Description
Helen Air was a SPAD XIII flown By 1st Lt George P. Kull, 13th Aero Squadron. He was killed in action on September 14th 1918. The First World War ended less than a month later on November 11th.
The past couple months, I've come to know George Kull through his great nephew John Phillips who wrote a wonderful article for the 13th Bomb Squadron Association's INVADER Magazine. I had read of George Kull in the official history of the 13th Aero Squadron where it was mentioned that he flew SPAD #11. He was also mentioned several times in Leighton Brewer's epic poem "Riders of the Sky" where it was said he was a friend of countesses and flew a "Natty SPAD named Helen Air", but it was John Phillips' article that really brought George Kull's brief existence to life. He was a young man who sought adventure, but he realized, too late what he had gotten himself into. He wrote on a photo home dated April 13th 1918 in what can only be described as fatalist humor "In the land of the Vrille* and home of the grave". *Vrille is a flying maneuver.
Below is an exert from "Riders of the Sky" describing the scene after a bombing raid by German Gotha Bombers and a conversation between Bob Wainwright and George Kull:
Destruction's aftermath. The blackened stumps
Of barrack-timers and charred corpses stared
From slowly smoking ruins; legs upthrust,
The bloated half-burnt bodies of stiff horses
Stank in the heat of noonday; rifle barrels
Twisted and bent with calcined butts; a truck
Thrown over on its back, the skeleton frame
Like the bones of some leviathan from an age Cretaceous.
‘I say, let's get out of here,’
Said Bob to George Kull as he sniffed the air;
‘I hate the smell of dead men.’
‘What's the hurry?
I want to see it all. You never know
When it will be your turn to lie like this,
Gaze lidless at the sun. And what is more,
I've made the rounds of all the hospitals
About this sector.’
‘Why? To see the nurses?’
‘There's going to be a “Show” here some day, Bob,
And some of us go west.’
‘Oh, hell, forget it.
The less a man thinks in this game the better.
I never plan beyond my next patrol –
That's six tonight; and for this afternoon
We're playing baseball with the 49th.’
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This illustration is dedicated to George P. Kull and all those who gave their lives in service to our nation.
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Adobe Illustrator CS, Apple G5 Power Mac OSX Tiger
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Application
Illustrator
Labels
Fine Art, Realistic
Times Viewed
1280
Approved By
 toddm
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