Dunsfold, UK. 23rd Aug, 2014. Dunsfold aerodrome in Surrey holds an annual motor and airshow over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Here a replica BE2 British two-seater biplane takes part in a "dogfight" with other members of the Great War Display Team Credit: Niall Ferguson/Alamy Live News
The Royal Aircraft Factory was designed with emphasis on stability, which made it particularly suitable for reconnaissance for the British Army on the Western Front. In mid-1915 the nature of air war changed with the arrival of the agile Fokker Eindecker with its forward-firing guns. Reconnaissance and bomber aircraft were shot from the skies, and the RAF suffered the worst losses. Reconnaissance aircraft soon needed large escorts, but if a was caught by a fighter, usually all it had to defend itself was pistols or rifles fired by the observer. With the observer in the front, no effective machine-gun arrangement was possible. Continued employment (and production) of in an increasingly dangerous environment led to claims in Parliament that young men were being sent out to be murdered. By 1917 most were found more suitable employment as trainers. Six years after retrieving the wreck from a barn in upstate New York, owners Steve Slater and Matthew Boddington have not only restored the aircraft to flight, they have returned Biggles Biplane to its Sywell birthplace. The aircraft was built at Sywell in 1969 as a film replica, designed to look and fly in an identical manner to the world's first purpose-designed military aeroplane. It was initially commissioned by Universal Studios for a big-budget movie, Biggles Sweeps the Skies, based on the books by Captain Johns. As there was no original, airworthy example in the world, Matthew's father, Sywell-based engineer Charles Boddington was given the task of creating the flying replica BE-2c.
Size: 5760px × 3840px
Location: Dunsfold Aerodrome, Surrey UK
Photo credit: © Niall Ferguson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1914-18, aerodrome, air, aircraft, airshow, be2, biggles, biplane, british, centenary, display, dunsfold, flying, great, raf, replica, rfc, show, team, war, wheels, wings
