In the late 1800's, in the US train wrecks were becoming too common. The RR companies determined many of the wrecks occurred because the watches trainmen used were just not sufficiently accurate. The RR companies issued specifications for a watch which the RR's would adopt for use if one could be produced to meet the RR accuracy/reliability criteria. A fellow by the name of Ball designed that watch which was accepted. The watch became the RR 'standard', and the slogan 'he's on the Ball' became popular.....
What is often forgotten, and you can read all Albert's letters (on view in Nottingham Castle museum) ..he quickly went from "Can't wait to get up there and tackle the Hun" to "I'm just so sick of just killing people". His words not mine. ....The average life expectancy of WW1 pilots was very short. In the early part of the war, the average life expectancy was 40-60 flying hours! It very easy to glamorize war from a distance of time.
Indeed. I can't remember the author, but the well researched book "No Empty Chairs" gives a detailed, fascinating account of a talented, eccentric, introverted and conscientious young man who, to put it mildly, struggled with his emotions following from his battles. He had PTSD, to be sure.
I remember reading about these brave men growing up in the 1960-70s. They were my childhood hero’s. Now all we have is hate and disrespect for our fellow man.
Albert Ball is such a tragic figure. He was brilliant, poetic and brave. I've often wondered what else he would have accomplished in life had he survived WWI.
Brilliant graphics in all three of these tribute films. Sad to say, Ball, Manfred von Richtoffen, Mannock and McCudden were probably all victims of combat fatigue - close to nervous and mental exhaustion after flying combat for so long, they made one error of judgement, which was their last. Brave men, one and all.
My grandfather learned to fly with Ball at the Ruffy-Baumann School of Flying at Hendon in Oct/Nov 1915. They knew each other but probably weren't friends as Ball was very much the loner and tended to keep to himself. One flaw in this game depiction is that it makes no mention of Ball's engine having quit while his plane was inverted. This was a common problem up to WWII - the carburetors of the day tended to flood while flying inverted. Flight manuals of many aircraft specifically forbade inverted flight for more than a few seconds precisely to prevent this from happening. Ball's prop was observed from the ground to be stopped when he exited the low cloud and that deprived him of using his engine to right his aircraft and arrest his fall.
Albert ball was a strange man. He was the kind of guy that was a model citizen on the ground, caring and passionate, but as soon he got in the air, he showed no mercy to anyone
"The idea, dear boy, is that you sneak up behind the enemy and shoot him in the back while he's still picking his nose" these were NOT Ball's words, but attributed to another, unknown.
What the movie forgets to mention is that supposedly SE 5a's engine had a tendency to malfunction should the aircraft be inverted for too long. Which is why Ball couldn't recover from his vertigo nose dive after clearing the clouds.
Not malfunction, for most of these engines, flying inverted starves the carburettor, which then causes the engine to stall until you flip right back round
Just came across this, hope your project went well. Albert Ball was my great uncle - my mother being Albert's brother Percy's daughter. I plan to visit Annoeullin in August.
That made me cry, but it was a brilliant. i'm doing a project about WW1 and we had to find relatives from it, from my grandparents i found out that Albert ball is my second cousin twice removed. I'm so proud to have the same blood as him and i feel like i could be so brave now, i'm honestly so proud and feel more attached to the war than ever. Thank you for making me realise this and making me feel so happy
You have a cousin called Hannah in Brighton.. ... granddaughter of one of Albert balls grandsons Arthur from Hertfordshire .. . My mum married the son of Arthur.... I'm from a previous marriage of Jackie ball who now lives in Woodstock in Oxford and did an in depth study of ww1... and whilst investigating discovered lots of hidden info on the flying ace at the imperial war museum... many of the the original still photos you see in this vid.... anyway.... your not related to me but you are to my half sister Hannah.....
I am also related to Albert Ball through my grandparents in Westbridgeford, Ruth and Brian Shaw, although I don't think we are related through any of my Norman relatives? That is just a spooky coincidence lol
Disorientation in a cloud is such a rare situation nowadays what with the attitude/horizon indicator as a standard for almost all modern aircraft, but WOW! back then it was life-threatening without such technology!
7:31-Although Richthofen “Claimed” The Kill, On A Technicality, Ball Apparently Shot Him Down First, Then Crashed On His Own. (Ball Shot Down Lothar Von Richthofen, Then Experienced Vertigo/Spatial Disorientation, Which Was Primarily Why He Crashed)
I often visited the museum when living nearby. An early biography said that Albert Ball circled a village church on his way home to base to check the time, The Germans noticed this and mounted a machine gun in the tower and waited . He was baldly wounded and crashed near a canal and died. His death was claimed by Von Richthofen but refuted. He was buried with honours by the Germans but his body was later returned to the British
56 Squadron...Britain's most elite squadron, their equivalent of Jasta 11. They lost their best pilot, Albert Ball...soon they would take the life of Werner Voss, an equally feared German ace. Richthofen's famous Flying Circus and this squadron where archenemies of the war. Rumour has it this squadron was even assembled to take out the Baron himself.
@Abseil11 you're right. the first Dr.1 wasn't flown until August 30th 1917. The D'III entered service in December 1916. So obviously Lothar was flying a D'III when Ball was killed.
the rookie pilots were told to always leave/have one bullet in his pistol..either burn in the plane or end the suffering with his own gun..what a choice..what brave men..and a fantastic video that tells its own story w/out a spoken word! bravo lad, well done!
The thing is - the aircraft then were incredibly crude and fragile. A very large number of pilots were killed in training and operational losses were high. That and though they had parachutes that were used by Observers in Balloons - they were not initially used by pilots. One attitude on the part of their superiors was that they didn't want the pilots to be bailing out of aircraft that might still be able to be saved. .
You seem to be taking a lot of assumptions on what happened to Ball once he went into the clouds after Lothar. How do know he became disorientated in the clouds and crashed?
Spatial disorientation has been killing pilots since the beginning of flight, and still does. The British erroneously taught pilots that they could maintain orientation inside clouds "by the seat of the pants," an impossibility.
This clip doesn't reflect the actual historical record. For those interested read "Albert Ball VC" by Chaz Bowyer for a more accurate description of events. 👍
These craft required 3 or 4 hands to fly while operating Controls Throttle engine mixture and cut outs in flight as well as the Gun. Little wonder so many died. Throw in a craft with the handling ability of an angry Badger.
While not set up for instrument flying a pilot would certainly realise he was hanging in his harnesses. Most likely cause of the crash Icing of the carburetor in cloud possibly even control surfaces. If this occurs it could cause apparent loss of control and Situational Awareness as Pilots call it. Where he became so distracted trying to restart his engine he simply lost height. Can't happen? 2 pilots crashed passenger jet during a discussion over a panel light they could not fix.
To add to realism, Rise of Flight (since it has the aviators waving & doing other things) should have the pilot squirming & writhing when his plane catches fire, maybe even falling (jumping) out burning now & then for it certainly did happen.
@sirgisbod i wont dislike because i know better but was this one of the first in the seireis? cause it was utterly confusing,i still dont get what was going on having watched it a second time... werner voss and manfred were much much better... how come ?
OMG!!!! The Hun is so beastly! One of them appears to have shot the spinner clean off Ball's pug-nosed SE! Seriously though, it's a very good video which I greatly enjoyed. RoF is a very impressive sim. Obviously, an element of speculation remains about the circumstances that led to Ball's death but as far as I know, disorientation in low cloud is accepted as the most likely cause. It's all so sad. He and his comrades, and their German counterparts, remain an inspiration to us all.
I actually believe it was Lothar shooting him down. i mean...did anybody see Ball falling inverted from the cloud? or is it just a theory? For Lothar a smashed tank does not mean to go down at once but to fly a little rest time i think
Well the flying circus made allies looks silly in the entire war. And what makes allies superior it all because their number. It goes for the both WW. And for the germans, they had more sorties than their counter parts so mean the germans lose beacuse of the fitness issued.
Rizky ERH Germans had it coming. No one told them to fight the world. It was their choice. Many pilots from all sides had skills. We respect the skills but not Germans cause.
Haris Zark well, in WWI, Germany was coming to the aid of their Austro-Hungarian allies, who had just had their heir assassinated by Serbian-funded terrorists. It was only WWII where they were trying to conquer the world.
Not the entire war. The Entente entered the war with long-range strategic bombers and reconnaisance aircraft, the Sikorsky S-22. The Entente were the first to shoot down enemy aircraft. Then, in mid 1915, the Germans introduced interruptor gear, and gained the advantage - but didn’t use it when it was most needed, when the road to Verdun needed to be attacked. Then, in early 1916, the Entente introduced superior designs such as the Nieuport and D.H.2., taking back the advantage. In late 1916, the Germans regained the advantage by introducing Jastas and the superior Albatros D series, with the Austro-Hungarians following this example and improving the Albatros D.III. Then, in mid 1917, the Entente introduced the S.E.5a, Sopwith Camel, and SPAD XIII, gaining an advantage, though the Central Powers still had periods of huge success.
I once did the calculations , the speed of a first edition Advanced dungeons and dragons Red dragon was about 80 miles an hour. so roughly the speed of a ww1 era fighter in battle. So what I am saying is, I want a Mod where you get to fight a dragon.
Hobgoblin1975 E.G.G. probably did not have the latest scientific data on flying dinosaurs. Try about 60 mph, at which point a dragon is so slow it would be outmaneuvered, out climbed, and out dived. Easy fodder for thirty caliber powder. Then again, they are magical. They might have a gem in their skull like oriental dragons which enhances their speed.
Here's the thing. Experienced pilots don't become disorientated. They know when they've 'lost center' and compensate with the only logical thing: they climb. Its BS and insulting as all heck the 'official' account.
Combat fatigue could easily contribute to a mistake.. that said, Ball's aircraft was observed to fall out of the cloud with a stopped prop, likely from a flooded inlet manifold from inverted flight.
Ever flown in cloud in a small single engined plane? You tend to get thrown around quite a good deal and rely a lot on the artificial horizon to keep yourself orientated as you have no visual point of reference outside the cockpit. Thing is, that particular basic piece of instrumentation wasn`t invented until the 1920s so not even the SE5a, which had very good cockpit instrumentation for its time had one. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence from period pilot memoires that it was very easy, even for the best flyers to lose orientation in cloud so this is a very plausable scenario for Ball`s death. Also, according to ground observers who saw Ball crash the base cloud ceiling was around 200 meters, not a lot of space to recover from an inverted dive but he almost managed it!
Robert Sneddon Sensible but wrong. Ball was an engineer. He would have known from the timbre of the engine if it was pulling ie climbing or sucking air ie diving. He would have felt the vibration of the wings, he would have felt it in his water. A pilot knows which way up he is. And yes I have piloted a small aircraft in cloud. I have also ridden a motorcycle blind drunk in a rain storm. You know. Take my word for it. Now if he was wounded, that's different. Personally, I don't believe Lothar shot down an SE5 with Ball in it that day. I don't believe Ball died that day. And the romantic BS that is the official account of him dying in a French peasant girl's arms is just Biggles own nonsense. He'd had enough, his daddy was wealthy and well connected and he had German friends (Richtoffens if you check the records).
wozzlepop , ofcourse experienced pilots can become disorientated. It is easy to make a mistake. They are human too after all. The only difference is that it doesn't happens a lot and they have the skill and calm to overcame most times.
In the late 1800's, in the US train wrecks were becoming too common. The RR companies determined many of the wrecks occurred because the watches trainmen used were just not sufficiently accurate. The RR companies issued specifications for a watch which the RR's would adopt for use if one could be produced to meet the RR accuracy/reliability criteria. A fellow by the name of Ball designed that watch which was accepted. The watch became the RR 'standard', and the slogan 'he's on the Ball' became popular.....
Thanks!
What is often forgotten, and you can read all Albert's letters (on view in Nottingham Castle museum) ..he quickly went from
"Can't wait to get up there and tackle the Hun"
to
"I'm just so sick of just killing people". His words not mine.
....The average life expectancy of WW1 pilots was very short. In the early part of the war, the average life expectancy was 40-60 flying hours!
It very easy to glamorize war from a distance of time.
...it was a horrible war...but most on both sides tried to fight with honor and chivarlry...at least on the air.
good observation i think the French ace Guynemeyer (sp?) had a similar attitude....
They died by the thousands even America with its short intervention lost around 2000 I believe.
Indeed. I can't remember the author, but the well researched book "No Empty Chairs" gives a detailed, fascinating account of a talented, eccentric, introverted and conscientious young man who, to put it mildly, struggled with his emotions following from his battles. He had PTSD, to be sure.
Yes. All wars end up being ugly to the individual fighting them, no matter what your job as a combatant. After that it is sad.
I remember reading about these brave men growing up in the 1960-70s. They were my childhood hero’s. Now all we have is hate and disrespect for our fellow man.
So unfortunate. The community respect and way of life is continuously worn down and erased by the left.
Albert Ball is such a tragic figure. He was brilliant, poetic and brave. I've often wondered what else he would have accomplished in life had he survived WWI.
Brilliant graphics in all three of these tribute films. Sad to say, Ball, Manfred von Richtoffen, Mannock and McCudden were probably all victims of combat fatigue - close to nervous and mental exhaustion after flying combat for so long, they made one error of judgement, which was their last. Brave men, one and all.
My grandfather instructed Ball in aerial gunnery; it was something of a point of pride for him.
carmium : my grandfather was in the German calvary in WW 1, and according to my father, saw Richthoven’s red triplane fly over...
My grandfather learned to fly with Ball at the Ruffy-Baumann School of Flying at Hendon in Oct/Nov 1915. They knew each other but probably weren't friends as Ball was very much the loner and tended to keep to himself. One flaw in this game depiction is that it makes no mention of Ball's engine having quit while his plane was inverted. This was a common problem up to WWII - the carburetors of the day tended to flood while flying inverted. Flight manuals of many aircraft specifically forbade inverted flight for more than a few seconds precisely to prevent this from happening. Ball's prop was observed from the ground to be stopped when he exited the low cloud and that deprived him of using his engine to right his aircraft and arrest his fall.
I would think so! Most cool.
My father fought in the crusades
I'd love to hear more of your grandfather's memories.
Albert ball was a strange man. He was the kind of guy that was a model citizen on the ground, caring and passionate, but as soon he got in the air, he showed no mercy to anyone
Trait that all great warriors have. Richthofen was the same.
That is a fighter pilot. It is what it is. I don't recall who said it but it was something to the effect of murder in the sky.
"The idea, dear boy, is that you sneak up behind the enemy and shoot him in the back while he's still picking his nose" these were NOT Ball's words, but attributed to another, unknown.
These men were so young and yet had this terrible responsiblity on them
RIP brave men
Thank you for your videos, they are great tributes to the pilots, of both sides, who flew and fought in the Great War.
What the movie forgets to mention is that supposedly SE 5a's engine had a tendency to malfunction should the aircraft be inverted for too long. Which is why Ball couldn't recover from his vertigo nose dive after clearing the clouds.
Not malfunction, for most of these engines, flying inverted starves the carburettor, which then causes the engine to stall until you flip right back round
@@willimeister2553 It was the same for the 1940's Spitfires and Hurricanes
Just came across this, hope your project went well. Albert Ball was my great uncle - my mother being Albert's brother Percy's daughter.
I plan to visit Annoeullin in August.
Nitpick here. Ball did not become "disorientated." He became disoriented.
Thanks for that. I cringe when I hear it.
THANK you for that!
A VC at 20! Fearless bravery for such a young age. Ruthless and Brutal in the air, a philosophical man on the ground.
That made me cry, but it was a brilliant. i'm doing a project about WW1 and we had to find relatives from it, from my grandparents i found out that Albert ball is my second cousin twice removed. I'm so proud to have the same blood as him and i feel like i could be so brave now, i'm honestly so proud and feel more attached to the war than ever. Thank you for making me realise this and making me feel so happy
You have a cousin called Hannah in Brighton.. ... granddaughter of one of Albert balls grandsons Arthur from Hertfordshire .. . My mum married the son of Arthur.... I'm from a previous marriage of Jackie ball who now lives in Woodstock in Oxford and did an in depth study of ww1... and whilst investigating discovered lots of hidden info on the flying ace at the imperial war museum... many of the the original still photos you see in this vid.... anyway.... your not related to me but you are to my half sister Hannah.....
I am also related to Albert Ball through my grandparents in Westbridgeford, Ruth and Brian Shaw, although I don't think we are related through any of my Norman relatives? That is just a spooky coincidence lol
i serieusly enjoyed this video, it was really worth it. Thx man u did very well making this video.
So in the end he was great enough that no one could bring him down--except himself. He was a true ace.
Disorientation in a cloud is such a rare situation nowadays what with the attitude/horizon indicator as a standard for almost all modern aircraft, but WOW! back then it was life-threatening without such technology!
7:31-Although Richthofen “Claimed” The Kill, On A Technicality, Ball Apparently Shot Him Down First, Then Crashed On His Own. (Ball Shot Down Lothar Von Richthofen, Then Experienced Vertigo/Spatial Disorientation, Which Was Primarily Why He Crashed)
Very nice video, both entertaining and instructive, and it is also a good reminder about human factor and spatial disorientation.... I love it !!
A sad story for an ace! RIP!
I often visited the museum when living nearby. An early biography said that Albert Ball circled a village church on his way home to base to check the time, The Germans noticed this and mounted a machine gun in the tower and waited . He was baldly wounded and crashed near a canal and died.
His death was claimed by Von Richthofen but refuted. He was buried with honours by the Germans but his body was later returned to the British
7:07-What Song Is This??
56 Squadron...Britain's most elite squadron, their equivalent of Jasta 11. They lost their best pilot, Albert Ball...soon they would take the life of Werner Voss, an equally feared German ace. Richthofen's famous Flying Circus and this squadron where archenemies of the war. Rumour has it this squadron was even assembled to take out the Baron himself.
Excellent mate, well done
Absolutely amazing! From the great nephew of a British WWI fighter pilot.
Some conjecture here? I have read of LVR and last being seen entering clouds. Thanks for a tribute to an incredibly brave hero!
Ball, a classical scholar, wanted only for the war to end so he return to his studies.
@Abseil11 you're right. the first Dr.1 wasn't flown until August 30th 1917. The D'III entered service in December 1916. So obviously Lothar was flying a D'III when Ball was killed.
Hi Frank, Albert Ball was my Great Great Uncle (If I have my generations correct). Good to meet another decendant of the Ball Family.
I believe he was also my great great uncle through my mother's family, the Shaws
@@marknorman1273 does that make us cousins, four times removed or something? :-)
I guess so, I know 1 thing for sure though... We are both descendants of a true legend
the rookie pilots were told to always leave/have one bullet in his pistol..either burn in the plane or end the suffering with his own gun..what a choice..what brave men..and a fantastic video that tells its own story w/out a spoken word!
bravo lad, well done!
The thing is - the aircraft then were incredibly crude and fragile. A very large number of pilots were killed in training and operational losses were high. That and though they had parachutes that were used by Observers in Balloons - they were not initially used by pilots. One attitude on the part of their superiors was that they didn't want the pilots to be bailing out of aircraft that might still be able to be saved.
.
Sad R.I.P Captain Albert Ball
Did you do anything special to get the cloud effects? Or is this part of the mission builder?
Great work.
Wow, he's related to me! So cool to be related to such an awesome guy
+Tyler Ball albert ball is one of the worst aces ever, he was just lucky to get 44 kills until his luck ran out.
+Seniku Moonjewel good good, let go of your anger young skywalker.
Dude he's my great great great uncle! We must be related too!
You seem to be taking a lot of assumptions on what happened to Ball once he went into the clouds after Lothar. How do know he became disorientated in the clouds and crashed?
In my opinion this is the best ROF movie - just amazing!
Those were the pilots that taught us to stay outta those clouds........Vertigo will put you straight into the ground...
great job!
Spatial disorientation has been killing pilots since the beginning of flight, and still does. The British erroneously taught pilots that they could maintain orientation inside clouds "by the seat of the pants," an impossibility.
To be accurate, the nose of Ball's plane should be red - it's a cruel world.
Stunning!
This clip doesn't reflect the actual historical record. For those interested read "Albert Ball VC" by Chaz Bowyer for a more accurate description of events. 👍
Hey where did you get that photo of ball in 56 squadron? I found one online once but lost track of it.
These craft required 3 or 4 hands to fly while operating Controls Throttle engine mixture and cut outs in flight as well as the Gun. Little wonder so many died. Throw in a craft with the handling ability of an angry Badger.
Unfortunately Ball was a victim of VFR into IFR conditions, i.e. vertigo
Well Done!
The singular Captain Ball...
While not set up for instrument flying a pilot would certainly realise he was hanging in his harnesses. Most likely cause of the crash Icing of the carburetor in cloud possibly even control surfaces. If this occurs it could cause apparent loss of control and Situational Awareness as Pilots call it. Where he became so distracted trying to restart his engine he simply lost height. Can't happen? 2 pilots crashed passenger jet during a discussion over a panel light they could not fix.
To add to realism, Rise of Flight (since it has the aviators waving & doing other things) should have the pilot squirming & writhing when his plane catches fire, maybe even falling (jumping) out burning now & then for it certainly did happen.
btw Albert Ball's brother was named Cyril.
Amazing! The Best!
Just wanted to say it's Vert-Galant not Vert-Galand. Still it's a great video
@sirgisbod i wont dislike because i know better but was this one of the first in the seireis?
cause it was utterly confusing,i still dont get what was going on having watched it a second time...
werner voss and manfred were much much better...
how come ?
OMG!!!! The Hun is so beastly! One of them appears to have shot the spinner clean off Ball's pug-nosed SE! Seriously though, it's a very good video which I greatly enjoyed. RoF is a very impressive sim. Obviously, an element of speculation remains about the circumstances that led to Ball's death but as far as I know, disorientation in low cloud is accepted as the most likely cause. It's all so sad. He and his comrades, and their German counterparts, remain an inspiration to us all.
Amazing guy
That was excellent.
I actually believe it was Lothar shooting him down.
i mean...did anybody see Ball falling inverted from the cloud? or is it just a theory?
For Lothar a smashed tank does not mean to go down at once but to fly a little rest time i think
Awesome.
@Acme633
The official account records that Lothar and Ball collided in the clouds....as Lothar crash landed as well.
Brilliance!
Lother was flying a Dr1.that day-
The music is from attack on pearl harbor the game I played it like 2 seconds before watching this vid lol oh and very nice video btw
im so confused to much going on at the same time
How would 20 year olds of today cope??
Well the flying circus made allies looks silly in the entire war. And what makes allies superior it all because their number. It goes for the both WW. And for the germans, they had more sorties than their counter parts so mean the germans lose beacuse of the fitness issued.
Rizky ERH
Germans had it coming. No one told them to fight the world. It was their choice. Many pilots from all sides had skills. We respect the skills but not Germans cause.
Haris Zark well, in WWI, Germany was coming to the aid of their Austro-Hungarian allies, who had just had their heir assassinated by Serbian-funded terrorists. It was only WWII where they were trying to conquer the world.
Not the entire war.
The Entente entered the war with long-range strategic bombers and reconnaisance aircraft, the Sikorsky S-22.
The Entente were the first to shoot down enemy aircraft.
Then, in mid 1915, the Germans introduced interruptor gear, and gained the advantage - but didn’t use it when it was most needed, when the road to Verdun needed to be attacked.
Then, in early 1916, the Entente introduced superior designs such as the Nieuport and D.H.2., taking back the advantage.
In late 1916, the Germans regained the advantage by introducing Jastas and the superior Albatros D series, with the Austro-Hungarians following this example and improving the Albatros D.III.
Then, in mid 1917, the Entente introduced the S.E.5a, Sopwith Camel, and SPAD XIII, gaining an advantage, though the Central Powers still had periods of huge success.
Bro look at the top fighter aces. Apart from Richtofen most are British and Canadian lol
I once did the calculations , the speed of a first edition Advanced dungeons and dragons Red dragon was about 80 miles an hour. so roughly the speed of a ww1 era fighter in battle. So what I am saying is, I want a Mod where you get to fight a dragon.
Hobgoblin1975 E.G.G. probably did not have the latest scientific data on flying dinosaurs. Try about 60 mph, at which point a dragon is so slow it would be outmaneuvered, out climbed, and out dived. Easy fodder for thirty caliber powder. Then again, they are magical. They might have a gem in their skull like oriental dragons which enhances their speed.
I thought he was shot from a gunner in a church tower
super
They knew how to die, back then.
that is ancient misinformation
Only 20
So baron had shot down but survive so yeah
So apparently rise of flight career can generate actual names...because I shot down Albert Ball with my Eindekker. Funny story.
Cool movie
@Abseil11..by the way.in one sentece..
Fine research work!!! Well done!! But Albert Ball didn't use to wear flying helmet and goggles when fighting! Beside this, very impressing!!!
Here's the thing. Experienced pilots don't become disorientated. They know when they've 'lost center' and compensate with the only logical thing: they climb. Its BS and insulting as all heck the 'official' account.
Combat fatigue could easily contribute to a mistake.. that said, Ball's aircraft was observed to fall out of the cloud with a stopped prop, likely from a flooded inlet manifold from inverted flight.
Ever flown in cloud in a small single engined plane?
You tend to get thrown around quite a good deal and rely a lot on the artificial horizon to keep yourself orientated as you have no visual point of reference outside the cockpit.
Thing is, that particular basic piece of instrumentation wasn`t invented until the 1920s so not even the SE5a, which had very good cockpit instrumentation for its time had one.
There is a lot of anecdotal evidence from period pilot memoires that it was very easy, even for the best flyers to lose orientation in cloud so this is a very plausable scenario for Ball`s death.
Also, according to ground observers who saw Ball crash the base cloud ceiling was around 200 meters, not a lot of space to recover from an inverted dive but he almost managed it!
Robert Sneddon Sensible but wrong. Ball was an engineer. He would have known from the timbre of the engine if it was pulling ie climbing or sucking air ie diving. He would have felt the vibration of the wings, he would have felt it in his water. A pilot knows which way up he is. And yes I have piloted a small aircraft in cloud. I have also ridden a motorcycle blind drunk in a rain storm. You know. Take my word for it. Now if he was wounded, that's different. Personally, I don't believe Lothar shot down an SE5 with Ball in it that day. I don't believe Ball died that day. And the romantic BS that is the official account of him dying in a French peasant girl's arms is just Biggles own nonsense. He'd had enough, his daddy was wealthy and well connected and he had German friends (Richtoffens if you check the records).
wozzlepop , ofcourse experienced pilots can become disorientated. It is easy to make a mistake. They are human too after all. The only difference is that it doesn't happens a lot and they have the skill and calm to overcame most times.
a great deal.
I'M SPELLBOUND!!!!!
I Tought Lothar shoot him down by a frontal dogfight, great vid anyway
what is good about dying in aerial combat aged only 20 when you have much to fulfill?
LOL
S!!!
He died in 1917 dummy
Good video. But a fairy tale nevertheless. Disoriented, really? Myth.