The following humble scribblings are drawn from a dusty collection of memoirs found in the personal effects of a relative, now long dead, who flew and served with the legendary Skeleton Crew Squadron on the Western Front in World War 1. Well informed readers will be aware that no such squadron existed. But I can attest to the fact that they did, and indeed still do, thanks to the magic of virtual reality. I myself had the great honour and privilege to fly with them. Such is the strength of the shared human bond when men strive together for a common goal that I shall always count them as brothers. By maintaining this bond, we not only honour our each other, we honour the memory of those courageous men who flew and fought in the real skies over the Western Front.
The Skeleton Crew Squadron was one of many; to those who wore the SC 'uniform' it will always be special. Members of other squadrons who pass this way will know that their squadron was special too, but I don't know their story. I only know that out of the madcap mayhem of those early Simguild skies, in the almost cartoon-like world of Flying Circus, a squadron was born with a unique destiny. Nearly always outnumbered, choosing not to swell its' ranks with new recruits but rather battle on with a small tightly knit group of firm friends, that destiny was never going to be an easy one. Our motto and purpose was 'Fly with Honour' and our strength was our bond.
To tell such a story, in such a way as to entertain and perhaps breath a little more life into it, I have taken some liberties with reality. The names of each character have been disguised to avoid direct association by most readers with specific individuals. Chronologically the story rings mostly true although some time compression was necessary. Real world concerns have been blended - I hope artfully - with virtual reality. And due to the size of the task, I can only hope to post each small part of the story as it is put to paper. While I will do my best, I apologise in advance for any delays in posting each part, assuming that anyone would be following with much interest :)
Last Updated Thursday, April 01 2010 @ 06:53 AM MDT|133 Hits 