess to celebrate Binky's return from hospital, he having flown B6789 into a tree the previous week. What larks.''.

That kind of thing is so common in WW1 memoirs, that you often find yourself thinking, who the hell taught these guys to fly!!? Of course, one has to consider the fact that aerodynamic knowledge was somewhat in its infancy then, and training often was indeed not as good as it could have been, and sometimes even the wood they used in aeroplane construction was rubbish. So anyone who flies these days has the benefit of hindsight, better training, better aeroplanes and the combined knowledge of 100 years of powered flight too, as well as the knowledge of many air wars to draw on. Thus, I'm not denying that we are 'standing on the shoulders of giants' in some ways, but even so, there must have been some truly rotten pilots in WW1. Even Mannock, who is my personal favourite, broke aeroplanes with depressing regularity, and we know MVR was not great at landing either.

Voss may indeed have been a great pilot, he almost certainly was, and enough witnesses say so, but when some of those witnesses clearly couldn't land a plane for toffee, it does make me wonder a bit.

Al

30 October 2009, 12:00 AM	#2 (permalink)
Chock Another goddam Limey... Contributor Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The grim north of England Posts: 405	I think it counts as an 'informed opinion'. But despite your intentions to have a bit of a pop the Hun (yup, spotted that - oh no! he said Hun!, burn him!) it is a fair point in some ways. Not specifically regarding Werner Voss, but it is something I've often thought about actually, and I'll tell you why... I'm currently re-reading 'In the Teeth of the Wind', which you probably know is a diary/memoir of RNAS Squadron Leader CPO Bartlett (but I'm not specifically singling this out, it just happens to be the one I'm reading at the moment). Now, without wishing to sound mean, if you read through that, or in fact pretty much any other WW1 pilot memoir (of any side), barely a page goes by without something such as this appearing: 'Had tea and crumpets and then went for a flight around the aerodrome to test the engine on B1234, crashed on landing and broke a strut and the propeller, later that evening we had a jolly ruck in the mess to celebrate Binky's return from hospital, he having flown B6789 into a tree the previous week. What larks.''. That kind of thing is so common in WW1 memoirs, that you often find yourself thinking, who the hell taught these guys to fly!!? Of course, one has to consider the fact that aerodynamic knowledge was somewhat in its infancy then, and training often was indeed not as good as it could have been, and sometimes even the wood they used in aeroplane construction was rubbish. So anyone who flies these days has the benefit of hindsight, better training, better aeroplanes and the combined knowledge of 100 years of powered flight too, as well as the knowledge of many air wars to draw on. Thus, I'm not denying that we are 'standing on the shoulders of giants' in some ways, but even so, there must have been some truly rotten pilots in WW1. Even Mannock, who is my personal favourite, broke aeroplanes with depressing regularity, and we know MVR was not great at landing either. Voss may indeed have been a great pilot, he almost certainly was, and enough witnesses say so, but when some of those witnesses clearly couldn't land a plane for toffee, it does make me wonder a bit. Al __________________ Wiseman: When you removed the book from the cradle, did you speak the words? Ash: Yeah, basically. Wiseman: Did you speak the exact words? Ash: Look, maybe I didn't say every single little tiny syllable, no. But basically I said them, yeah.