A family member was in the Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the RAF, in WW1 and I remember him telling me that at the start of the war they were used mainly for reconnaissance and defended themselves in the air against the enemy with pistols. Both sides regarded themselves as almost knights of the air and there was a definite code of what was acceptable behaviour.
However, with the invention of the interrupter gear the situation changed and this lead to proper aerial battles with machine guns and eventually both strafing and bombing of enemy targets - real war was the name of the game and the chivalry of the pilots disappeared almost overnight.
Just a bit of historical perspective! Do I have an issue with the stickers - No, will I have them on my 3W - again No, but I thought the green car at Geneva looked great with them on!
Brian
P.S. I should mention before GF/Boshly have chance to comment that it was not my brother in the RFC!
