Last weekend the The Great War Display Team visited Sywell and put their aircraft through their paces. This is the second time I have had the privilege of watching their display routines here at Sywell since Flying Tigers re-located to Sywell Aerodrome. The crowd were treated to a wonderful dog fight display before a massed flypast to finish the show. Afterwards the aircraft were re-fuelled and tied down for the night on a wonderful warm summer’s evening. I took numerous photographs on the day and have picked out a few here to show you the aircraft that displayed that day.
The Fokker Triplane Dr1 was designed by Reinhold Platz and was a direct attempt to copy the successful Sopwith Triplane. Armed with two forward firing Spandau machine guns, it was very manoeuvrable, and was a favourite mount of a number of German aces such as Werner Voss and the Manfred von Richthofen. Fokker Dr1, 403/17 is a replica built by John Day and first flew in 2006. It represents the Dr1 flown by Leutnant Johann Janzen who had 13 victorieswhen flying with Jasta 6 of JG1. It carries the unit markings of a black/white striped tail and black cowling. It has Janzen’s personal marking of a ‘white snake’ line on a black band, edged with white on the rear fuselage. Janzen became ‘Staffelfuhrer’ of Jasta 6 and survived a crash-landing, when the control cables of his Triplane were shot away in combat.
The RAF SE5, originally with a 150HP direct-drive Hispano-Suiza engine, first flew in November 1916 but only 77 of these were built before the engine was replaced by a geared 200HP version. The RAF SE5 went into squadron service in March 1917 with another engine change to the 200HP Wolseley Viper. They continued in service right up to the end of the war, with a total of 5,265 being built.
The Junkers CL1 was a ground-attack aircraft, based on the Junkers J8 but with an extended fuselage to carry a gunner. It first flew in late 1917 it and was accepted by Idflieg, which oversaw all German military aviation. Only 47 were built by the time of the Armistice. This is a modified Bowers Fly-Babys, re-modelled to look like a typical CL1.
The original BE prototype made its first flight at Farnborough on 1st January 1912. It was certified by the Army Aircraft Factory on 14th March, becoming the first aeroplane in the World to be issued with an airworthiness certificate. The first aeroplane, BE-1, was originally powered by a water cooled Wolseley engine. The BE2c was built in 1912 at the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough and was Britain’s first-ever military aeroplane. Designed with artillery observation in mind, it was the most stable aeroplane ever built. At the outbreak of war, the BE-2, was a mainstay of the Royal Flying Corps. This aircraft is a replica BE-2c commissioned in 1969 by the makers of the film ‘Biggles Sweeps the Skies”. Designed by film model specialist David Boddington, it was built and flown in just sixteen weeks by vintage aircraft specialist Charles Boddington here at Sywell !
The Sopwith Triplane is a replica of N500, the first Triplane prototype. This first flew in early June 1916 and went straight to France to be test-flown in service with A Flight, No1 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service, where it is reputed to have been sent up in pursuit of an enemy aircraft within 15 minutes of arriving.By early 1917 two RNAS squadrons, Nos 8 and 10, had been equipped with Sopwith Triplanes. They were very popular with the pilots, being able to out-climb and out-turn any contemporary enemy scout aircraft.Only 150 Triplanes were built and they were only used by the RNAS, with the exception of a few which were given to the French and one to the Russians. By late summer 1917 they started to be replaced by Sopwith Camels.
This SE5a represents Blue 19 of the American 25th Aero Squadron. This was the only USAS squadron which used a S.E.5a during the war. Based at Toul, only 2 patrols were flown by this squadron before the armistice.
MODEL NEWS
Keeping with the theme above I have added a new range with which some of you will already be familiar.
The Wings of the Great War range are manufactured in high quality resin and beautifully painted in fine detail. All models are in 1/72nd scale and will make excellent additions to those collectors that concentrate on this scale. Each model is in a display box and comes complete with display stand.
You can view the new models by clicking on the link here. Here are some examples in the new range. Please click on the images below and it will take you straight to the model.
WEEKEND SPECIAL OFFERS
I have added a few models into “Deal of the Week” Section. I have shown some of them below. Please click on the images below if you fancy a look at the new low prices ! Again first come first served !
Thank you for reading this weeks Newsletter. Sorry it was a bit late this week !
Richard.
Flying Tigers.
