StephenLawson

Interesting story about MvR. He was on leave in Berlin. A fellow approached him asking to sign a fist full of Sanke post cards with MvR's image on them. MvR was told that they were for a local hospital for a children's ward. MvR signed them and went on his way. Later he saw the same man evidently selling these postcards in the street. Now this story is third hand so take it for what it is. Yet MvR only signed postcards after that for single individuals that he had some personal relationship with.

Anything we might say would be shear speculation. That said, I think I could answer that. First look at the various Orden Pour le Merite holders and see which ones refused to swear an oath to become a Nazis. One of the surviving members Josef Jacobs refused and though G?ring was to have him arrested he sent word through Christensen (president of the Blue Max social organization) and warned Jacobs to get out of Germany. Jacobs spent the war on a farm in Norway. Not an aristocrat. MvR would have been Luftwaffe Komannduer instead of G?ring. No matter what his realtionship to the mad corporal G?ring would have been second banana at best. MvR was a great leader and the mad corporal would have found that it was either kill MvR or he would have been over thrown. MvR would have had the loyalty of the troops. It is sad to say it but the Gestapo would have probably fed MvR a black tablet as they did Rommel. Instead MvR died the Roman soldier's death, all wounds facing the front. Just my opinion folks.

Greetings John; Still all in all a dangerous business stepping out your front door. The rear gunners had one and sometimes two rear firing Lewis guns. Supposedly one slug glanced off MvR's skull July 6, 1917.

Warm Fuzzies all round!!! Glad your back!

Absolutely Jim; The originals are in the Imperial War museum in their MvR collection. I have copies myself. The photographs are predominantly the facial area. They had to used baking soda on his face and pulled his front teeth forward to get a reasonable shot. The autopsy as it was called was simple sliding a metal probe into the chest cavity through the wounds after inspecting the anterior surface of the entrance and exit wounds. Three doctors gave their opinions on the cause of death. I think it was Dale Titler's Book "The Day the Red Baron Died" that discussed the lower leg wounds albeit briefly. Good to hear from you by the way.

Greetings all; During my vacation I have been able to add significantly to the list of downloads and CD versiona of my kit reviews. If you have any interest in WWI aviation mostly in 1/48 scale have a go! Great progress as recently I have been able to add kit reviews in downloads and CD versions for The Eduard Pfalz D.III #8005 Nieuport 17 #8024 & #8033 Hannover CL.IIIa #8008 Hanriot HD.1 #8018 and a historical doc on the Morane Saulnier AI all on the website. My Webpage click here

The rivet holes were infact for ther seat frame cross member. Here is another bit of consideration. To get the body out of the aircraft the Aussies had to haul / drag the whole machine behind a hill out of German observation posts view. Then they may have had to cut the upper lonergon tubings to get the body out. A simple hack saw would save a wrenched back. The separated rear fuselage was photographed with British officers inspecting the pieces of the wreck at Bertangles Aerodrome. The popular image of the propped up shredded wreck was taken a couple of days after the crash.

Thank you for your kind words. I note that usually people who have read everything on MvR tend to believe what has been handed to them. The possibility that anything else happened is almost heretical. When you have sat in a replica Dr.I you tend to see things a little differently. IMHO

I average about 3 builds a year that people commission me to build.

Greetings Peter Monahan; There is so much about the crash that is speculation. These are my opinions only. First your comment, yes bad things happen. MvR may have been trying to climb out of the wreck to avoid the fire danger. (He did this when previously being wounded back in July 1917.) The soldier I believe that did the shooting was stopping an enemy from escaping. MvR had been chasing a British machine intent on shooting it down. The ground troops would not take the chance to note if he was armed or not. It was war. He had his face bashed against the gun butts and was dazed (he climbed out of his machine in July 1917 with a severe head wound.) Even the ground troops noted that he was concious momentarily after they showed up to the cockpit. It looks bad but the easy out was to credit an RAF pilot. The point is that he was shot from behind and there is no bullet hole in the seat. What caused him to land? severed fuel line, damaged prop (most likely) some bullet wounds have been noted in his legs. ("Who Killed the Red Baron" and "The Day the Red Baron Died.") Lack of fuel is also a possibility especially if if the fuel tank was punctured. Raw fuel dumping into your lap is another reason to land ...quickly. I know most people consider this a conspiracy theory but you can't alter the laws of physics. There is no bullet hole in the seat. The Oberursel Ur.II motor is in British hands. It notes some damage as well. Immediately before he crashed there were at least three ground mounted machine guns and possibly several dozen troops taking shots at him. One one bullet killed him. We may never know who. Considering the flight path, enemy contacts and etc is good. The so called autopsy is a good source though somewhat conflicted. (They ran a metal rod through his corpse to track the straight line between the wounds.) There was some thought that the bullet tracked through the interior and richocheted off the spine. Capt Fraser (intel offficer) says that the bullet exited the body but was found laying inside the pilot's combination flight suit. It disappeared soon after. The only real piece of forensic evidence is the seat. A high backed, deep welled type that employed the Heinecke parachute pack as a cushion. MvR was at best 5'7" - 5' 9" according to photo evidence. If he was shot in the cockpit, his feet were braced against the rudder bar and he was strapped in and the cockpit opening was less than 24 inches from gun butts to rear cockpit rim. Tight fit. See my avatar. I am six foot tall. In the end he violated his own laws of survival in the air and paid with his life.

Ok, first it is spelled "Richthofen" two h's gents. Second there is no bullet hole in the seat there are rivet holes and one attachment point on the right side where the seat tore loose from the frame. The wound was almost at his armpit in the rear. You won't like my version but he was killed trying to climb out of his machine. Yes I know about Capt. Fraser's (intelligence officer) version. I know what the Austrailian Diggers claimed. Brown missed him as he flew onat high speed firing at Lt. May for a mile and a half after Brown zoomed by. Capt. Brown never claimed the kill he said he shot at a red triplane. The RAF had it over the infantry and he was the likely candidate. The seat in the Royal Military institute is from MvR's Dr.I 425/17 and was given to them by Capt. Brown. There are also about 200 eyelets around the rim where fabric covered the seat backing. Fabric shreds still held there are the same red as the aircraft. (It was probably painted at the factory by Fokker's orders for MvR.) Christophe my sincerest thanks for the current images.

Photoetch is a great way to detail model kits. It has a long history beginning with model rail road hobby-ists. The first workable sets for WWI aviation came through Harry Woodman. A stellar modeller from the UK. He is truly the man that put the scratch in stratchbuilding. His sets are still available by the way through Fotocut at Rosemont Hobbies. Which way to fold? If they have been designed correctly the scribed face is what is to be folded. The scribed area should be inside the fold. Which tools are suitable? There are several methods but I find that a small drafting ruler, a sharp Xacto #11 blade, tweezers and an opitvisor are the best. There are jigs you can buy to clamp at hold while you fold. But I have never found the use for them when I can do the job with a little patience. It is usually very easy to handle if you follow a couple of guidelines. With pre-painted parts you will want to separate them first or be prepared to repaint them. 1. Use candle or lighter heat to pass the PE metal fret over until you see the temper of the metal change colours. Nickel silver (which is neither nickel or silver) photoetch may take a bit longer to heat compared to plain brass. Just keep a close eye on the colour. Some blueing ok. You want it bendable but avoid making the parts brittle. 15-20 seconds under a heat source is ok but 2 minutes is too much. Also the smaller the part the quicker it will loose temper. 2. Bend as much as you can reasonably do. and paint each part while still on the tree. 3. The clear bag that the PE metal comes in...Is a great tool. While the parts are still on the tree put the fret back in the bag. It is the best time to cut them loose. (Parts will stay in the bag and not fly off into the modeler's black hole. ) Cut the bottom corner out of the bag to allow only the parts you cut from the tree to exit the bag. 4. Use tweezers and an opitvisor. finish forming the part for exact fit by tacking it in place at one end and with the tip of a finger (away from the glue) form the piece to the surface and then finish any glueing needed. Viola! The standard method for surfacing PE brass for painting is to use Hobby Black. It is a very mild acid that textures and patinas the surfaces without sanding and possible damaging the delicate parts. Follow all instructions that come with the liquid solution and you can get great results.

Greetings all: Just thought since model sprues are vastly more complicated compared to those say of the 1960 - 1980 variants We could use this to post insights that we have gleaned through our hobby. 1. Clean sprues with mild antibacterial detergent. This helps especially if you live in a humid enviroment and or especially if you are working with resins. Plastic kitchen vegetable brush is ideal. 2. Cut the sprue trees apart. Leave the parts numbers and the tree limbs they are attached to as one unit. This facilitates yopu being able to paint needed colours to all pertinent pieces in one session. 3. Clean up the parts. At least an hour of my build time on any project usually goes into cleaning up parts. Mold seams and etc. Then paint as much as you can. 4. Separate the parts from the limb stubs as needed being able to use the parts number remaining on the stub to identify them. 5. Some parts are located at stress points on the trees. (Connected by two or more locations to the sprue.) You must strategically cut the sprue away without breaking smaller or fragile kit parts. 6. Paint and finish each sub assemby as if it were a model unto itself. 7. Work from the inside out, cockpit first, engine then the exterior. 8. Have fun and Model on!

Greetings all; As I expected, some great responses. The reason that most Airmen wore Prussian fronts is because they were considered the awards that meant something socially. So it was the practice of many higher ranking aces (in the lists) to wear only the Prussian awards when being photographed. In other instances the Prussian awards ribbons were first inline on the awards bars.

Here is a large bit of fun. Although color photography was around prior to 1903, the Lumi?re brothers, Auguste and Louis, patented the process in 1903 and developed the first color film in 1907. The French army was the primary source of color photos during the course of World War One. Sometime in late 2004, while looking at the blog, Vodkapundit ? a great blog, btw ? I came across an external link he had to some interesting photos of World War I. What made them of interest was that they were in color! I saved them to my hard drive, and I?m glad I did... the site that had them up ended up deleting them. So I decided to go looking for others on the web. I came across the site, Gallica, biblioth?que num?rique de la Biblioth?que nationale de France, There I found all of the images you see here, but, alas, the text was all in French, and the last time I spoke French with any frequency was 45 years ago! So I have had to use an on-line translator to get the English, although I am sure there are some mistakes in such a process, but here they are. Of course, if you speak French, you will see I have the original wording in French included. WWI in colour

It is great to be able to bring the truth to light. The emotional stories we hear so often about historical events are more often tan not just fanciful yarns.

If any of you have ever been to a military funeral in which taps were played; this brings out a new meaning of it. We in the United States have all heard the haunting song, "Taps". It's the song that gives us that lump in our throats and usually tears in our eyes. But, do you know the story behind the song? If not, I think you will be interested to find out about its humble beginnings. Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia . The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead. The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army. The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted. The Captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral. The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate. But, out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician. The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform. This wish was granted. The haunting melody, we now know as "Taps" ... used at military funerals was born. The words are : Day is done. Gone the sun. From the lakes. From the hills. From the sky. All is well. Safely rest. God is nigh. Fading light. Dims the sight. And a star. Gems the sky. Gleaming bright. From afar. Drawing nigh. Falls the night. Thanks and praise. For our days. Neath the sun. Neath the stars. Neath the sky. As we go. This we know. God is nigh. I too have felt the chills while listening to "Taps" but I have never seen all the words to the song until now. I didn't even know there was more than one verse. I also never knew the story behind the song and I didn't know if you had either so I thought I'd pass it along.

Greetings all; Stogieman will know what I am talking about but for the rest of you, what is a Prussian Front? Where did the phrase come from and what service was it popular in? Hint: it has to do with perceived values.

Here is my completed builds of the Fokker D.VII Alb. molds from the Royal kit #R0002.

Of special note. The current research says that the fast battleship my dad saw that day off the Iwo Jima shores was the USS North Carolina (BB55.) Schematics and bluerprints I have seen, say that there was very little difference in these two. The USS Washington (BB56) was about 6-10 feet longer. Otherwise there Pacific schemes or Measure paint coatings changed pretty regularly.

There was a Higgins Boat (landing craft), the one I just come in on, and the Navy Coxswain running it. The Beach Master yelled at him to come back to shore and load more wounded. There were wounded everywhere. I don?t think that guy (the beach master) made it through the day because there was so much incoming... The Coxswain was trying to back out and move off shore. The Beach Master pulled his Colt 45 and jacked a round in the chamber and ordered the Coxswain to ?stand fast.? After watching the wounded Marines board the landing craft and head back to our ship I decided it was better get off the beach but there were land mines and trip wires everywhere. The evidence was plain enough as you could see where the wounded and dead had fallen. Its funny what you think of during these times. I suddenly remembered that when I lived in Michigan during their hard winters and walking to school that if I walked in the snow it was easier for me and my short little eight year old legs, if I followed in the exact footsteps of those that had gone first. As I came back to the reality of war I made my way off the beach by following the tracks of those who had successfully gone before me. I soon after joined my company at the rally point and we moved out to take the Japanese #1 airstrip. We dug in there and we stayed about two days. The smell from the island?s sulfur pit hung in the air like spoiled eggs. We couldn?t get out because they shelled. us constantly. Then we left our initial camp and wheeled right. The first waves of Marines turned left and set out to secure Mount Surabachi. This included several other divisions that were on the island. I remember the fifth day?I?m not a brave man, you know, I?m not. I?ve seen brave men. We were there, and moving out and somebody said, ?Look Back.!? I could see that they had raised the flag on Surabachi. I got goose pimples. Our boys had slugged their way to the top of that extinct volcano in the middle of a terrible Japanese firestorm. Part of the third division was there. I remember Jack ?Beer? Blankenhorn and he was in the assault squads with me. (Pfc Lawson carried a flamethrower on Iwo Jima.) We were pretty close Jack and I. I remember his face as clear today as it was then. I recall it happened when we were on Hawaii big Island before we went out to Iwo he?d lost his name stencil. (You had to have a stencil for your name to mark the backs of your shirts, jackets and sea bags.) Well, during an inspection they got on him because he didn?t have one. Now, Jack had been on Bougainville with the first parachute battalion. He was an ?old salt? and he?d had a campaign or two under his belt. So, he went down to the supply they were all busy, and he found one there that suited him. It was used to mark beer cases. So, he took it and stenciled it on all his uniforms and, we called him ?Beer?. During the battle about two weeks into our sweeping the low end of the island we took incoming. After the initial concussion I came to briefly only to find my whole squad was killed but me. I woke up injured and on a hospital ship headed to the states. I spent nearly eight months in hospitals recovering from my injuries. Donahue Reynolds Lawson returned to civilian life and found work in the oil fields of Texas. Eventually due to a sustained back injury he took up barbering and later moved to Grand Junction, Colorado where he lived out the rest of his days until his untimely death from pancreatic cancer November 14, 2000.

Greetings all, I was a bit shocked to find that this forum was ...uh er...relatively untouched. Just before my father passed away in 2000 he gave an interview concerning his life exploits. From the great generation of WWII my dad was 17 when he entered the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942. The following is offered as a testament to him and his kind. ?...And then We Went on to Iwo...? The story starts with a typical All-American boy, Donahue Reynolds Lawson born January 15, 1924, in Hurricane, West Virginia growing up during the Great Depression. A time when everyone was struggling because of the historic stock market crash. In later years the grown man would claim ?tongue in cheek? mind you, that ?...the Marine Corps gave him his first pair of shoes.? At the age of 17, this boy left home for a future that few could have predicted. When he returned home he was a twenty one year-old man, and in his later years he would with fierce regularity thank the Marine Corps for teaching him many of life?s lessons. During part of his four years in the Corps Pfc. Lawson would serve as a Marine guard and crew a Bofors aboard the U.S.S. Washington (BB56) one of the two brand new ships from the North Carolina fast battleship class. These early days of service were spent in the North Atlantic with the British High Seas task force searching for the German Battleship ?Tirpitz?. Later he would still be on the Washington at the battle of Guadalcanal where BB56 took on and heavily damaged the Japanese battleship ?Krishima?. It was late at night about 1145pm. When the nine main guns of the Washington turned, locked , loaded and fired a broadside salvo at the Japanese battleship. Several hours later Krishima had to be scuttled and the crew abandoned ship. Like any young poet Pfc. Lawson was to meet people he would remember and talk about for a lifetime. His most vivid memories told a chilling tale of what life was like as a young Marine about to embark on the battle of Iwo Jima. ?...And then we went on to Iwo, and we laid several miles off the island were I got to see my old friend the Washington at work shelling Iwo?for a couple of days ... and then we had our last supper the troops received before going ashore...we got the ?All-American? meal including steak, apple pie and ice cream. To top it off it was an all you could eat bonanza...it was February 19, 1945. You could see the island from where the ship was. The time came?and, then we went over the side of the troop ship on a big rope ladder and we climbed into the landing craft. The seas were rough that day and I think, we went in on about the third or fourth wave. and the Japanese had already opened fire as we were coming in. There were people all over the beach and my first goal was to get off it. People that I have talked to since seem to think I was pretty brave, but I wasn?t. Looking back the troop ship was 15 miles away through heavy seas I knew that the only way out of this was to move forward. There was a ?prissy? acting Navy Beach Master and who had a megaphone. He was directing beach traffic. He was yelling, Get up, and you come in, move off!!!. I was laying flat just hugging the ground. Trying my best to be invisible. This Beach Master was standing up and walking around screaming orders in a high pitch while shells landed everywhere. There were explosions all around us. It was like a scene from hell. There were three Marines coming back from the beach. They weren?t too far away from me. I could see that they were all wounded and bleeding and trying to hold each other up.

Many Thanks Bob, I was resently asked if I wanted to do a book on building WWI aircraft models. They want to use my photos of my builds. Don't know if it will ever get past the talking but it feels great they asked.

wwi-n-plastic.com

Here is the most recent build in review. Dual Combo review kit #8133