"fictional British aces" Topic

This is another of those "Why research when you can just ask TMP?" sort of threads…(the internet: the lazy-man's dreamworld…)

I plan to put on a game based on the scene(s) of the German 1918 offensive in the movie "Blue Max". Dunno if I'll use "Algy"-rules or some twisted blend, but TFL's "big men" are sure to play a key role. Squadron Leader Heidemann, Willi, and Stachel can stand for the Germans -- but I don't want the British players to feel second-best just because the source-movie is about Bruno's exploits, and so need some "big men" for the British side.

I confess to little (to no) knowledge of the kind I seek…Biggles is an obvious choice, I suppose…any other recommendations/ideas that would make you happy to be on the British side?

Movies…TV…books --all sources are fair game, IMO.

You have mentioned one yourself. Algy (Algernon Montgomery Lacey) is Biggles' cousin and best chum during the Great War. He'll do for starters.

There's a bunch more of Biggles' comrades that would fit (though not Ginger and Bertie, if memory serves they are post-WWI characters). Need to go and check me books.

"Why research when you can just ask TMP?"

An admirable attitude, and one I wish some people could grasp.

If you want to keep it cinematic, there's always the mob from Aces High. It's Journey's End transferred from the trenches to the skies.

At last you can settle who would win out of Malcolm McDowell and George Peppard.

The characters' names can be found here:
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Of course the "Algy" in the TFL rules is Algernon Carpet-Byrnes….

How about Teddy "Chips" Fryer…..

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"…keep it cinematic…"

I suppose that would make sense…maybe Courtney and Scott from "Dawn Patrol" as flight leaders and Gresham (McDowell) as the squadron commander…?

thanks for the suggestions…hope to hear more.

ps-hmm…a compliment from OFM…dunno whether to blush or check to see if my you-know-what* count has suddenly increased…

*there's some sort of moratorium on the word, isn't there?

When looking for names in batches like this, I often pick football teams, cricket teams or other similars.

A British flight with Compton, Hobbs, Larwood, Voce, Grace et al would feel right…

There's always Lord Flasheart…

YouTube link

Assuming by "British" you are including the Empire, you can include Bart Bandy. Here's a guy who steals the Fokker DVII that shot him down (he snuck off with it when the pilot was grabbing a souvenir from Bandy's Dolphin)

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sybertooth.com/bandy

Alastair, thanks for the memory jog…WOOF!

PS- all you worldly fellows should keep in mind that this will take place in DesMoines, Iowa: cricket references probably won't go too far…

Pilots in my RAF squadrons have always had names like:

Stig O'Tracey
Bruce Snitterton Lewis
Harry "Snapper" Organs
Arthur "Two Camels" Johnson
Angus Podgorny
etc.

Gweirda, I meant using them as a batch of British sounding names in an easy to find format.

Characters from the books by P G Wodehouse are always a good start.

He wants existing pilots from fiction, rather than hints on how to make up his own. At least that was my understanding.

Plynkes has the idea: "Flashheart" from Blackadder, Biggles -the sort of names that both sound good as well as exist in the genre (though, come to think of it, a "Jeeves" would be a rather daunting opponent…).

The real Jeeves was actually killed in the Great War. Wodehouse took the name from a chap called Percy Jeeves who met his end in 1916. He was a cricketer. Played for Warwickshire and England I believe, both at cricket and in war (Royal Warwickshire Regiment).

Angus Podgorny is always the RSM for my VSF British Highlander regiment. The number of detached patrols he has led into disaster against the Martians or the Germans on Venus is beyond counting.

Podgorny?

As the pub landlord would say, "Beautiful British name."

Someday I will attack the Highlanders with a blancmange, and then RSM Podgorny will come through to truly save the day…

Don't forget two cinematic aces Waldo Pepper and Ernst Kessler.

Slackbladder and Baldrick in the 2-seater of course…

Wasn't Biggles' greatest rival Wilkinson of 287 Sqn? (flying SE5s of course, I've never liked 'em, give me a Camel any day)

Anyway read all about it here- biggles.info

Always remember-

Ze Germans haf no vord for 'fluffy', und

'Treat your kite like you treat your girl – take her to heaven and back five times a day' WOOF WOOF

Back in the day playing Ace of Aces (I was deadly) I had a Canadian pilot who became an ace, named Hugh G. Rekshun.

There's always the characters from "The Battle of Britain."

I went through a series of philosophers or political thinkers for my pilots. Imagine David Hume squaring off against Karl Marx?

Karl Kaufmann-the Phantom Eagle(flew for the Allies in the comics).

Waldo Pepper wasn't an ace: the War ended too soon.

In books: there are Brit aces to emulate into gaming in both Goshawk Squadron and A Killing for the Hawks….

good idea Doug: Woolley & Co. would make a nice opposition…

What about the young "Indiana Jones"

Thanks to all for the suggestions --now it looks as though the British sound better than the Germans! so…

Ditch the "Blue Max" theme, and dive headlong into the cinematic/literary:

I'm thinking Biggles and Lord Flashheart in the Camel Squadron, and Woolley and Scott/Courtney leading the SE5a chaps.

Now, how about the Germans? I'm planning on two flights of DrIs and two of AlbDVs. I'm thinking to include MvR (he's SO cliche, I know, but…) and of course, Stachel (probably the other DrI flight) --but not sure about the Albatros* flights: something generic like "The Black Knight" comes to mind, but doesn't quite carry enough weight to persuade me. Any ideas?

*I'd throw in a flight of Fokker DVIIs, but handpainting the lozenges is a bitch (We're talkin' 1/300 stuff, here) …maybe (since I use a white primer) I can throw in Goering in his all-white bird?

ps – I like to give bribes…er…prizes to gamers who devote their time in a con-slot to my insanity: I'm thinking a copy of the "Blue Max" for the best German player, and one of "Dawn Patrol" for the British side --Any suggestions/comments as to a better prize?

pps- I've got an extra copy of "Goshawk Squadron" on hand…could probably come up with a copy of "The Blue Max" if the consensus felt that it made a better reward for putting up with my game…

Sorry to bump this up, but the Con is in a week, and thinking is so passe….

First off: thanks to all who've posted their suggestions.

The current plan (what time is it..?) is to let the players choose the names of their own pilots (3 each -one being the "star/ace") but I feel it proper as GM to supply a list that the non-inventive (or hungover --it will be a 9am game) can choose from.

So: anyone in the TMP community who cares to scribble a cute/clever/trite/common/ pilot name from books/TV/movies/imagination for either the German or British side of the fight to be included in the list will receive all the glory and honor due for volunteering information on the internet that any/every-one can take and use for whatever means (profitable or otherwise) that they see fit without any regard to the intentions or sensibilities of the person(s) who supplied the original information…and the thanks of a lazy fat man.

isn't life great?

I had fun with Capt. Adrian Fetlock-Withers, Viscount Geldingstone.

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Fun AAR! Thanks for sharing.