A replica Fokker Triplane of The Great War Display Team flying at a Duxford air show
The Team started out in 1988 and was originally called The Wombats. It was an ad hoc collection of aircraft including 5 SE5as, 2 Fokker Dr1s and a Fokker D7, many of them flown by their builders. The Team currently has 5 different types of aircraft available to fly, with 9 aircraft in total. For a large show with a long crowd line the full Team, with all 9 aircraft dog-fighting together, presents a spectacle which can be seen nowhere else. We have two Fokker Dr1s, 403/17 which was built by John Day and first flew in 2006, replicates the Dr1 flown by Leutnant Johann Janzen [13 victories] of Jasta 6, of JG1. It carries the unit markings of a black/white striped tail and black cowling, with Janzen's personal marking of a 'white snake' line on a black band, edged with white on the rear fuselage. Janzen became 'Staffelfuhrer' [Leader] of Jasta 6 and survived a crash-landing, when the control cables of his Triplane were shot away in combat. After the sad death of John Day the aircraft was bought by Bruce Dickinson and continues to fly with the Team. The other aircraft is 556/17 which was built by its owner, Peter Bond in 2010. It replicates the Dr1 flown by Leutnant Ludwig "Lutz" Beckmann also of Jasta 6 in March 1918 which was then based at Lechelle. Beckmann survived the Great War and commanded a transport unit of the Luftwaffe in WW2.
Size: 4748px × 3798px
Location: IWM, Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK
Photo credit: © Niall Ferguson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1914-18, air, aircraft, baron, display, dog, duxford, fight, flying, fokker, front, german, great, military, red, richtofen, show, team, triplane, war, western, world
