Dog fights in wooden flying machines
The First World War, otherwise know as The Great War, raged from
1914-1918, and saw the development of air power from small
beginnings to the vital tool of any battle. The aircraft at this
time were designed without the benefit of aerodynamic
knowledge, were primarily made of wood and fabric, and were driven
by unreliable and underpowered engines.
The average age of pilots was 20 years, and they usually went to
the Front with less than 20 hours total flying time. Nevertheless,
these pilots took their aircraft above 6,000 m without oxygen, and
fought the first mass aerial battles - the dogfight.
Junkers CL1 with SE5a in pursuit i© Peter Steehouwer 2011
Aircraft over East Fortune
There will be two teams of aircraft will be competing for the
control of the skies of East Fortune at the Airshow, two Junkers
CL1 representing the Germans and the allies SE5a.
SE5a
The Royal Aircraft's robust and long lived SE5a was one of a
handful of First World War aircraft to achieve a lengthy producton
run of 5,000 aircraft after First World War hostilities
ceased. The SE5a was armed with two forward firing machine
guns, a Vickers on the fueslage and a wing-mounted Lewis gun, the
SE5a was capable of outfighting most of the enemy's front line
aircraft.The SE5as flying with the Great War Display Team are 7/8th
replicas but handle and perform just like to real aircraft.
Junkers CL1
The German CL1 was years ahead of its time in construction, it
was an all metal fighter monoplane. To facilitate ease of
movement of the observer's ring mounted machine gun, the rear
cockpit was built up a level with the rounded top-decking.
Junkers CL1 © Mike Bajcar
The Junkers CL1 was strong agile and fast with a good
field vision and was probably the best of the German ground attack
aircraft of the First World War.
The aircraft represented with the Leaders Streamers on the wing
tips - CL1 1803/18 - was operated by the Imperial German Air
Service, and then the Republic of German Air Service, until
captured by the Red Air Force, when it was operated by them until
the early 1930s.
Please note all
information is correct at the time of publishing. Flights and
timings are subject to change, prevailing weather conditions and
operational requirements.