Volume 33, Number 4
Published May 12, 2021

BLAZE OF GLORY
​Skinner Bros. Sweep RBF XXXII

Bob Meister said it best after Stephen Dale and Ethan "The Python" Skinner became Red Baron Fight co-champions with just 59 points each. "The Indy Squadron has reached a new low." 

Indeed, 59 points is the lowest winning score in the 32-year history of Indy's spring classic, easily undercutting Rick Lacy's 73-point victory in 2013. Ethan became only the third Albatros pilot in history to win RBF and the first since Graham Shepfer in 2003. Research may eventually show that Stephen Dale is the only flyer to have ever won the Silver Goblet after being shot down. And the Skinner brothers are just the second co-champions in the game's history and the first since the epic showdown between Scott Jones and Terry Phillips in 1995. 

All this, plus the Silver Military Medal and Military Cross were awarded in the aftermath of the fight. The intriguing and record-setting match-up started like this: 

Volume 33, Number 3

History is Yours, Own Part of a Le Rhone Engine

Summary: You can buy a leather men's wrist band that features a valve guide from an original Le Rhone engine built in World War I from Stephen for $60, with delivery expected in May. 

Well, this certainly wasn't anticipated. I managed to find some parts from an original 80 hp Le Rhone rotary engine built in July 1918, and I'm offering them to my Dawn Patrol friends first. If nobody wants them that's okay. I know lots of WWI collectors and engine enthusiasts who will scoop them up. 

Authentic World War I fighter airplanes - that is, real originals - are incredibly rare. And believe it or not, the original engines that powered them are even more rare. There are perhaps a few dozen complete, original Le Rhone Type C 80 hp rotary engines remaining on planet earth. As most Dawn Patrol players know, these engines powered the Nieuport 11, Sopwith Pup, Morane Saulnier N and most of the Standard E-1's and Thomas Morse Scouts that the American aces flew in training.  CLICK "READ MORE" below...