AIRCRAFT OF WORLD WAR 1

A MEMBER OF ARCHER'S AERODROME

This page is dedicated to the soldiers and pilots of both world wars, who fought and many times died for their country.  Here, we have posted but a few of the aircraft from the First World War, when aircraft with weapons were first used.  During this period, many adjustments to the basic ideas of aircraft construction were created and tested on the battelfield.  One aircraft designer, Anthony Fokker, will be highlighted here, for his contributions to aviation. A dutch engineer, Fokker presented his aircraft, the SPIN, to the English.  It was a monoplane with considerable dihedral but no lateral control.  They called it badly built, and sent the prototypes away.  He then offered his services to Germany, who used his aircraft extensively. A British designer, de Havilland, also made aircraft, but these accepted by the British.  Before opening up for himself, he worked for Airco, and created the DH2, DH4, DH9a, DH9c, and the DH10 Amiens.  This threw the Germans out of the way, untill Fokker unveiled his latest. The D7 was a single-seat biplane, with an interesting profile.  It scourged the air, but was little known.  Back in England, a small firm called Sopwith had opened up.  Among their earlier planes came the Sopwith triplane.  They submitted this to the Royal Air force.  Pretty soon, it was pecking down D7's like silent night-stalkers.  Always ready to pounce.  German Admiralty could not have this.  They saw what a triplane would do to their forces.  Siemens-Schuckert and Fokker submitted designs.  Anthony Fokker won with the designated DR1 (Dreidekkor 1) and they were soon sent out for battle.  These were used to the brittle end, when the Germans were defeated.  Another aircraft had sprung up previous to the demise.  It was made by the RAF factory, and designated the SE5 (Scout Experimental 5).  This pushed the coin over the edge, and the air war was over.  The fighting on the ground continued for another month.

MOST AIRCRAFT OF THIS PERIOD: AEG C IV AIRCO DH2 AIRCO DH4 AIRCO DH10 ALBATROS B3 ALBATROS C3 ALBATROS DV ALBATROS DVA ALBATROS J1 AVIATIK B2 AVIATIK C1A BEARDMORE WB3 BLERIOT SPAD S51 BRISTOL F2B BRISTOL 105 BULLDOG CAPRONI CA1 / CA3 CURTISS JN4 DORAND AR1 FARMAN F40 FIAT CR1 FIAT CR20 FIAT CR20BIS FOKKER C1 FOKKER C5 FOKKER C10 FOKKER D7 FOKKER DR1 FOKKER E3 GOTHA G5 HALBERSTADT D. IV HANDLEY PAGE 0/10(+) HANSA-BRANDENBURG C1 HANSA-BRANDENBURG W12 HANSA-BRANDENBURG W33 NIEUPORT 11 NIEUPORT 17 NIEUPORT 27 NIEUPORT 28 NIEUPORT-DELAGE NID 29 PFALZ D3 POTEZ 25 A.2 RAF BE2c RAF FE2b RAF RE8 RAF SE5A SPAD S.VII SPAD S.XIII SHORT 184 SIEMENS-SCHUCKERT D3 SOPWITH F1 SOPWITH 2F1 SOPWITH PUP SOPWITH SNIPE SOPWITH 1 1/2 STRUTTER SOPWITH TABLOID SOPWITH TRIPLANE ZEPPELIN-STAAKEN R-SERIES

DID I MISS ANY WW1 AIRCRAFT? If you see that I am missing any aircraft in my list to the right, please inform me by emailing the make and model, or as much as you know about it.  Send it here.

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome has a large collection of flying WW1 aircraft, such as the two above pictures, and the photo to the left.  Their website is at: www.oldrhinebeck.org.

This website proudly sponsors the Dawn of Aces Squadron: The FLYING ARROWS

COPRIGHT 2002, M DECHRISTOPHER