Boots an' all

[Darryl]

As with many of you, little annecdotes have always held interest for me. Unfortunately most of these remain amusing stories with no evidence to back them up. So it was with amazement that I stumbled upon, amongst 40 Sqn CITARs, the following:

*
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *93
* * * * * * * * * * * *

REPORT BY MAJOR R.S. DALLAS.


Flew over LA BRAYELLE aerodrome and fired on hangars on South side of aerodrome to attract attention.

Dropped a parcel with the following message inside:-
“If you won’t come up here and fight, herewith one pair of boots for work on the ground, pilot’s for the use of,”

Then flew in mist till a party of men had collected to examine the parcel, when two bombs were dropped, one burst being observed near target.

Opened fire with both guns firing about 100 rounds when troops scattered. *General panic ensued.




* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Major.,
In the Field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Commanding No. 40 Squadron, R.A.F..
3/5/18.



A report, endorsed by the Commanding Officer. It must have happened.

regards

Darryl

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Darryl:
Come on Darryl, you got to knock off the Fosters, Errol Flynn did that in "Dawn Patrol"!
G'day
Dan-San

[Darryl]

knock off the Fosters

Hi Dan-San,

Fosters?? Good Lord, you have to be joking. Give me a good old Emu Bitter any day.

But the report is genuine. Dallas did not live long to gloat however, he was killed a little under a month later.

One wonders how often the gag was perpetrated. Funny, but I was always under the impression that most of those stunts died out after 1917. Apparently not.

And thanks for the answer on vH's Alb.

Western Australian blue skies to you.

Darryl

Darryl,


Excellent!

>but I was always under the impression that most
>of those stunts died out after 1917.


Cobby in his book writes about emulating Dallas's boots drop. Cobby though Dallas a New Zealander! Wonder why.

The other interesting thing was Cobby wrote that they attached Red, White and Blue streamers to the boots so the Germans would know they were from the Australians. Seems odd, as I equate British with Red, White and Blue.

Maybe the English pilots used the St Geroges Cross to define their ethnicity rather than the Union Flag? Does anyone know better?

The Australian flag at that time was the Red Ensign, so ... still confused.



cam

[Vin]

Cam

I noticed the reference to the red, white and blue streamers, too. I wonder whether it is simply an error of some kind. It reminds me of something which I think is similar in Southall’s biography of Bluey Truscott. He attributes Bluey as saying to ‘Checker’ Hughes (his old coach) that it is natural for a bloke with red and white on his ‘plane to shoot down a 'plane carrying black and white. Melbourne’s colours were then, and still are, red and blue. Or perhaps the RFC dropped a particular coloured streamer such as yellow for visibility. It is curious.


Vin

[Cigogne]

I was just reading a book of Bill Mauldin's famous cartoons of "Willie & Joe" cartoons from WWII. In the accompanying narrative he talks of a U.S. Artillery unit who would load their big guns with "Propaganda" leaflets and bombard the Germans with them. When the bombardment would cease the Germans would climb out of their holes and get the reading material.

After about 10-15 minutes the U.S. Artillery would bombard them with heavy shells and catch them out in the open.

I don't think they fell for that too many times after that.

[Amy]

We all know Darryl is a bit loopy heh heh, but he speaks the truth regarding the CITAR. Here's the report in image-form:

[Darryl]

[color=Navy]We all know Darryl is a bit loopy heh heh,

Thanks Amy,

(I think!!!)

Glad that much at least survived the Post Office!!

regards

Darryl

[stevedrew]

Darryl,
I'm sure you have seen this exploit attributed to many pilots, as I'm sure you have seen the "1 against 11 of Richthofen's circus in a Sopwith Triplane" also attributed to Dallas.

Urban myth.........Dallas was the perpetrator of the original feat, so I'm led to believe.

Steve Drew

[stevedrew]

All,
Having read the above post, it's not clear what I mean.........
RS Dallas was the man behind the original "boots'n'all" stunt. RA Little flew rings around the flying circus.

Australian pilots RULE!!!!!!!!!!


Steve Drew