[Oh, good Christ, another LONG post...]
Mr. Cervo,
You are quite right about Sims; one of my first posts at The {New} Aerodrome Forum was the full interview with
Josef Jacobs from one of Sims' books...
Mr. Dieter,
Wasn't the inflammatory book that started this thread also released this week? If so, I'll leave it to others to make what they will of the timing of the dedication...
Here now is an excerpt from Warneford's report:
*"The joint on my petrol pipe and pump from the back tank was broken, and at about 2:40 A.M. I was forced to land and repair my pump.
* I landed at the back of a forest close to a farmhouse; the district is unknown on account of the fog and the continuous changing of course.
* I made preparations to set the machine on fire but apparently was not observed, so was enabled to effect a repair, and continued at 3:15 A.M. in a south-westerly direction after considerable difficulty in starting my engine single-handed."
*A few points, if I may?
*It's clear that Warneford did not know where he was; it is estimated about 35 miles inside the German lines. The Zeppelin, LZ.37 was downed near Ghent (its base was Gontrode); another Zepp, LZ.38, was destroyed in its shed at Evere by J.S. Mills. Warneford and Mills were on the same mission, to bomb the Zeppelin sheds, and were serving in RNAS Sqn 1 (later to become RAF Sqn 201) based at Dunkirk.
*I can't get any indication that it was a moonlit night, but it could safely assumed to be so: please note that this mission took place in the dead of night. There was a fairly widespread ground fog.
*Warneford supposedly repaired the fuel line using an empty cigarette holder, the ends of which he secured with tied strips from a handkerchief.
*The serial # of his Morane-Saulnier L was 3253; he was carrying, according to Whitehouse, six 20-lbs. Hale bombs.
*
*Warneford, after his single-handed take-off, still lost, recognized Cape Gris-Nez, landed there to refuel, and continued on to Dunkirk.
*He was awarded the Victoria Cross within 36 hours of his then-novel feat.
*On either 17 or 18 of June, 1915, Warneford was killed in a flying accident, when his Farman pusher either turned-over in mid-air or its tail assembly collapsed in a sharp turn. Warneford was flying with the American journalist Henry Needham, there to interview him about his victory. Supposedly both were thrown from the upside-down Farman...
* One last question? (I couldn't resist!)
* How was Garros able to make good his 'escape' from Berlin on 3 Aug 1914? Did he ask the soldiers guarding his aeroplane to 'assist' him in his take-off? Then again, what was his level of German language ability?
* History is sadly mute on these germain matters...
Fröhe Russische Öster,
Captain Lewis