Editor Michael O’Neal opens with author Michael O’Neal’s third article on American training casualties at Issoudun, covering the period from August 1918 to the war’s end. Tom Callen uses inscriptions in a German edition of a French philosophical book to look at the return from captivity of Heinz von Beaulieu-Marconnay and Gustav Bähren. Dr. Peter Fedders examines the battle of the Somme and the role air power (on both sides) played during the six months of the campaign. And finally Mike O’Neal reports on a letter to Charles Forschner Watson before his first solo from J. W. Porcher of the Fall Undertaking Co. of Waco Texas. The issue wraps up with Mentioned in Despatches and Between the Bookends.
Volume 38 No. 2, Summer 2023 is out!
In Witness for the Prosecution by Hugh T. Harrington, we get a look at the testimony by former 2nd Lt. Howard Rath in the Billy Mitchell court-martial.
The History of Escadrille Spa 166 by Frank W. Bailey and Jon Guttman gives us the story of a relatively late-comer to the Aeronautique Militaire, which was formed in late July of 1918.
Claude Vollmeyer 3rd AIC Test Pilot by Michael O’Neal demonstrates once again that not all the action is at the front lines; Vollmeyer spent his time in Flight Test at Issoudun.
Prisoners of War in Film by Lt. Col. Greg Eanes, USAF (Ret) recounts the real-life story behind the Jean Renoir film La Grande Illusion.
The Ponnier M.1 Fighter by David Méchin explores a would-be competitor to the Nieuport XI.
In Briggs Kilburn Adams: The American Spirit Mike O’Neal gives us a look at his all-too-brief time with the American Ambulance Hospital and later the Royal Flying Corps.
Maj. Daniel Pool, USAF has fleshed out the photos in the National Air & Space Museum’s copy of Paul R. Stockton’s scrapbook with information on his military career (from the Spanish-American War on) through his time with the 12th Aero Squadron at the end of World War I.
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.
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.
