To honour this occasion the museum flew multiple full scale WWI aircraft, of which we have highlights, along with the models.This years featured modellers include:
- Dick Pettit's 118” wingspan Albatros D.Va powered by a DLE-85 engine that flies very like the original WWI German fighter. The D.Va was heavier than the original D.V in an (only partially successful) attempt to rectify structural weaknesses.
- Chad Asmus' 1/4 scale 84” wingspan Sopwith Camel powered by a Zenoah G26 petrol engine. The camel was perhaps the most famous allied fighter of WWI, being strong, fast and highly manoeuvrable. It was difficult to fly but a deadly opponent in skilled hands.
- Rod Gier's extremely colourful scratch-built Fokker D.VIII powered by a Moki 150 engine. The D.VIII only appeared at the very end of WWI, and suffered from failures attributed to poor design and shoddy manufacture.
- Ed Gross' 1/3rd scale Fokker D.VII fitted with a speed reducer to swing a big 34 X 20 propeller. The D.VII was a formidable fighter, and saw widespread service with other nations after the Armistice.
- Bill Holland's 1/3rd scale Nieuport 17 C1, complete with electronic ‘machine gun’ sound effects. The Nieuport is correctly called a sesquiplane (literally 'one-and-a-half-wings) rather than a biplane. The small lower wing was poorly designed and could suffer catastrophic failure in combat.
- Götz Vogelsang can’t disguise his admiration for the wonderful 40% Fokker E.I Eindecker kit produced by his friend Paulo Severin. It’s so faithful to the design that it's more correctly a miniature version of the aircraft that coined the phrase 'Fokker scourge" among allied pilots.
- Kieth Zimmerly's 50% model of the Standard J-1, a US WWI training aircraft that was dangerous and unpopular with its crews because of severe vibration from its unreliable engine. It looks similar to (and is often confused with) the much more successful Curtiss JN 'Jenny'.
From DR.I’s to D.VIII’s and Sopwith Pups, the Dawn Patrol has it all!
