No sir. He passed on a couple of years ago. This is his younger brother. It's been a difficult few days.

Today's featured aircraft by Dicksbro is mislabelled. There was no such thing as the Halberstadt CL-I. Instead, the aircraft illustrated is the widely-successful CL-II.

The confusion comes from the Luftstreitkräfte's designation system during the First World War.

At the beginning of the war, the system was quite simple: A for monoplanes, B for biplanes. (And this was at a time when the LSK didn't, as such, exist yet; it was still called IdFlieg, Inspektion der Fliegertruppen) Later, when people started arming aircraft, the Germans decided that category C aircraft would be two-seat, armed general-purpose aircraft.

The the IdFlieg/LSK decided to start doing a more or less mnemonic, rather than strict alphabetic system: D, Doppeldecker (biplane); E, Eindecker (monoplane); Dr, Dreidecker, (triplane: all D, Dr, & E also imply single-seat aircraft); G Grossfleugzug, large aircraft, multi-engine bombers, (originally K, Kampffleugzug, "Battle aircraft); R, Reisenfleugzug, giant aircraft, some even larger than many WW II bombers; J, apparently a throw-back to the alphabetical system, armored ground-attack aircraft.

And then the more specialized aircraft:
N, Nacht, (night) aircraft specially designed for night operations);
CN, night-adapted C aircraft, later simply N;
DJ, single-seat aircraft adapted fr ground attack;
CL & GL: CL is, of course, the class to which the featured aircraft belongs. The addition "L" implies "Licht" (light): lightweight versions of C or G aircraft. In the case of C aircraft, the original purpose was to produce a two-seat escort fighter. They could also carry a few light bombs, and when ground strafing & close air support became part of their regular duties, grenade racks were added to their regular equipment.

And as a follow-on to that:
There was never any such aircraft as the Halberstadt CL-I because the company & army both were apparently following the numerical sequence from the earlier types produced by the same company. To add t the confusion, there were a couple of different Halberstadt C-I aircraft: an experimental C-I, and then a licensed-built copy of the DFW C-V (originally known also as the Halberstadt, then the designation was changed to DFW C-V (Halb)). Then the Halberstädter Fleuzug-Werke built their CL-II. They also did produce a "regular" C-III, and followed up their CL-II with a CL-IV, also fairly widely accepted by the Luftstreitkräfte.

Interesting insights, gecko! Thanks. Appreciate your comments. Today's Armstrong-Whitworth is interesting, because only one was completed and the model never went into production. It was a three-seated fighter (very unusual) with two gunners. It's performance however was not adequate and further research was dropped.

Yep, either the F. K. 5 or 6-one example of each built, with the 6 being the follow-on to the 5. Fuselage height/depth suggests the illustration is the F. K. 6. By the time it was actually designed and ready for testing, it was already obsolete, and fortunately for the aircrews that would otherwise have had to fly it, the status was recognized-a sharp contrast to several Royal Aircraft Factory products of the First World War.

And the designation "FK" for Armstrong-Whitworth aircraft products refers to Frederick Koolhoven, a Dutch designer working for Ack-W. (And what other famous Dutch aircraft designers of the period do we know about?).

And today, it's the Friedrichshafen G-III. Actually a more widely-used bomber than the more famous Gotha G types, it was also probably more effective; the sources I have claim that the aircrews involved with the types praised the Friedrichshafen's reliability over the Gotha.

I've noticed a prevailing amount of German aircraft.....no American or English DB?

There were no serious American aircraft in the European theatre in this time period. The French SPAD was the primary mount for the Yanks.

OF is entirely correctly here-the US talked a big talk, but the plans to fill out the US ranks with US design, built & operated aircraft were badly implemented, rife with corruption, and generally pie-in-the-sky (yes, pun intended) hopes. The US had to make due with (sometimes US-built) British designs (DH 4, DH 9 & 9A) and French (Nieuport Ni.28, SPAD S.13, Breguet Br.14) aircraft. The US designed & built "Liberty" engine, in varying power ratings did power many of the foreign (to the US) designed, US-built aircraft though.

For my own part, I wonder if DB is trying to set up a challenge, see if I will have t skip commenting on something he pictures. We are getting close, but I do have a whle lot of reference materials handy.

Vickers F.B. (Fighting Biplane) 24-another aircraft that never made it beyond the prototype stage The engine that it was designed to mate with, the Vickers -developed Hart, was to unreliable. It probably could have been made to work, but by the time the might have happened, the British already had a very servicable Two-seat fighter aircraft, the Bristol F.2b. In stark contrast to a lot of British products,t he F.2b was one of the best aircraft of the war, completely obscuring the Vickers F.B.24.

I'm not that into planes, but I remember there being quite a few in WW2 that were American design, made, and piloted. I kind of figured it might have been similar in WW1.

Yes LS, the lessons of WW1 were learned, but not until America started supplying planes to Britain did the rush of adequate planes begin.

So today we have the ever so famous Fokker E-II. Honestly it was an adequate design; Antony Fokker was building more-or-less copies of the pre-war Morane monoplane (as the A-I); after he was shown Roland Garros' deflector wedges for dealing with the problem of building a machine gun & aircraft combination that a single pilot could deal with, Fokker claims to have invented an interrupter gear that would avoid the problem of degrading propeller (and thus aircraft) performance, the problem of a basic 'pusher' type design that also degraded aircraft performance, and still allow a single-seat airborne weapons system. In reality, such a design existed before the War, patented by Franz Schneider (by then working for LVG); but official indifference and Schneider's realization that military-grade ammunition often 'hung fire' made Schneider drop the project.

So, Fokker got the credit, mated the interrupter gear with his A-I, built several of them before switching to the improved E-II design, worte a whole bunch of utter bullshit about it in his autobiography, the Fokker E-series of aircraft (at least all the early ones, E-I through E-IV) launched several early famous German air heroes on their careers, and the Allies more-or-less panicked because the Germans were suddenly shooting back and created several exaggerated phrases like 'Fokker Scourge'.

Sounds like modern business to me. Someone does all the work, someone else takes all the credit and then exaggerates the idea with bullshit.

I think you hit the nail on the head, LS. May not, however, been just the case with "modern business" but probably goes way, way back! :shrug:

Ah, yes, Antony Fokker, despite being a Dutch native, thoroughly absorbed the principles of American big business. Build your company on the back of giants.

Today, DB features the Nieuport Ni 28. This was a follow-on to a series of quite successful single-seat fighter aircraft; Nieuport Ni. 11, Nieuport Ni. 17 then the 28. However, by the time the 28 was developed & put into service, the lightweight, comparatively flimsy construction was a flawed design concept. Or, at least badly implemented. The French had the SPAD S. 13 by then, and while the Nieuport company built plenty of 28s, they saw comparatively little service in the Aéronautique Militaire. Instead, when the Americans showed up, and lacked aircraft, the French foisted the Nieuport 28s off on them-initially even without armament, since they were supposed to be only used as advanced trainers. Then the Americans got the guns, and tried to use them as front-line fighters. The famous ace Eddie Rickenbacker, in fact, was nearly killed early in his flying career when he maneuvered his 28 too violently, almost all the fabric peeled off of his right wings, and he crashed.

Today's little jewel is the Morane Saulnier N. "The Morane-Saulnier N, also known as the Morane-Saulnier Type N, was a French monoplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. Designed and manufactured by Morane-Saulnier, the Type N entered service in April 1915 with the Aéronautique Militaire designated as the MS.5 C.1. It also equipped four squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps, in which it was nicknamed the Bullet, and was operated in limited numbers by the 19th Squadron of the Imperial Russian Air Force."

Today is also the day my wife and I will be visiting shut-ins from our church. We do this about once a month. What amazes me is how rewarding it is to visit folks who aren't able to get out and about much because of age or health issues. So many are really great people who have a lot to share. :thumbs:

And as it so happens, I have two of them (see attached). There's this game I like, a WW I (and in another version WW II) aerial combat game that uses 1/144th scale miniatures. Wings of Glory, currently published by Ares Games. When they produce a given miniature, they go to the trouble of painting the various models in the colors/paint schemes of individual pilots, when they can. (That is, when their research gives them the needed information). In my case, the two depicted are: on the left, slightly behind, the aircraft of Sergent Jean Chaput, Escadrille N. 31; on the right, the aircraft of Eugène Gilbert, Escadrille MS. 49 . Both Aéronautique Militaire.

Interesting thing about the M-S Type N; it was never equipped with a synchronization gear; instead, it relied on the less efficient, and somewhat more hazardous deflector wedges pioneered by Roland Garros.

And the squadron designations above: the French were the only ones to have homogenous squadrons at the beginning of the war: This was vastly easier on the ground crews, as it meant they did not have to try and stock spare parts for 4 or five different aircraft types, or learn as many different rigging schemes, etc. But it also meant that the French designated their squadrons with both a service series number and an abbreviation indicating the aircraft manufacturer of the type the squadron was equipped with. (Nieuport, or Morane-Saulnier in the above examples). Theoretically, the alphabetic designation would change when the squadron re-equipped, but this did not always happen.

It actually snowed here in middle TN. A real snow, somewhere between 4-6 inches I guesstimate. Thick, white, fluffy, and beautiful. Now if only I could convince my g/f to go play in it with me......

^^ Have fun!^^

The snow began here late yesterday afternoon, and hasn’t stopped. We’ve already accumulated seven inches or so, and expect to double that before the snow stops late tonight.

I wonder what inside activities we can enjoy to while away the hours?

No doubt you were thinking of Cribbage or Scrabble. :boink:

Then, again, maybe not. :D

Wow, DB's getting more & more obscure with the aircraft. The Ponnier M-1? Not really used by any one; first the French rejected it, then the Belgians did too. Although I think there was about what, maybe a squadron's worth of the aircraft that may have made it into French service for a little while.

Yep.

And from the obscure to the incredibly famous. The Fokker D-VII was widely touted as "the best German fighter aircraft of the war." Probably not, because there were later aircraft that the Germans barely go to the front before the war ended; but it was certainly the best widely-used aircraft the Germans had. It was the result of a competition held at Adlershof in January, 1928. During this competition, the Red Baron himself was persuaded to try out Fokker's prototype, the V (Versuchs, "research", or prototype) VI; Richthofen said the speed & climb were satisfactory, but the handling characteristics in terms of stability & spinning tendencies were bad. Fokker had his chief engineer, Reinhold Platz make a few changes to the fuselage & tail, and somehow persuaded Richthofen to give it another go. After this, Richthofen wholeheartedly endorsed the aircraft, Fokker won the competition, and the D-VII was adopted so enthusiastically that the rival companies Albatros & LFG Roland were directed to build the design under license, and pay Fokker a royalty on the design.

Richthofen himself never flew it in combat, though: the first examples were barely at the front in late April, 1918, when he was killed in his Fokker Dr-I. But there were other very famous German fighter aces who did: Ernst Udet, Hermann Göring, and Rudolf Berthold are examples. And the aircraft specifically picture in DB's userpic is that of Vizefeldwebel (a rank equivalent roughly to deputy Sergeant-Major) Max Holtzem, Jagdstaffel 16.

My avatar for today is the US built Curtiss H.12.

I found the following and offer it as additional information dealing with this aircraft ...

"Up until the entry of the United States into the war the sole domestic aircraft designer and manufacturer who had a routine business with the Allied powers was the Curtiss Company. The H-12 design of late 1916 was a significantly scaled-up version of earlier H-boat designs. Initially intended to be powered by two 160 hp Curtiss V-X-X engines, these were deemed unsatisfactory by the British, who substituted 275 hp Rolls Royce Eagle engines in the aircraft which they purchased.

As U.S. participation in the war became imminent the U.S. Navy was finally able to purchase these twin-engined flying boats. The first of 20 H-12's were delivered in March 1917. Engines were the 200 Curtiss V-2-3 type which were later replaced by Liberty engines. The serial numbers of these aircraft were A152 and A765-A783.

While the H-12 served in the RNAS in England, the U.S. Navy opted not to assign the machine to foreign duty. Therefore, active service by the Navy was limited to anti-submarine patrol duty at domestic naval air stations."

^^^ Yep, and that decision was just another factor which kept any US-designed, US-built, US-crewed planes out of the First World War. Not that that's a bad thing, nor a good thing, just a thing.

It was sure cold, damp and windy yesterday. Suppose to be on a warming trend into the weekend with temps near 50 by then. That'll be nice. :)

And today, DB features the Breguet Br 14. The US enthusiastically adopted the French aircraft, as it was fast, robust, and versatile. It had two main versions the A.2 reconnaissance variant & the B.2 bomber variant. And in fact, some of the latter were fairly easily adapted to use the US-built 'Liberty' engine. It was so successful, in fact that it continued in widespread service after the war, both in various Air Services, and in some modified and specialized civilian variants.

Luft Verke
 

And now we have the Gotha G-IV. As mentioned before, the Gotha series of G-type were quite famous for being the "type of choice" to carry out the strategic aerial bombardment of England during WW I. It was also the first of the Gotha types to feature the "tunnel"-a cut-out in the lower fuselage allowing the rear gunner/observer to fire through the fuselage at an aircraft attack from below and behind. Also like the Fokker D-VII mentioned previously, the Gotha G-IV was built by manufacturing firms other than the original designer. In this case, Siemens-Schuckert Werke (SSW), and Luft Verkehrs Gesellschaft (LVG).

Did DB run out of WW I aircraft icons?

Temporarily. Sometimes I just like to change themes for a while. :)

Who knows, I may return!

DB has entered a higher plane.

It could also be I was doing a barrel roll and just fell out. :yikes:

Nah!

Too many choruses of "Roll out the Barrel"?

Maybe he's just been reduced to wearing a barrel.

It was his turn in the barrel.

I wonder if there is a Pixies wherever we go after here. I can picture Mr.Boogerface, STO, and Wyndhy hanging out.

Somehow, I feel like you've got me over a barrel ... or inside one at least. :boink:

There wouldn't dare not be.

I'll let you know. :jester: