Volume 38 No. 1, Spring 2023

Our Spring issue, edited by Peter Kilduff, opens with another view of the French 1916 bombing mission against Karlsruhe; this time, by Jos Gelissen, from the receiving end. Peter Kilduff gives us a look (actually, several) of observation balloon operations from both sides of the lines. He then gives us profiles of two American pilots, Carl Dixon who flew Handley Page O/400s for the RFC/RAF, and Hyman Block who flew observation aircraft for the USAS. The final article contains photographs collected by the German Bild und Filmamt and annotated by Peter.

Over the Front is Going Digital

We are in the process of having all back issues of Over the Front converted to PDF format. These are being scanned at high resolution (400 dpi) and will be OCRed to allow you to do text searches on them.

Starting with Volume 38, all subscribers will continue to get the bound issues, and as soon as we have a finished PDF of that issue it will be available for download. Active subscribers will receive a password to access the current year’s PDF downloads. We do not plan to offer digital-only subscriptions at this time. All Volume 38 subscribers will be sent an email with directions for accessing these downloads before Volume 38 #1 ships or when they subscribe for the year, whichever is later.

Read more: Over the Front is Going Digital

Seminar Plans

The League Board of Directors is making final plans for an Autumn seminar at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City. The seminar will run immediately after the Museum's seminar (which will be Fri., Oct. 27 through lunch Oct. 28), starting the afternoon of Saturday Oct. 28, and continuing all day Sunday. The Museum will have a block of rooms reserved at a local hotel, with specdial attendee rates, and there will be a discount (yet  to be determined) for attendees wishing to attend both seminars.

Confirmed presenters are

  • Mark Levitch: Pantheon de la Guerre, a discussion on the massive painting on display in both Memory Hall and Exhibit Hall at the Liberty Memorial which sets atop the National WWI Museum.
  • Tom Fife (TBD)
  • Terry Finnegan: Aerial Observation on the Eastern Front
  • Greg VanWyngarden & Lance Bronnenkant: Allied Aviators as Guests of their German Counterparts [co-presenters]
  • Colin Owers (TBD)

Oother presenters will be listed as they are confirmed.

 

An Over the Front Table of Contents

As President Dan Polglaze said in Between the Lines in Volume 35 No. 3, we (mostly he) have been delving through our back issues to create the first-ever complete Table of Contents for every issue of OTF published to date. In it you'll find titles, authors, volume, issue and page references, and major topics for each article. It's all in the form of an Excel spreadsheet so you can download your own copy and sort, search and modify it as much as you want. Can't wait to get started? Download a copy here. We'll try, now that we've got it, to keep it updated as each new issue comes out, but may fall behind.

Think of this as a first step toward a full index of all of Over the Front, an endeavor you can help with. Interested? Contact Dan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Courtesy of Steve Suddaby, who also provided us with his Allied Bombing Missiion database, we have added the table of contents of the original Cross and Cockade to the Table of Contents. 

Price Reduced on Vol. 21-30

Volumes 21 through 30 are now being sold at a mere $40/volume, or $15/issue for the single issues. So now is the time to fill in some of the gaps in your collection. Some issues are sold out; there's a line through the cover illustration on those and the we are not offering the volume they would be in. Volumes 31-34 are $60 each, with individual issues $20 a copy. Where they are available, Volumes before Volume 21 are $20 each. Single issues are still $15 for issues in those volumes.