Superstitious Aces?

[Guest Gary Davidson]

Quoting Frederick T. Sargent of No. 213 Sq.: "Some of the pilots were quite superstitious. Sims carried a rabbit's foot as a talisman and wouldn't think of taking off without it in the cockpit. MacKenzie had a feeling about matches and would leap out of his chair and come across a room to blow out a match if someone was trying to light a third cigarette on it." [Thanks to Amy for that]

Anyone else have anything on the superstitions of Aces of WW1?

Gary

[Will O'Brien]

I believe Manfred von Richthofen was superstitious about having his photo taken just before he was due to fly & forbade it................Can't remember where I heard this though so I don't know how accurate this was

[Guest Pete Wood]

Lt William Bertram Wood, 29 Sqn and 13 victories, carried a small metal Lincoln Imp. When he was posted to a Home Defence Squadron, he left the Imp with the new pilot who took over his old aeroplane.

Two months later he crashed and was killed after losing consciousness, in a mock dogfight over Hainault Farm, serving with 44 Sqn.

[Adrian Roberts]

I believe Manfred von Richthofen was superstitious about having his photo taken just before he was due to fly & forbade it................Can't remember where I heard this though so I don't know how accurate this was

This picture purports to be of MVR just before his last flight. If this is the only picture of the great man before any flight then it could indicate statistically that he was right to be superstitious. At the risk of being boring, I'm not superstitious myself and maybe the existence of the picture fuelled the legend, rather than the pic proving anything.

Wonder what happened to the bloke who took the pic? If he knew about the rule I bet he was really really sorry. Or maybe he sold it to a down-market tabloid and retired on the proceeds, at least until the Weimar fiancial meltdown...

Adrian

[animal]

The Russian ace Aleksander Kazakov carried a religious icon with him in his plane.