Footage of the Red Baron from 9/17/17
An evening pause: No music this time, only some history. Hat tip Tim Biggar, who notes “Couple of interesting things: The Fokker used a 9 cyl radial (clearly seen when they prime the cyls before takeoff). Unlike most modern designs, the crankshaft was bolted to the frame and did not rotate. The prop was bolted to the engine case and the entire engine case rotated. Lots of gyroscopic force made it hard to maneuver.
“The ‘flight suit’ and the gauntlets are worth noting.
“I think that may be Goering on the left (plain uniform with Iron Cross) at the 3:05 mark.
“At the end we see a Sopwith he shot down and the Brit pilot who lived.”
I note the sense of comradarie between these pilots at the end. In World War I there still was a sense of behaving civilly (as in civilization) even during war.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. The ebook can also be purchased direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from me (hardback $24.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $5.00). Just email me at zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
This is wonderful.
We are in the final design stages of a WWI book about a German officer who served on the Russian Front as a cavalry officer, and a reconnaissance pilot on the Western Theater (he flew with many aces, including the Red Baron), and about 120 of his remarkable photos from both theaters. It it all remarkable.
What we often skip over, though, is that these pilots had it horrible–it was often freezing, they had bowel and bladder issues on long flights, many did not have parachutes (higher ups thought they would be more likely to jump rather than land the planes, and thought–wrongly–it was the planes that were irreplaceable, rather than the experienced trained pilots. As a result many burned to death in the air, or jumped to their death to escape the flames (think Towers 1 and 2 on 9-11.)
In the end, like all war, there was little glory in it.
PS. I agree, that is Goering on the left at 3:05.
“Rotary” engine, not Radial. They did it to keep the cylinders cool….in hindsight, not a good idea..