Volume 19, Number 1

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Volume 19, Number 1

Indy Squadron Dispatch

Volume 19, Number 1

January 7, 2007

THE STAND: A Sneak Preview of the New Book

Reflections on the Wingman Tourney by Rick Lacy

Indy's 2007 Squadron Calendar Released

ISD Readership on Rise

An Insider's Look at The Stand

I debated long and hard about releasing this first on this site but I chose to do so because we all love WWI aviation, because so many of you have been supportive of my work on Frank Luke and many of you have expressed genuine interest in the findings. So rather than being received as a grotesque display of vanity I hope this announcement will be welcomed and that readers will appreciate getting the information here and in Aerodrome first.

I studied Luke for six years before I was certain that enough fresh material could be found to justify a new book that would supercede and build upon the work of Luke's two great historians, Norman Hall and Sonny Frey. The decision to write a book was made in 1999 and this year marks the fifteenth year of indepth research into Luke's life and death.

The publishers apparently liked what they saw because in only our second phone conversation they jumped all over it and offered an immediate contract. Two other publishers had also expressed interest but Schiffer Books made several compromises on the contract that were mandatory from my standpoint and showed real interest in doing the book right and giving me the editorial control that I wanted.

Although the manuscript is nearly complete, I have to make one more trip to France in the coming months for a final photographic expedition, a few more interviews and archeological work. The manuscript is due at the end of September but may be finished much sooner. One question that I always get is "How many trips have you made to Europe?" The answer is - I think - eight, but I've lost count.

Another question that I'm getting constantly now is "When will the book be out?" My guess is mid-summer of 2008 but that is a guess. Schiffer makes the final call. And yes, Schiffer has guaranteed that it will be released as a large sized hardcover format with their usual acid-free stock paper which is another big reason why I went with them.

Other questions that I'm getting a lot now include "Do you know the title yet?" The answer is no. The working contract title is already mentioned here but that is subject to change by the publisher and is beyond my control.

And of course the ultimate question, "Will you tell me what really happened to Frank Luke?" Sorry. Wait for the book. I promise to finish it as fast as I can and now we're down to the final details. Over the next few months it will turn into a full time job until everything is ready for publication. Its very close now. A new web site promoting the book is now under construction and will be unveiled as soon as the publisher confirms the existing title or releases a new title for marketing.

If this information is well-received by my fellow WWI aviation enthusiasts and Dawn Patrol comrades I'll be glad to keep everyone updated here on the final title, publication date and all the other inside details as they become available. Critics will do what they do best and of course I'm prepared for it, but the death of Frank Luke is perhaps the last great mystery of WWI aviation and I believe this work will be a worthwhile contribution to history. See the book's official press release below.

Indy's 2007 Squadron Calendar Released

These dates are tentative. A few of them are subject to change, but most of them will remain firm throughout the year. Thanks to Rick for working up our 2007 schedule. All games official Indy Squadron dates at held at Gamerz gaming club starting at 10 am unless otherwise noted.

January 13

February 17

March 10

March 30-April 1 *Society Mini Con, not an Indy event

April 21 *Red Baron Fight XVIII

May 12

June 16

July 7

August 4

August 15 *Gen Con Warm Up, not an Indy event

August 16-19 *Gen Con, not an Indy event

September 8

October 13

November 10 *Armistice Day Fits Tournament

December 8

Wingman Tourney Reflections

by Rick Lacy

I was pleasantly surprised at how little bickering there was about rules and interpretations. At some of the Society events there is a lot of this, which generates a lot of noise and makes the weekend less enjoyable. The folks at this event were all pleasant to be around and I had a lot of fun.

The room we played in was adequate for the number of people and the hotel staff were very pleasant. Kudos to the Henions for picking a good venue.

Al put quite a lot of work into the 4 four rounds of play and each of the scenarios was well balanced and fun to play. I especially liked round 2 which consisted of single gun planes in 1917. Those sorts of departures from the Western Front/twin deck gun games that seem to dominate things go a long way toward showing how good a player a person really is, in my opinion.

The way the tournament scored out was somewhat at odds with the idea of a “wWingman” focus. Each 2 player team was paired with another 2 player team, and the total of all 4 planes was the player’s total for that round. I thought it should have been totaled on each 2 player team, not the grouping of 4.

I personally played in 12 games (4 tourney, 8 pickup). In my 4 tourney games, I played a Snipe (round 1), a French Nieuport 17 (round 2), a SSW D-IV (round 3), and a D-VII 160 hp (round 4). My best game was round 1 where I tallied 70 points due in large part to a kill via a pilot hit on George Henion. My worst game was round 4 where I was in the small block D-VII. In the pickup games, I lost my best German two seat seaplane crew when their Hansa Brandenburg W12 was shot up causing both crew to take hits and the pilot passed out. I also lost my best Austro Hungarian pilot, a 3/1 late war pilot, again to a pilot hit. I had a game where my best D-VII pilot completed his 11^th mission in a balloon defense giving me a new experienced German pilot. Here is the breakdown of the pickup games:

1) Lt Bruno Shultz is now 11/3 after successfully defending a balloon.

2) Lt Sebastian Hennecke ends as a 4/1 pilot with a fatal pilot wound.

3) Vfw Otto Elsburger goes to 2/0 after a mission in a small block Fokker.

4) Unt Lawrence Reiter goes to 7/1 afer a mission in an Alb D-V

5) Lt Roger King goes to 2/0 in French Nieuports after a March 1917 mission in a Nieuport 17

6) Pierre Fache becomes 1/0 after a successful balloon defense mission in a French Nieuport 27

7) Lt Remy Jeannot is now 2/0 in French seaplane fighters.

8) Hans Mueller (p) and Josef Ortmann (o) end their careers after both took crew hits and died when their W12 crashed at sea.

I will leave more detail on the tourney missions to the write up coming in the Aerodrome.

ISD Readership On Rise

Hits on the Indy Squadron Dispatch web site have been skyrocketing since we joined the WebRing. Our regular readers are sure to have noticed the new banner at the bottom of our home page advertising the WebRing, which we joined shortly after Armistice Day last autumn.

We now have one full month of WebRing membership under our belts that gives us full stats to review for all of December and into the first week of January. Its pretty evident that the WebRing folks are steering new readers and potential Dawn Patrol players our way.

In the immediate aftermath of Armistice Day we saw 22% jump in hits but that's really not a suprise because ISD readership always spikes following all the major DP events, regardless of whether they be local Indy games or society events. So the sudden jump was expected and it should have died out by late December... but it didn't.

Instead, readership has soared an additional 69% since then which can only be attributed to our new membership in the WebRing. We have joined four rings: the Community Gaming/Local Board Games ring, the Military History and War Gamers ring, the RPG Alliance ring and the WWI Modeler's ring.

We also attempted to join the Great War web ring but for some bizarre reason they rejected us, citing only that we "weren't what they were looking for." Either they failed to see our section of WWI articles or they don't consider the research performed by WWI gamers as a useful contribution to WWI history. However, this particular ring is the biggest one we applied for which means that our site would have had far less representation in the rotating ads so its probably not a big deal and our WebRing membership is still a wonderful success by any barometer.

We intend to join more rings in the future and are very pleased with the early returns. The WebRing has given us a chance to advertise and grow our game and promote a closer tie between war gamers and WWI historians, both of which are very good things.

The Stand: The Official Press Release

The final moments in the life of America’s most spectacular World War I fighter pilot are to be revealed in the upcoming book THE STAND: The Final Flight of Lt. Frank Luke, Jr.

Luke, who scored 18 aerial victories in a torrid 18-day combat spree, was killed in action behind German lines in September 1918 and the exact circumstances of his death have been debated by historians ever since.

Described in Over The Front Journal as the “best informed current student of Frank Luke,” author and Telly Award-winning television host Stephen Skinner has spent fifteen years researching Luke’s final moments. Skinner, who administrated the restoration of the Luke monument in November of 2000, has traveled repeatedly to France, Germany, Belgium and across the United States in pursuit of the clues that will reveal for the first time precisely what took place when Frank Luke’s SPAD fighter landed in a farm field west of Murvaux.

THE STAND presents a detailed analysis of all sides of the story through more than one thousand pages of unpublished material, newly disclosed documents from four nations and interviews with descendents of eyewitnesses in France and Germany. Skinner’s findings are based upon extensive on-site archeological research and a series of recently discovered German correspondence that brings closure to the Luke saga after nearly a century of controversy. The author painstakingly reconstructs the German defenses that brought Luke down, the hotly debated final seconds of his life, the reasons why his final mission was flown at all, and the almost unbelievable inter-squadron feud that led to Luke’s tragic end.

In addition to solving the last great mystery of World War I aviation, THE STAND scores a few “kills” of its own by targeting a multitude of myths and legends that have infiltrated the Luke saga over the years. THE STAND offers a fresh view of Luke’s life and the most in-depth evaluation of his character ever produced. Frank’s childhood, ancestral heritage, and even the woman he was to marry are explored to the fullest.

Skinner, defined by aviation author Barrett Tillman as “the authority on Frank Luke,” delivers a thrilling work that reads like a novel while raising the standards of World War I scholarship to new highs. The manuscript of THE STAND: The Final Flight of Lt. Frank Luke, Jr. is in the late stages of production and will be published in full length, hardcover format by Schiffer Books.