Daily life on a WW I airfield

[Regulus]

Hi,

We've talked about parts of this subject earlier on the Forum.
I've seen and read about the fact that on some German airfields, there was a small 'farm' that provided some welcome variation in the menu, with chickens, pigs, etc.
Some even baked there bread themselves.
What I'm interested in to know, is if anyone knows of similar examples, it seems that some even had their own vegetables, something I also saw in the units stationed at the coastal batteries in Flanders.
And what at the French or British airfields, similar examples ?
Also were there any famous poets, painters in these units ?


Thanks and best from Johan

[Zif]

Hi Reg

maybe I'm near to say a blasphemy, but I think I read some poetry from W.B.Yeats , and he was a pilot too.

Maybe the pilot was another Yeats... I have to verify

[Zif]

Well, he was an Irish pilot

and this is the poetry I read :

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above:
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love:
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.


W.B.Yeats

[Zif]

ehrrrr.... I was wrong

the name of the poetry is :

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death,

written by Yeats doesn't mean he was a pilot

sorry for the mess !! LOL

[Regulus]

Ah, fun it is ! I guess nobody knows any farmer stories on the men and their crazy flying machines
But what about celebreties ?

Best from Johan

[wolfenbill]

The only farmer stories I know happened at Gershenson field in Louisiana toward the end of WWI and thereafter. Pilot trainees used to fly around in their Jennies and land at various farmers' dwellings for Sunday dinner. Probably the best one was when the field was visited by a Handley-Page 0-400. It had engine problems on take off and struggled to get airborne dragging a few barbed wire fences with it. The cows got out and the 0-400 eventually gained altitude.

[Regulus]

Hi,

That is indeed a real farmers story !
How to plough with a HP ???
Someone from the Animal Liberation Front ?
Over here at Jabbeke aerodrome we had some specialists also.
One pilot parked his Albatros on top of a small forest, one landed straight into the hay throught the open doors of a farm building (talking about a 'soft' landing ) one was responsable for a Denkmal when his machines wheels came in contact with a telephonecable which was not layed in a correct way over the runway.
On another occasion a pilot was wounded in a bad landing and brought in a civilian farm house for first help, when the doctor arrived totally naked, resulting in the wife of the house to faint (the Germans had the habit of swimming naked in the castlelake), yep we had some cowboy stories over here !

Come on let's bring on some more funny stories !

Thanks and best from Johan