Now thats a good post…

😉 This is the sort of information we need to bottle up and have in a nice tidy thread..:D 😀 Anyone to be Dear Dorothy??…
“Dear Dorothy..
We are about to pull apart our *insert part here*.The gubbins has corroded away and stuffed the black thin sheetmetal thingie.Do we drill the remaining godawful anchor nut catchment system to facilitate the removal of the round doodad with the flappy bit off the end…
Yours truley…depressed and dateless….:rolleyes:

Carry over on parts

I agree.We have found MkVII part numbers in amongst our parts even though the Raaf didn,t have them in service.Many MkI parts carried over right through the series.

To find the correct temp go down to your local welding supplies or engineering workshop and look for temperature crayons.These are different coloured crayons that change colours at different temps.Also it all depends on what grade ally you are working with.2024 is used for skins and general parts where 7075 which is different is used in high strength parts.Thing with alli is that it is a lot more brittle than steel.It can be worked but it will work harden quickly.Good luck and don,t hit your fingers…Ouch…

Two hands for beginners.

Nice work mate.How hard is it to try fly with three columns at once :p

Jesus I think we all know what he meant.We aren,t all kindagarten kids trying to spell now are we.Pick,pick,pick. 😀

Foremost thing to do is to try neautralise the corrosion.Stop it from decaying further.With aluminium it,s a real B#gger as what you can see is only a third that,s there.

Thing I was getting at was the code was an unwritten one.Certainly it wasn,t used as a must have bit of information that every pilot had to use every time he got in the air.The first part of my post stated the idea of romance in the air combat and how in real life that differed.Same as how fighter pilots were viewed as knights glorious and honorary but in real life some were cold blooded killers.Maybe at the begining there was a period of sanity where quarter was given but soon it was no holds barred.Kill or be killed.BVR was the best as he knew how to hunt.Sneak up behind someone and give him what for when he wasn,t looking.Noble,no but effective.He could dogfight as well as he learnt his trade from the best.His airmanship was great and had masterful control of his aircraft.He was who he was and thrived on it,well until his ego outdid his common sence. But in War it came down to the individual.Did a pilot chose to be merciful when a stricken fighter came into his sights,or did he unleash hell.Always it will come down to choice.Was there a fire on board and the pilot trapped?Did the kill save him from a slow agonising death or is it viewed as bloodthirsty.Moral dilemma or human nature.

Because fighting in the air was such a new thing the public really got behind the idea of the romantic side of it.Many of the pilots would be risen to the status of hero,ace due to the fact that they were out of the mud above it all flying high speed(in those days) machines with the wind in their hair.First combats were mainly one on one with the victor returning with stories of how he out flew and beaten his opponent.Slightly later the losing side would send two planes against one.Then it became two on two,then two on three,then etc,etc as both sides clawed at superiority over the other side.In reality it was cold,numbing,exhausting with fear running rampant.Rookie pilots becoming easy meat to more experienced enemy pilots.There was a fighting code of sorts.No strafing a downed enemy plane,give quarter if asked ,mercy if needed and fight hard always.Richtoffen is painted as the perfect hunter,skilled and calculating but in real life was he?He was certainly smart enough to fight on his terms,usually finding weaker opponents,avoiding dogfights etc.Anyone know of other tales and missed myths?