Good afternoon Mr. & Mrs. America and all ships at sea... Flash from the European Continent...'General of the Aeroservice Rowan "Merlin" CamelHill - Baylies reported MIA. Flying a Sopwith Camel for the first time the noted British hero took off for an AM patrol over the sailent two days a go and failed to return. This morning a German newspaper Der Tage Zeitungen ran a front page article with the following photo titled, '... British nerdowell brought down...'

Flash! The Picadilly Register headlines read; The Mad General is Missing! News confirmed from the frontlines, forward observers report that General Camelhill-Baylies fell in combat with a German two seater crew. Further proof was provided when another photo was dropped behind the lines yesterday from a Purple Fokker D.VII.

The Daily Lower Unction Sketch was the source of additonal confusion... It misreported the second story featured by Der Tage Zeitungen. It read, 'Four flyers (3 British and 1 French) captured then escaped and were later recaptured while sneaking around German repair hangar for souviners . . .' The Daily LU Sketch is notorious for such faux pauxs. The French pilot insisted on being photographed separately.

Sadly the Mad General Merlin is still missing.

Flash! Good morning Mr. & Mrs America and all ships at sea! German operatives in Greece inform us that the rumor of General Merlin being in that region on a 'secret mission' is merely a ruse to keep homeland morale from sagging danerously low. They have gone as far as to employ a 'Rowan double.'

Der Tage Zeitungen reports that the heroes who recaptured the allied flyers are to be given the Iron Cross 2nd class and allowed one week leave - The accompanying photo was captioned, '...The oily fingered brotherhood once again proves their worth!

That is too damned funny. I hope General Merlin shows up soon, safe and sound.

Hi Stephen

I don't know about any secret missions or being shot down - the last I heard, General Merlin was up to his kneck in packing cases carrying out the menial, but no less valiant, task of readying Aeroscale's HQ for its forthcoming move to "somewhere on the south coast" - but, of course, that could just be another cover story... Shhh! Mum's the word!

All the best

Rowan

Flash! German news reports from Spain say that bogus radio traffic has been coming from the Greek island of Crete. The Gen. Rowan Double has been seen publicly in Greek dance lines parading through the streets.

In the mean time The captured French pilot (now identified as Sous Lt. Rene Carray) asked his captors to have him photographed at the German repair depot in one of the derelict aircraft as a keepsake for after the war.

Der Tage Zeitungen reports that a POW is now missing. One of the four that were recaptured the other day has dissappeared. Shortly after this photo was take Flt. Sub Lt. William "Snuffy" Playfair distracted his captors by saying "...look its the Kaiser!" When they turned back around Lt. Playfair was gone.

The bewilderment of the German troops and reporters was compounded at the announcement by Flt. Sub Lt. Michaelin O'Flynn that he had a six foot tall, white rabbit named Harry that he wanted to introduce to the German public. When the German captors turned to look...you guessed it The good Lt. dissappeared.

Ha! A typical Hunnish mistake! The real General Rowan would never dance in a situation like that! It's utterly bad form in front of foreigners! British stiff upper lip dictates that one's legs stay glued firmly to the ground...

Hhhmmm Section 3 says this last message originated from #10 Downing St? In the meantime . . . After a careful search of the salvage yard several members of the dedicated Home Defense Jagermeister Battalion Nr.13 (Wilhelm von Wonka) discovered the errant British flyers arguing over souvenirs.

Several days after the occurance the German press were questioning one of the heroic flyers that helped bring down the British pilot General Camelhill-Baylies one member of the German imperial free press asked; 'Herr Leutnant Klugermann can you tell us about the ultimate fate of the the Britisher that you brought down?' The Leutnant simply replied...Turn around.

Cautiously the members of the press turned, suddenly flashes and pops came from tripod mounted cameras. The recognition was instant. Behold General Camelhill-Baylies was being escorted across the airfield by a Uffz. guard.

He appeared to stop in shock and horror... as he recognized the markings of the ship he was passing.

As a rememberance the victors and their comrades took a chance to be photographed by the Armee Kogenluft archivist.

In the mean time our hero (the German incarnation of Siegfried) sits in the cockpit of the shattered Albatros D.III (OAW) 1650/17 and ponders the incident that led to this day. Alb. D.III (OAW) 1650/17 as flown by a home defense flight in Armee A sector about Nov. 1917. Here ". . .the pride of the German Air Service", Ltn. Rumplemeier is helped from his plane after a daring landing.

Now that's a bad break !

Flash! tomorrows news today! 'Noted Brit hero is out of the bag!' German guards discovered that the Mad General has tunneled out from his cell under and what he previously refered to a 'Dunny.' His prisoner's clothes were found near a drainage conduit that empties into a sewage ditch, 300 yards from his jail cell.

This is the last image of the General taken in captivity.