“They Had What It Takes – Part 29: Ernst Udet” by Alden McWilliams
This week we bring you Part 29 of Alden McWilliams’ illustrated tribute to the pioneer fliers of the early days of aviation. He called it “They Had What it Takes†and this installment appeared in the June 1939 Flying Aces. It features that Ace of The Black Cross, Ernst Udet. Udet was the highest scoring Ace to survive the Great War. With 62 victories he was second only to his commander in the Flying Circus, Manfred von Richthofen.
The Vanished Legion is here!
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“Nine Yank aces had gone forth to hunt that hidden base. And nine had returned—dying—their faces slashed and clawed—their lips muttering a single name, “Silver Face.†Who was this strange enemy? Why did he brand his victims in such a manner? The Allies wondered in terror as Dick Traine took up that grim hell trail—the trail of vanished men.” |
Yes, Donald E. Keyhoe’s seven stories of The Vanished Legion from the pages of Dare-Devil Aces have been collected into one volume and is now available to order from Amazon. Surely you remember from History class reading about when the Germans found a way to turn Allied pilots into Dwarfs, in doing so, driving them mad and sending them back to attack their former squadrons or the grizzly green death—a gas that would render its victims dead in seconds, an unsettling learing grin upon their twisted faces or maybe you recall Germany’s plan to render the Allies defenceless with a ray that would block out all sight and sound. This is the history they don’t teach you about in school! So join Dick Train, Monte Prince, Bill Hammond and the rest of the Squadron of Forgotten Men as Colonel Meredith sends them out against some of the most bizarre schemes the Boche ever threw against the Allies in WWI!
“They Had What It Takes – Part 28: Roscoe Turner” by Alden McWilliams
In the late thirties Flying Aces ran 
Alden McWilliams’ monthly illustrated tribute to the pioneer fliers of the early days of aviation which was called “They Had What it Takesâ€. In the May 1939 issue they featured the “dashing racing Ace” Roscoe Turner! Roscoe learned to fly during WWI and started barnstorming in the 20’s which led into air racing. A triple winner of the Thompson Trophy, Turner was sponsored by the Gilmore Oil Company who provided him with a lion cub named “Gilmore” (complete with his own cub-sized parachute) for publicity reasons. Turner frequently took Gilmore on tour with him.
Coming Soon . . .
Our latest book, Donald E. Keyhoe’s The Vanished Legion, will be coming out soon! The book collects all seven of Keyhoe’s tales of The Squadron of Forgotten Men from the pages of Dare-Devil Aces magazine.
“They Had What It Takes – Part 27: C. P. T. Ulm” by Alden McWilliams
Starting with the February 1937 issue of Flying Aces, 
Alden McWilliams began his illustrated tribute to the pioneer aviators of that era. He called it “They Had What it Takesâ€. It appeared in each issue of Flying Aces until June 1940. Part 27 apeared in the April 1939 issue and featured Another great Austrailian Air Pioneer—Charles Thomas Philippe Ulm!
Ulm is probably best known for his association with Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith who was covered by McWilliams two years earlier. He was Kingsford-Smith’s copilot on many of his famous flights including the 1928 first crossing of the Pacific in the Southern Cross. And together they founded Austrailian National Airways.
“They Had What It Takes – Part 26: Geoffrey De Havilland” by Alden McWilliams
“They Had What It Takes” was Flying Aces‘ illustrated tributes to the pioneer fliers of the early days of aviation by Alden McWilliams that ran from 1937 through 1940. Part twenty-six is all about that British aviation pioneer and ace aircraft designer, Geoffrey De Havilland.
De Havilland built his first plane with money borrowed from a Grandparent and worked his way into being the cheif designer at Airco where he designed planes, all designated by his initials DH, flown by the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force during WWI. In 1920 he formed his own aircraft company and started producing the Moth series of aircraft. Their Mosquito plane played an important part in WWII and their Comet planes were some of the first jet airliners used by major airlines.
