The latest journal of Cross & Cockade International - Autumn 2017, features a photograph of a Sopwith Camel, C8372, of 50 Squadron. The outside rear cover features five color profiles by David Méchin of Georges Madon’s aerial mounts. If you check out the website link above, you can get additional sample pics of the current issue.

Cross & Cockade International is a non-profit UK based group known as the First World War Aviation Historical Society that publishes their journal four times a year. They also provide a free newsletter (sign up on their website) and occasionally publish WWI themed books like the Sopwith Dolphin monograph I reviewed earlier for IPMS USA. This Journal is the sister of the US Journal, Over The Front.

Stewart K. Taylor leads off with a biography of FSL Oliver Joseph Gagnier of 6 Squadron RNAS. A Canadian by birth, but with a French heritage, Gagnier’s service was probably typical of many pilots of the day. Taylor starts off from his birth and leads the reader through flight training, service, and post-war activities. Supplemented with first-person accounts and photographs, this is an easy read for a biography. Paul Leaman comes in next the third part of his new series on Captured German Aircraft. This edition completes the initial series of ‘G’ numbers that the British allocated to captured aircraft and starts were he left off the last issue with ‘G98’, an Albatros D.V ( or D.Va) that was shot down on December 12 (or 19) of 1918. Flown by Jasta 27 Ltn Borner, it was a complete wreck with very little salvaged. There are notes on each ‘G’ number assignments along with photos and drawings to highlight camouflage and markings.

A.D. Harvey provides notes on a long extract from the National Archives on Andre Walser, a BE2 pilot that was at the Battle of the Somme. This first-person account brings you to the battlefront of 1916. Switching from Japanese aviation, David Méchin writes on Georges Madon, a French pilot with 41 official victories. Those 41 victories place him as the fourth highest French ace of WWI. Madon was a pilot before the war started and became a flashy pilot during the war, flying a bright red SPAD S.VIII and later a SPAD S.XIII long before the German Red Baron.

Juraj Červenka is up next with an article on Bratislava bred airmen of Austro-Hungaria. Bratislava is the capital city of the Slovak Republic that at the time of WWI supported three major ethnic groups: German, Hungarians, and Slovaks. Juraj provides short biography’s for four airmen: Feldpilot Oberleutnant Hasan Riza Efendi Pieler, Oblerleutnant Fritz Wowy, Feldpilot Lieutenant Josef Kiss, and Feldpilot Offizierstellvertreter Friedrich Hefty. You can catch an excellent clear photograph of an exhausted Josef Kiss getting ready to mount is Phönix D.Iia of page 201.

The Wingnut Wings Camel series is making a big splash and Mick Davis provides some interesting variants with Night Flying Camels & ‘Comic’ Conversions along with a treasure trove of additional photographs that normally would have been tossed from the article. We are also provided with three sheets of line drawings of these Night Flying Camels along with detailed captions. Wrapping the articles is Peter McGee and Graham Mack’s treatise on RAF Elmswell. This article is a result of a search for evidence of this aerodrome’s existence in 2014, long buried under an airfield used by the US Eighth Army Air Force in WWII, The authors present an update of what they’ve learned since their last update in Volume 46/4 (Winter 2015).

Joe Moran continues with his Modeling feature. This month he focuses in on a KP 1/72 LVRG C.VI kit build and a review of the Pegasus 1/72 Halberstadt CL.II. The standard feature, Logbook, is absent this issue, but Mick Davis’ Fabric is present and accounted for. Reader Eric Harlin provides five new photographs of German aircraft that were in the Horse Guards parade of 1915. Two additional photographs of German aircraft in the Lord Mayor’s London Parade of November 9, 1916, are also presented. The Bookshelf section is a review of WWI aviation specific books and magazines with this issue totaling four.

Topics

• Editorial by Mick Davis
• Sheer Grit and Fortitude by Stewart K. Taylor [Page 165]
• Captured German Aircraft Part 3 by Paul Leaman [Page 177]
• BE2 Pilot at the Somme: André Walser in 1916 by A.D. Harvey [Page 186]
• Georges Madon: The French Red Baron by David Méchin [Page 197]
• Hometown Heroes (K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen from Bratislava) by Juraj Červenka [Page 201]
• Night Flying Camels & ‘Comic’ Conversions by Mick Davis [Page 210]
• Night Flying Camels – Photostudy by Mick Davis [Page 225]
• RAF Elmswell: Update on a Lost Aerodrome by Peter McGee and Graham Mack
• Logbook: 13 RS/TS Unit Markings: compiled by Mick Davis
• Modelling: New Releases and Kit Reviews: compiled by Joe Moran
• Fabric: Queries and Feedback compiled by Mick Davis
• Bookshelf

It’s another great issue from Cross & Cockade and I’m continued to be impressed with the quality. If you are into early / WWI aviation; this journal is an incredible source of information that will have you on the edge of your seat for the next issue. My thanks to Cross & Cockade International and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great issue.

Highly recommended!