Mark Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 "Brave Captain" from the Big Big Train album release, "Grimspound"A statue of a young manDefiantly standsGlove held in left handWith an Angel close by his shoulderAt the stroke of midnightWhen no one's in sightBeneath the floodlightsWhat does she whisper?What has he told her?Sunshine through the leavesBack in '73With my parents and weWere eating ice creamIn the shade of the old treesI asked "Who was he?"My Dad said to me"Although he was only twentyHe was a hero who'd died for his country"Well, you should have seen meWho would believe me now?Racing around the castle groundsWild imagination in full flightMy arms stretched wideI'll be a brave Captain of the SkiesYou were a flying aceFrom the history booksThrilling deeds and dashing looksFulfilling your destinySimply doing your dutyFor King and CountryYou were the poster boyWho shunned your own fameWho didn't take to the accoladesEven when propagandaScreamed your nameYou believed celebrity to be nonsenseYou were a loner, a solitary manPractical mindedAnd good with your handsYour letters sent homeRevealed, this weapon had a conscienceUntil at long last your plane emergesFrom out of the low cloudInvertedFlying upside-downToo close to the ground to recoverHeading earthboundNo engine soundBlack smoke trailingSilently falling downBrave Captain of the SkiesBrave Captain of the Skies These are the lyrics of the first track from the "Grimspound" album by the English prog rock band, Big Big Train. After hearing the album on its release, I'm now inspired to do the WnW 1/32 SE.5a as an aircraft flown by Capt. Ball. with such a famous 'Ace' you'd be forgiven to have expected loads of references and decals available, but my own search has revealed very little. Do any of my wise colleagues know of any suitable decals and accurate (as much is as possible with WWI subjects) information or profiles for his SE.5a? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted July 28, 2017 Share Posted July 28, 2017 As for decals, sadly, I don't think there are any for the SE.5a in 1/32 scale. If I recall correctly there is one of the 1/32 Nieuport 16 kits (produced by Amodel) which includes decals for a machine used by Albert Ball. I have had a quick glance around the internet and there is a fair amount of information on Albert Ball available although not a lot of profiles. Not much help I'm afraid. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear Paw Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Hi Mark, from what I have read Captain Albert Ball VC definitely seems to have been an atypical man of his time. He cam from an ordinary background and had prodigious talents. The track above has fine sentiments I will leave the judgement of the music to others. Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWFK10 Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 (edited) Ball was killed before the SE5a entered service; the aircraft he flew with 56 Sqn was A'4850, a modified SE5 from the first production batch. There's a profile here but it's not entirely accurate - here's the real thing. What isn't apparent from the photo is that Ball had removed the fuselage Vickers gun - which the profile shows mounted in its standard location - and replaced it with a second Lewis firing down through the cockpit floor. As built, apart from having the large and unpopular windscreen, the first batch of SE5s also had a gravity tank above the centre section. Ball had both removed, compensating for the loss of fuel capacity by having a petrol tank inserted in the fuselage forward of the cockpit. When he was told to get rid of the useless downward-firing Lewis and put the Vickers gun back, it could no longer be fitted in the standard position, so it was mounted externally on top of the fuselage. This can be seen in a rather fuzzy photo of Ball in the cockpit of A'4850, taken by a bystander when he landed at another squadron's aerodrome on 6 May 1917, the day before he was killed: the photo also shows that by that stage the aircraft had been fitted with long exhaust pipes, similar to those fitted to the SPAD VII. Also, there's some evidence that the very tip of the nose was painted red by the time of Ball's last flight. Edited August 29, 2017 by AWFK10 Bad memory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr T Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 Interesting lyrics and I presume they refer to the statue of Albert Ball in the grounds of Nottingham Castle. The museum there has a small exhibit dedicated to him with a few surviving items including his VC. My grandmother lived near him as a child and knew him and so I have always been interested in him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 Mark, The old Profile Publlication on the SE5 has a port side profile of A4850, stated to be Ball's aeroplane - there's an on line copy here; http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/Aircraft-Profiles/Britain/WW1/RAF-SE-5-103/RAF-SE5-103-_Page_11-960 I haven't looked through the rest of the pages, so don't know if there's a photo.... Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWFK10 Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 It is Ball's SE5, at London Colney as the caption says - you can see the muzzle of the Lewis gun set up to fire down through the bottom of the fuselage, in between the undercarriage struts. There are three photos on Page 7. I've found an online copy of the last photo of Ball in A'4850, showing the SPAD exhaust pipes and the externally-mounted Vickers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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