RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

No problem, in case this got lost in the posts:

On with the quiz!!

1. I'm looking for a pilot who built up a unique operational record, mostly flying at night.
2. He flew twin engined planes at first but the record was achieved in new type of single engine fighter.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Yes; that is interesting. There was a head wound, but I believe the general consensus it was suffered in the crash; although a grazing shot might appear the same, I suppose. There might be one possible explanation for everything. I've seen it written that after each time Ball and Lothar rushed at each other, they turned very sharply to try to gain an advantage. Apparently, Lothar turned too sharply on his last turn and stalled. What is Ball also turned so sharply that he stalled? What does an airplane do when it stalls in a too sharp turn? It turns upside down. If the pair of them had fought down to a very low altidude in their fight, what with the cloud cover so close to the ground, might that explain Ball's failure to regain control? Especially as his engine was dead?

The above is NOT a proposed theory; just thinking out loud. Thanks; Ernie P.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

1. I'm looking for a pilot who built up a unique operational record, mostly flying at night.
2. He flew twin engined planes at first but the record was achieved in new type of single engine fighter.
3. The twin engine plane was also capable of shipping attacks and he participated in these.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

John Cunningham?

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Good try!

1. I'm looking for a pilot who built up a unique operational record, mostly flying at night.
2. He flew twin engined planes at first but the record was achieved in new type of single engine fighter.
3. The first twin engine plane he flew was also capable of shipping attacks and he participated in these.
4. The single engine plane was particularly suited to establishing his record.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Major R. Bruce Porter?

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Interesting response but not who I am looking for.

1. I'm looking for a pilot who built up a unique operational record, mostly flying at night.
2. He flew twin engined planes at first but the record was achieved in new type of single engine fighter.
3. The first twin engine plane he flew was also capable of shipping attacks and he participated in these.
4. The single engine plane was particularly suited to establishing his record.
5. He received his first DFC for night time interceptions of two Me210s and a Ju88.
6. His very early and unsuccessful night interception attempts were in a Bolton Paul Defiant. (I guess they had to use them for something)

Sorry for the delay in getting this up....

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

I guess the question should be what record did this pilot achieve? Solve that and the rest is easy.

1. I'm looking for a pilot who built up a unique operational record, mostly flying at night.
2. He flew twin engined planes at first but the record was achieved in new type of single engine fighter.
3. The first twin engine plane he flew was also capable of shipping attacks and he participated in these.
4. The single engine plane was particularly suited to establishing his record.
5. He received his first DFC for night time interceptions of two Ju88s and a Me210.
6. His very early and unsuccessful night interception attempts were in a Bolton Paul Defiant. (I guess they had to use them for something though maybe the Merlin engine might have been more use elsewhere?)
7. He was awarded his second bar to the DFC in October 1944 for his achievement, though he did not live to see it.
8. In achieving the record his plane was severely damaged on many occasions and he made forced landing on at least two occasions.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

ok
what the terms the hole 9 yards and balls to the wall mean or use to descirbe some things

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Could you please translate that into English ???;)

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

the hole 9 yards

and balls to the wall

they where phrases that were used by pilots and crews of WW-11

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

I guess the question should be what record did this pilot achieve? Solve that and the rest is easy.

1. I'm looking for a pilot who built up a unique operational record, mostly flying at night.
2. He flew twin engined planes at first but the record was achieved in new type of single engine fighter.
3. The first twin engine plane he flew was also capable of shipping attacks and he participated in these.
4. The single engine plane was particularly suited to establishing his record.
5. He received his first DFC for night time interceptions of two Ju88s and a Me210.
6. His very early and unsuccessful night interception attempts were in a Bolton Paul Defiant. (I guess they had to use them for something though maybe the Merlin engine might have been more use elsewhere?)
7. He was awarded his second bar to the DFC in October 1944 for his achievement, though he did not live to see it.
8. In achieving the record his plane was severely damaged on many occasions and he made forced landing on at least two occasions.
9. His squadron flew in weather that would ground other aircraft, though their chances of success were virtually nil, to help maintain civilian morale.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Hi Rye, welcome to the quiz. We usually work it that the person who answered the last question asks the next one, in this case me. However I'm sure that we can answer two questions at the same time more than that might be a problem!

The whole nine yards refers to the length of an aircraft machine gun ammunition belt.
Balls to the wall was pushing the throttle all the way forward.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Recent research shows that the phrase "the whole six yards" was used as long ago as 1910. Over the years it got enlarged to nine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/bo...igin.html?_r=0

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Sorry about that ,and your right I learn that 40 years ago from my uncle who was a b17 pliot

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

No need to apologize and please stay around and join in, it is a great thread with thing learned every day!!!!

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

I guess the question should be what record did this pilot achieve? Solve that and the rest is easy.

1. I'm looking for a pilot who built up a unique operational record, mostly flying at night.
2. He flew twin engined planes at first but the record was achieved in new type of single engine fighter.
3. The first twin engine plane he flew was also capable of shipping attacks and he participated in these.
4. The single engine plane was particularly suited to establishing his record.
5. He received his first DFC for night time interceptions of two Ju88s and a Me210.
6. His very early and unsuccessful night interception attempts were in a Bolton Paul Defiant. (I guess they had to use them for something though maybe the Merlin engine might have been more use elsewhere?)
7. He was awarded his second bar to the DFC in October 1944 for his achievement, though he did not live to see it.
8. In achieving the record his plane was severely damaged on many occasions and he made forced landing on at least two occasions.
9. His squadron flew in weather that would ground other aircraft, though their chances of success were virtually nil, to help maintain civilian morale.
10. His record was accrued in 1944 starting just after D-day and continuing to just before his death.
11. He was shot down by ground fire over the Netherlands leading his squadron on a different aspect of the same campaign.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Squadron Leader Joseph Berry?

http://www.hawkertempest.se/JoeBerrytheforgottenAce.htm

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

You got him Johnny,

Joseph Berry was the leading V1 flying bomb ace having shot down ~sixty flying the newly introduced Hawker Tempest, mostly at night. In one 24 hour period he shot down seven. The RAF did not award kills for flying bombs, which given the close range and their highly explosive ends must rank as dangerous as downing some manned aircraft. If they had, he would have been the top scoring WWII RAF pilot closely followed by fellow V1 killer Belgian Remy Van Lierde. Berry was killed in low level missions against the He111 airfields used to launch the last V1s against Britain.

JohnnyS is up!

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

:)

Ok, new person.

1. Became an ace while flying Camels.

2. Was nicknamed after a German ace.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Ok, new clue.

1. Became an ace while flying Camels.

2. Was nicknamed after a German ace.

3. At one time, he was officially recognized as the world's oldest pilot.

No more clues until we have some guesses!!!

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Let me think. You're Canadian.... How about a fellow Canadian; Henry Botterell? But I don't think he was actually an ace. Thanks; Ernie P.

Henry John Lawrence Botterell (November 7, 1896 – January 3, 2003) was a Canadian fighter pilot who served in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and then in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War I. When he died at the age of 106, the Canadian Department of Veterans' Affairs believed he had been the last surviving pilot in the world to have seen action in the Great War.

Henry Botterell was born in Ottawa to Henry and Annie Botterell. His father, a civil servant, died of pneumonia when Botterell was still a young boy. He attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute before beginning a career in banking. Prior to his war service Botterell worked as a clerk at the Bank of North America (now the Bank of Montreal).

In 1916, he joined the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) as a civilian flying trainee. His entry was facilitated by his sister Edith, who worked in the office of Admiral Charles Kingsmill. Botterell was sent to England for training. Around this time, his older brother Edward, who played football for the Toronto Argonauts, was killed in action in France while serving with the 48th Highlanders of Canada.

On May 16, 1917, Botterell became a Probationary Flight Officer with the RNAS, where he was given the nickname "Nap" because of his supposed resemblance to Napoleon. He received his wings on August 15, 1917, and was awarded Royal Aero Club certificate number 5093.

In September, Botterell joined No. 8 Naval Squadron. The squadron, which was usually referred to as Naval 8, was soon posted to France in support of the Royal Flying Corps. Botterell’s immediate superior was also a Canadian, the flying ace Flight Commander James White. The squadron was commanded by another ace, Squadron Commander Christopher Draper, who was later known as the "Mad Major" for his habit of flying under bridges.

On September 18, 1917, Botterell's second operational flight as a pilot ended in a crash at Dunkirk when the engine of his Sopwith Pup[1] failed. He sustained head injuries, a fractured leg and broken teeth. After six months in hospital, he was discharged and sent back to Canada.

En route to Canada, Botterell ran into some of his former colleagues from Naval 8 in London. They arranged for him to be sent to Manston in Kent in order to re-qualify as a pilot. After 10 hours of refresher training he was approved to start flying once more and was sent to Serny on the Western Front, where he rejoined No. 8 Naval Squadron, now renamed No. 208 Squadron RAF. He served with them from May 11 to November 27, 1918 flying a variety of missions in different aircraft. He flew patrols and fought over Serny, Tramcourt, Arras, Foucacourt and Estrées. In 60 days between June and August 1918 he flew 91 sorties.

Botterell's sole air victory saw him bring down a German observation balloon, which was well-defended by anti-aircraft guns, on August 29, 1918 near Arras. He was returning from dropping four bombs on the railway station at Vitry when he saw the balloon. Putting his Sopwith Camel into a dive, he put 400 machine-gun rounds into the balloon, setting it aflame. The German observer parachuted to safety. The scene was immortalised in Robert Taylor's painting "Balloon Buster".

During his service, Botterell flew a variety of planes, including several Sopwiths (Pup, Camel and Snipe), the RE8, the SE5, the Claude Graham White and the Maurice Farman. He logged 251 combat hours.

At the end of the war, Botterell was a Flight Lieutenant with the Royal Air Force (the Royal Flying Corps and RNAS had been combined on April 1, 1918 to form the RAF).

After his return to Canada, Botterell never flew again except on commercial flights.

Botterell returned to work at the Bank of Montreal as Assistant Chief Accountant, initially in rural Quebec and then in Montreal, eventually retiring in 1970. He married in 1929, to Maud Goater, who died in 1983; they had two children, Edward and Frances.

During the Second World War, he was an Air Cadet Squadron Commander, in Lachine (now Montreal).

In 1998 Botterell celebrated his 102nd birthday at a hotel in Lille, where he and 16 other Canadian veterans marked the 80th anniversary of the war's end. In 1999 he was guest of honour at a dinner to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force. In 2001 he received a visit from members of the present-day 208 Squadron.

The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa now houses a fence post that was caught in the wing of Botterell's Sopwith Camel during a low-level sortie.

During an interview about his wartime exploits Botterell once said: "I had good hands. I didn't have the fighting acumen of some, like Billy Bishop. I was just a bank clerk. I wasn't one of the very best, but I had my share of action."

His portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Ok, new clue and a clarification.

1. Became an ace while flying Camels.

2. Was nicknamed after a German ace.

3. At one time, he was officially recognized as the world's oldest ACTIVE pilot. (i.e. still flying!)

4. Yes, he was Canadian.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

Then you must mean Thomas "Voss" Williams. Thanks; Ernie P.


Captain Thomas Frederic Williams MC, MMV (12 October 1885 –25 July 1985) was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 14 victories.

Captain Williams was the son of Fred. B. Williams and Mary M. Williams. When he enlisted in the 1st Canadian Division on 23 September, he was described as 5 feet 7½ inches tall, with red hair, blue eyes, and a ruddy complexion. He worked as a salesman, and stated he was already in the militia.

After shipment to England, he switched to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. He was forwarded to 45 Squadron in France as a Sopwith Camel pilot after training. He was shot down by The Flying Circus on 22 September 1917. A month later, on 24 October, he destroyed an Albatros D.V for his first victory, fighting such an impassioned solo battle he gained the nickname "Voss" after the gallant German ace.

On 6 November 1917, he was shot down again, this time by "friendly" fire from a Canadian ground machine gunner. Two days later, he set a D.V aflame and drove down another out of control. On 13 November, he destroyed a Junkers J.I. As he was poised tantalizingly on the brink of acedom, his squadron used the inclement flying weather of winter to shift to Italy to oppose the Austro-Hungarians. Once there, Williams became an ace on 10 January 1918, and followed up with two more wins in January. He would score once more while in 45 Squadron, on 27 March 1918.

Williams transferred to 28 Squadron as a Flight Commander, and resumed his winning ways on 19 June, when he used a Camel to down yet another D.V. In just over five weeks, he ran up five more wins, ending up on 27 July 1918. In 199 war patrols, he had destroyed eight enemy airplanes, driven down four out of control, and captured another after killing its pilot.

Williams returned home to Canada and went barnstorming in the 1920s; he held Flying Certificate No. 91. Williams helped found the Royal Canadian Air Force. As World War II loomed, he joined Fleet Aircraft Company of Ontario in 1939 as chief test pilot, and remained there until 1948.

He was elected to the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame. He also was active in Canadian World War I veterans reunions. He still flew; he was flying aerobatics in 1971, aged 86. In his 97th year, he became an author, publishing a volume of poetry. He died at the age of 99 years, 286 days. In his 97th year, he became an author, publishing a volume of poetry. He died at the age of 99 years, 286 days.

RE: Knowledge Quiz for Warbird wiz
 

And you're right! (It's hard to keep ErnieP guessing for long.)

:)

You're up.