<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16945" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 1/4/2010 21:49:11 US Mountain Standard Time,
bristolf2b@hotmail.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Verdana color=#000000 size=2>Hi
all<BR> <BR>'mings question about tropicalised Albatrosses reminded me of
something.<BR> <BR>A coupl eof nights ago a workmate of mine SMS'ed me in
the middle of the blasted night to ask if there were really aircraft involved
in the fight at Beersheba. He'd been watching a movie, presumably "The
Lighthorsemen"<BR> <BR>Even half asleep I could give him the answer to
that (and a few unasked for comments on his parentage for waking
me)<BR> <BR>We know that an aircraft bombed the Australian Light Horse
after the charge, that a single bomb was dropped in the middle of a light
horse ambulance unit adorned with the usuall red on white crosses, and killed
three of the ambulance bearers. They and Brigadier Maygar VC are supposedly
the four aircraft casualties of the 32 Australian deaths in the Beersheba
assault.<BR> <BR>The *eyewitness* accounts of the day call the
plane a "Taube", but then that was the same name given by most diggers in
that theatre for every enemy aircraft<BR> <BR>Considering that this was
31 October 1917 it seems unlikely to me - it's just a couple of months before
1AFC were flying Bristol Fighters in the same area<BR> <BR>Do we know
what aircraft were actually available to the Germans/Turks in that
theatre in that period? Since I'm not able to check my books at the
moment I might be able to guess by looking through the appropriate official
history the types that OUR aircraft were encountering but I'm not all
that confident that the pilots get the types right every
time!<BR> <BR>Shane<BR><BR>.---- - --- ....- ---.. .-. ..- .-.. . ...
.-.-.- <BR><BR>My Strine is a Toad in Disguise <BR><BR>Quidvis recte factum,
<BR>quamvis humile, praeclarum <BR>.---- - --- ....- ---.. .-. ..- .-.. . ...
.-.-.- <BR><BR><BR> <BR><BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Hello Bacvk:</DIV>
<DIV>Sopme years ago, I was lucky enough to walk through the WWI cemetary at
Beersheva. I remember seeing a number of airmen's graves and can only
surmise that there must have been aircraft there. Does that help at
all? Best regards,</DIV>
<DIV>Dave Moore</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>