[Sharon]

Dated 24/4/16

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[Faline]

Cool pic

[PTSD Is My Life]

The one great fear of the early wartime pilots war a "flamer" as identification would be impossible as man and machine would be burnt beyond recognition. At least this brave pioneer was saved that fate but sadly he was probably alive when he plowed in behind enemy lines.
Sadly the (at least) 2 medics in the crowd where not needed in this case, but the wonder, respect and awe these new aviators held over the troops of both sides is evident by the crowd of german infantry men and officers who have come along to gawk, look, pay respects and no doubt dream of getting out of the trenches to be able to do the most exiting and "romantic" job of the day. After all when in the towns to the rear it was the Flyers who got the attention of any ladies that where around both professional "working girls" and the native populace....
WW1 Has always fascinated me and the fliers where an amazing bunch of young men with a front line service life that was shockingly short often measured in hours not days or weeks. The sad truth was the planes lasted longer than the men as they could be salvaged, scavenged repaired and parted out....the men where often broken beyond repair and never made it past any accidents or incidents greater than a runway "nose tip" when the plane would nose down into the ground on take off or landing or wing tip (left or right) caused by the wind lifting one side or the other. The final trial the homeward bound pilot faced was the undercarriage collapsing under a hard landing (or damage caused by an earlier one) as they came in onto the bumpy grass runways which where nothing but fields with tents on or maybe wooden huts if they where in one of the rear permanent airfields...

I admire these men tremendously....