Finding Words
Finding Words
Words: Richard Souza
Photography: Richard Souza
Mental seeds get planted every day. Some sprout into something wonderful, while others just die. And some take a long time to germinate. This is one such tale. It’s a story about a seed that didn’t want to grow or evolve. It all began some years ago at that usual place (Golden Age Air Museum), I encountered Tom Martin and Rick Bennett at one of the museum’s annual events.
After returning from a dawn patrol, Tom and Rick agreed to allow me to tag along in the pink Aeronca (piloted by Eric Lunger) and photograph the two 7/8 scale Nieuport 23 replicas along the scenic Blue Mountain Ridge. By the time I finished processing those photos, a seed was planted in my head. I had hoped for a nice peach seed, or something that would grow fast. Instead, it was the seed of a Japanese maple bush, like the one in my back yard. The growth of the plant has taken years. Every time a new leaf sprouts, it just withers away or is eaten by the pests of day to day.
After reading Major Charles J. Biddle’s book “The Fighting Airman”, I felt a layer of fertilizer had been placed on the soil. I set out to write a fictional story of two airmen over the treacherous skies during the great war. In his book, Biddle describes the painted French landscape that remained untouched by human destruction. I picked two names for my fictional heroes: Thierry Preud’homme and Michel Boutsen. The names are less random than you would imagine but they were the perfect names for this story. This was to be the story of a wartime brotherhood developed over the skies along the Belgian front. As much mental gardening as I did to nurture this seed, the external elements caused it to go into deep hibernation in hopes that the sun would one day soak the seed with its rays.
The sun was shining at last year’s Barnstormer’s Carnival. The struggling seed in the cranial flowerpot got an injection of fertile inspiration. I had the opportunity to catch up with Tom and his beautiful Nieuport at Springfield-Beckly airport in Springfield, Ohio. He was standing alongside Matt “Gerbil” Kiefer, who flew in his equally beautiful Nieuport C-1 replica. With this fictional story in mind, I knew this was the opportunity to write the next chapter of the story. I asked Tom and Matt if they would be up to an air to air shoot. The duo didn’t hesitate and jumped at the opportunity. With a photoship pilot (Carnival organizer Dewey Davenport), two subjects, I now needed to wrangle up a photoship. After a brief search, Dewey got an Aeronca 7-AC which was generously offed by Jake Porter. As we briefed the flight, I was feeling it. As we rolled down the grass strip, the energy began electrifying my brain. When we landed, I knew that a seed was buried and I was convinced that in a few weeks’ time, luscious peaches would be harvested.
The reality is, the fertile ground my mind once was, is no longer. It feels like scorched earth. I am not going to lie; it has been a struggle. My daily commute goes through the cycle of words coming together and excitement building. Reaching my destination and shutting off the engine is like waking up from your dream and seeing it dissipate like an ice cube in the Sahara Desert. Any trace of the story is lost under the infinite grains of sand that just stifle life. Picture the scene of a rubbish bin on the floor overflowing with wads of paper, looking up to see the frustrated writer crumpling another aborted attempt at a story. It plays out like a movie cliché.
A wise man once told me, when you get frustrated, you walk away. When you have a clear mind, you will see things through a different set of eyes. I knew I needed to go back to the beginning… Dawn Patrol.
In search of the vibe, I watched the 1938 remake of the Howard Hawk classic “Dawn Patrol”. The visuals of this film brought me back to that day over Ohio. I wasn’t finished. As I watched Errol Flynn master the screen, I remembered a film from my childhood. Possibly the first aviation film I ever watched. A film with some of the best aviation sequences recorded on celluloid, the 1966, aviation classic… “The Blue Max”.
After I watched these films, I went back to the photographs I took of Tom and Gerbil. I came to the realization that films of yesteryear inspired these photographs. It was a visual language that was translated to an aerial storyboard. This was how I would tell the story because I just can’t find words. I am under no illusion. I am not a writer. Any similarities between me and Richard Bach end at our first names. I’m just a photographer that through serendipity learned how to tell a story. In Portuguese we say “palavras para que” (words for what). My camera is a pen, and my eye is the hand. Together, I hope that maybe, just maybe, they tell the story of Thierry and Michel. Like in every film, you just have to suspend disbelief.
Barnstormer Carnival July 11 & 12, 2026 - Springfield Beckley Airport, Springfield Ohio.For more information go to -Barnstormingcarnival.comor visitgobiplanerides.com
