Hey, well, this is great! Better response than I expected. I was away all day playing music, and went to the Corner Coffeehouse for the evening...just got back.

Lots of good nominations here. The Curtiss Nancy is the only one that's new to me...nice plane. The others are all old friends. I also really like the Nieuport, Matt...a very pretty little plane. The big bombers like the Gotha and the Handley Page were remarkable looking machines...huge things.

GUEST, Jon - Hey, I knew I'd hear from someone who would have a comment like yours (chuckle...). Yes, those planes were used to kill people. So were the galleons of England and Spain...and they were beautiful things. I like them too. I like Crazy Horse...he and the other Lakota warriors were very adept at killing people. I find the accounts of Caesar's campaigns in Gaul fascinating, not to mention the accounts of the Napoleonic wars, etc....which also involved killing a whole lot of people. I think it is partly because I know a great deal about war that I am so much against it. Can you relate to that? I hope so.

People, in their efforts to deal effectively with reality and each other have created many extraordinary things and have tested the limits of human courage, love, patriotism, self-sacrifice, mercy, accomodation, and mutual understanding. That it makes for fascinating history and great stories is undeniable. That it should serve to teach us to work for peace and not war is, to me, absolutely obvious.

Now back to those magnificent men in their wood and fabric planes...

And Gareth, thanks for the great link!

- LH