Uncle George Posted 10 January , 2015 Share Posted 10 January , 2015 The bloke in the back was notable for a couple of things in three different but connected fields. Clue : those guns were useful. Is he Eddie Rickenbacker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 10 January , 2015 Share Posted 10 January , 2015 Which reminds me we must have a TEL related post in the not too distant future. David Who wrote this ? ? ? "Early in January 1918 I was sitting in a snowbound Jerusalem when an orderly announced a Beduin, and Lawrence walked in and sat beside me. He remained for the rest of the day, and left me temporarily the poorer by a Virgil and a Catullus. Later on, when in Jerusalem he always stayed in my house, an amusing as well as an absorbing if sometimes disconcerting guest. He had Shelley's trick of noiselessly vanishing and reappearing. We would be sitting reading on my only sofa: I would look up, and Lawrence was not only not in the room, he was not in the house, he was not in Jerusalem. He was in the train on his way to Egypt." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 10 January , 2015 Share Posted 10 January , 2015 In case anyone wonders, my chap worked in the Air Ministry after the war, alongside a famous author of adventure stories. The clue's in a name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 10 January , 2015 Share Posted 10 January , 2015 Is the bloke in the back of the Bristol Fighter George Constantinescu, inventor of one of the gear systems for firing machine guns between propellor blades (and quite a bit of other clever stuff)? Pete. P.S. I think Caryl is on the same track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fattyowls Posted 10 January , 2015 Share Posted 10 January , 2015 In case anyone wonders, my chap worked in the Air Ministry after the war, alongside a famous author of adventure stories. The clue's in a name. Steven, is your man is Arthur Bigsworth; who was one of several contributors to the character of Biggles (aka Bigglesworth) by W E Johns? Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 10 January , 2015 Share Posted 10 January , 2015 Indeed he is: Arthur Wellesley Bigsworth, CMG, DSO*, AFC; he was an RNAS pilot, who won his first DSO for bombing a Zeppelin off the coast of Belgium. He lived in the village of West End, and came across my radar when a chum and I compiled a short record of the village's fallen and survivors a few years ago. Quite a chap.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Bigsworth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodB Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Is he Eddie Rickenbacker? No, but we're getting there. Our man flew with the British Empire. But he had a major postwar activity in common with Rickenbacker. And he earned a military "title" in common with Rickenbacker albeit in a much lesser degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodB Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Is the bloke in the back of the Bristol Fighter George Constantinescu, inventor of one of the gear systems for firing machine guns between propellor blades (and quite a bit of other clever stuff)? Pete. P.S. I think Caryl is on the same track. No, our man used them rather than thought about clever stuff for them, his clever ideas came postwar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoppage Drill Posted 11 January , 2015 Author Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Hudson Fysh, I should think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Who wrote this ? ? ? "Early in January 1918 I was sitting in a snowbound Jerusalem when an orderly announced a Beduin, and Lawrence walked in and sat beside me. He remained for the rest of the day, and left me temporarily the poorer by a Virgil and a Catullus. Later on, when in Jerusalem he always stayed in my house, an amusing as well as an absorbing if sometimes disconcerting guest. He had Shelley's trick of noiselessly vanishing and reappearing. We would be sitting reading on my only sofa: I would look up, and Lawrence was not only not in the room, he was not in the house, he was not in Jerusalem. He was in the train on his way to Egypt." Lowell Thomas? Regards, MikB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Another WVCCIT ??? For most conspicuous bravery, leadership and self-sacrifice when holding a position for over seven hours against vastly superior enemy forces. All this time the enemy were shelling his position heavily, making it very difficult to see. In one attack, when the enemy cavalry charged his flank, he drove them back with heavy losses. In another charge they left fifteen casualties within twenty yards of his trench, one man, who reached the trench, being bayoneted by ??? himself. When all his men, with the exception of three, had been hit and the trench which he was holding was so full of wounded that it was difficult to move and fire, he ordered those who could walk to move to a trench slightly in the rear, and from his own position maintained a most heroic resistance. When finally surrounded and charged by the enemy, he stepped into the open and continued the fight until he was mortally wounded and fell unconscious. His cheerfulness and courage were a splendid inspiration to his men, and by his leadership and devotion he was enabled to maintain his position, which he had been ordered to hold at all costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Lowell Thomas?Regards,MikB No, not him. TEL describes my man in 'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom' thus: "... the most brilliant Englishman in the Near East, and subtly efficient, despite his diversion of energy in love of music and letters, of sculpture, painting, of whatever was beautiful in the world's fruit... always first, and the great man among us". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodB Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Hudson Fysh, I should think. Indeed yes. Lighthorseman at Gallipoli & Palestine, rising from private to lieutenant; Shot down five enemy as an observer-gunner, making him an ace; aviation entrepreur and joint-founder of Qantas, introducing airmail to the Queensland and Territory outback and international airmail to Australia; mobilised Qantas for wartime use in World War II; acknowledged aviation historian. And a whole lot more. Was good at everything he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 No, not him. TEL describes my man in 'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom' thus: "... the most brilliant Englishman in the Near East, and subtly efficient, despite his diversion of energy in love of music and letters, of sculpture, painting, of whatever was beautiful in the world's fruit... always first, and the great man among us". Storrs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle George Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Storrs? Yes, Sir Ronald Storrs. Here he is on Allenby: "...The normal Gordian knots of sophistry and intrigue he cut with the double edge of intuition and honesty. When anything went wrong there was a local and a world-wide distribution of blame, never from Allenby. Those who worked in Palestine for that loyal, great-heated chief will remember that he never intervened save to support, and will salute with grateful and affectionate admiration the last of the Paladins." His memoirs: https://archive.org/stream/memoirsofsirrona001290mbp#page/n7/mode/2up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoppage Drill Posted 11 January , 2015 Author Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Indeed yes. Lighthorseman at Gallipoli & Palestine, rising from private to lieutenant; Shot down five enemy as an observer-gunner, making him an ace; aviation entrepreur and joint-founder of Qantas, introducing airmail to the Queensland and Territory outback and international airmail to Australia; mobilised Qantas for wartime use in World War II; acknowledged aviation historian. And a whole lot more. Was good at everything he did. QANTAS - "Quite a Nice Trip. All Survived" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoppage Drill Posted 11 January , 2015 Author Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Indeed yes. Lighthorseman at Gallipoli & Palestine, rising from private to lieutenant; Shot down five enemy as an observer-gunner, making him an ace; aviation entrepreur and joint-founder of Qantas, introducing airmail to the Queensland and Territory outback and international airmail to Australia; mobilised Qantas for wartime use in World War II; acknowledged aviation historian. And a whole lot more. Was good at everything he did. What does the inscription on the fuselage below his gun position say ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Possibly........ "Quite a Nice Trip. All Survived" ????? But my eyes are no longer up to a serious suggestion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodB Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 What does the inscription on the fuselage below his gun position say ? "This machine must not be flown without passenger or equivalent in weight in gunner's cockpit". Here's the link to the fullsize AWM image at Flickr : https://www.flickr.com/photos/australian-war-memorial/3288865828/sizes/o/in/photostream/ Interestingly, the machine at Duxford ( http://www.planesandchoppers.com/picture/number8616.asp) has slightly different wording "... or equivalent weight ..." and this is the wording I've seen quoted elsewhere. Fysh's was a AFC machine and presumably they did their own paint jobs. Either that or the artwork on the Duxford machine is wrong. Or the wording was not standardized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ridgus Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Storrs? I always liked Storrs' reply to the offer of promotion after his time as Governor, "There are many positions of greater authority and renown within and without the British Empire, but in a sense I cannot explain there is no promotion after Jerusalem." David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 ????? Qantas A Nice Trip All Survived Possibly a play on the point (as mentioned in the movie Rainman) that the airline in question has a pretty good safety record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigwhammer Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Sorry if my humourously intended riposte to SD's post missed the point, I just thought it apt.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMarsdin Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Who is this smiling chap ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ridgus Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 Steve Is that Buckingham Palace and has he just received/about to receive a medal? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMarsdin Posted 11 January , 2015 Share Posted 11 January , 2015 He was a Knight of the British Empire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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