[WWI] Pilots of Interest

[Aidrian Bridgeman-Sutton]

It is very hard to see historical figures through the eyes and minds
of the society they lived in and not filtered through the cultural,
moral and political ideas of the present day

The opinion of a Swedish lady may or may not be significant - dashing
fighter pilots, racing drivers and, long before them,  mad virtuoso
violinists and romantic poets have a long tradition of lady-killing;
even SWMBO lost her head for long enough and badly enough to get
hitched to yours truly and he is none of those things, not even at a
very long distance when wearing the wrong glasses.

To be honest being what we might consider an "SOB and a self important
autocratic prick " may not have been any sort liability in the
Kaiser's service - rather the opposite. Likeability and leadership are
very different things and old school military leadership even more so.
 I don't think we'd care too much for many officers from either side
if we were to meet them socially or professionally in 2009 - attitudes
and ideas about rank and social position and the sort of social and
political ideas that can be expressed have changed radically in the
last 90 years, even those that can be expressed at the dinner table.

Aidrian

On 3/14/09, Crawford Neil <Neil.Crawford at volvo.com> wrote:
>
This just doesn't make sense if he was a "SOB and a self
> important autocratic prick ".
> I'm not defending him, just interested in the way he is regarded today,
> compared to then.