Category: WW1 Era (1914-18)

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WW1 Aircraft to Commemorate Centennial at AirVenture 2018

This year’s EAA AirVenture fly-in will reportedly commemorate the final year of WW1 with period aircraft, flying displays and activities.

Related activities will reportedly take place throughout the week, with a special emphasis on Friday, July 27. Among the aircraft slated to appear at the event is a rare 1915 Bleriot reproduction in Royal Flying Corps colors, aircraft from the Kermit Weeks/Fantasy of Flight collection and a original Dayton-Wright DH.4 currently under restoration by the nonprofit “Friends of Jenny” along with Tennessee high school students.

The WWI programming will be primarily based in the vintage aircraft parking area on the AirVenture flightline. Along with the aircraft on display from the 1915-1918 era, there will be WWI re-enactors and static engine runs. In addition, WWI-era aircraft, aircraft owners, and historians will participate in forums and Vintage in Review session throughout the week. A number of the aircraft will also be displayed at various times on AirVenture’s showcase Boeing Plaza.

AirVenture 2018 is scheduled to take place from July 23-29 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Additional details will reportedly be announced as they are finalized.

(via EAA Top Photo: Kermit Weeks Hangar)

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Owls Head’s New Sopwith Pup Performs Engine Test [Video]

The Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head, Maine has performed the first engine test on their newly acquired Sopwith Pup reproduction.

The aircraft was assembled by Brian Coughlin and features a steel tube fuselage constructed by Dana Narkunas and restored wing panels originally built by noted WW1 aircraft builder Carl Swanson. Powered by an original Le Rhone rotary engine, the machine made its debut at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome last year.

The recent acquisition was made in a frame-for-frame trade for the museum’s previous Sopwith Pup, a reproduction built by Dick King in the 1960s which was a regular performer at Old Rhinebeck throughout the 1970s. Coughlin is now in the process of restoring this machine (see The Flying Machine #6 for additional details).

Owls Head retained the Le Rhone engine from the King Pup and installed it in this new example. It is expected to return to the air this year.

Click below to check out a video of the test.

Continue reading Owls Head’s New Sopwith Pup Performs Engine Test [Video]

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Kermit Weeks Provides Update on Fantasy of Flight Curtiss Jenny Restoration

Fantasy of Flight owner Kermit Weeks has provided an update on the restoration of his original Curtiss JN-4D Jenny.

The aircraft (S/N A5360 / C/N 2404) was damaged when Hurricane Andrew struck the Florida-based collection back in 1992. Since then, all damaged wood and metal components have been replaced, including all of the wing spars and fuselage longerons. Fabric work is also said to be just about complete, including the application of the same USAAS markings the machine wore while it was based at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh back in the 1980s.

Click below to check out the update.

Continue reading Kermit Weeks Provides Update on Fantasy of Flight Curtiss Jenny Restoration

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Kermit Weeks Provides Update on New Fokker D.VII [Video]

After being on the back burner for some time, Fantasy of Flight owner Kermit Weeks has provided an update on the current status of his recently completed Fokker D.VII.

The reproduction arrived at the museum in 2015 and had since undergone engine and taxi tests. However, there were a few concerns that needed to be sorted out, one of which was said to be an elevator cable that “looked a bit suspicious.” As a result, the strength of the cable was tested, a process that was captured in the video below.

The aircraft is fitted with an original, rebuilt Morell airspeed indicator, as well as an original Mercedes engine which was recently overhauled by The Vintage Aviator, Ltd. (TVAL) in New Zealand. The colors represent the machine flown by Ernst Udet of Jasta 4.

Continue reading Kermit Weeks Provides Update on New Fokker D.VII [Video]

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“Twilight Zone” Garland Lincoln Nieuport 28 Offered For Sale

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

A Garland Lincoln Nieuport 28 that appeared in several Hollywood productions has hit the market.

The machine (N12237) was originally built in Van Nuys in the 1930s for film use and went on to appear in Hell in the Heavens (1934), Dawn Patrol (1938), and Men with Wings (1938). It is also the same machine that starred in a well-known episode of The Twilight Zone entitled “The Last Flight”.

the aircraft crashed during the filming of The Great Waldo Pepper in 1975, sending pilot Frank Tallman to the hospital. It was eventually acquired and restored by Kip Mone and is now owned by his son, Brent.

Check out the complete listing below.

Continue reading “Twilight Zone” Garland Lincoln Nieuport 28 Offered For Sale

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Udvar-Hazy to Host British Warbird Fly-In Commemorating RAF Centennial

In order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force, the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia will be hosting a fly-in featuring a number of British warbirds.

“The Great British Fly-In” will reportedly feature more than ten former RAF aircraft that are either currently on display at the museum or will be flown in for one-day-only event. In addition to Spitfires, a B-25 Mitchell and a P-51 Mustang, the fly-in will feature talks by RAF officers and museum experts, presentations about the museum’s newly acquired Sopwith Camel (featured in The Flying Machine #6), interactive STEM demonstrations and performances from the RAF Band and drill displays from the Queens Colour Squadron.

The event is currently scheduled to take place at the museum on April 15th from 10am-4pm. Admission is free, although parking will cost $15. Click here for additional information.

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“The Flying Machine: Early Aero Quarterly” Winter 2018 Edition Now Available!

Aerodynamic Media, LLC is proud to announce the release of the sixth issue of The Flying Machine: Early Aero Quarterly.

Issue #6 Contents:

36 Pages – Wright Tour Guide: Examining Sites and Artifacts Connected to the Wright Brothers and the Birth of Powered Flight (Part 1); Fighter World Sopwith Camel Project; Avro Rigging Notes (Part 2); News Briefs: Owls Head Transportation Museum Projects, Restoration of King/Coughlin Sopwith Pup, New Displays at Udvar-Hazy; Products

The Flying Machine focuses exclusively on “aeroplanes” manufactured prior to 1920, as well as the current work of historians, builders, restorers, museums and collectors to preserve and promote interest in the early years of flight. Published in print and digital formats, The Flying Machine is offered on a pay-per-issue basis – no subscription required!

Join us as we pay tribute to early aircraft and the visionaries, geniuses and daredevils who conquered the air while producing some of the most fascinating, ingenious and beautiful machines in aviation’s short history.

Click here to purchase!

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TVAL Debuts New Albatros, Sopwith Pup at Hood Aerodrome

Yesterday, The Vintage Aviator, Ltd. (TVAL) debuted new Albatros D.Va and Sopwith Pup reproductions at Hood Aerodrome in Masterton, New Zealand.

The Albatros (seen above) is painted in the colors of a Jasta 11 machine flown by Ltn. Carl-August von Schoenebeck and bears the unit’s signature red on the nose, struts and undercarriage, while the pilot’s personal color, lilac, is applied to the tail surfaces. The new Le Rhone-powered Sopwith Pup wears the colors of N6185 “ANZAC” of 4(N) Squadron, RNAS, flown by FSLt C.J.Moir.

It is not yet known when the machines will make their public debut, as TVAL is not hosting any public flying weekends for the 2017/18 season.

Click below to check out a photo of the new Pup.

Continue reading TVAL Debuts New Albatros, Sopwith Pup at Hood Aerodrome

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WW1 Ace’s Letters Sharing Combat Experience to Hit Auction Block

An archive of letters from WW1 American ace Lt. Edgar Taylor sharing his wartime experiences is set to hit the auction block.

Taylor was born to English parents in Rhode Island in 1897 and enlisted in the RFC in 1917, where he was assigned to 79 Squadron flying Sopwith Dolphin D3727. During the month of August 1918, he claimed four balloons and a Fokker D.VII before being killed in action on August 24.

The earliest letter in the collection is dated April 14, 1918, before he was transferred to France, while the second was written on May 23, detailing “a little adventure” which saw his guns jam while attacking an enemy aircraft, leaving Taylor “very much disappointed.” The collection records Taylor’s experiences and routines at the aerodrome, as well as harrowing details of his combat flights, one of which was revealed in a letter dated June 14, 1918: Continue reading WW1 Ace’s Letters Sharing Combat Experience to Hit Auction Block