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Friday 10th Jun was a great day for the WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust, Stow Maries, Essex, and for the global community dedicated to keeping the aviation legacy of the Great War alive. The WAHT WW1 flight simulator based on the rocking nacelle designed by Major Lanoe Hawker VC, DSO, RFC to which a virtual reality headset with WW1 missions has been added. Project Lanoe has been a community project with global reach funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Maj Hawker was an inspiration to many in his short life of 25 years. He was charismatic but humble and would be astonished that he is still inspiring the young and old of today 100 years later. The pilots of his Squadron would not be surprised. The foreword of a book about his life published 50 years after his death was written by one of his pilots by then a retired air marshal in the Royal Air Force. Here was a leader of men who combined modesty with great courage, gentleness with a steely determination, and unselfishness with a most human understanding. At first I regarded him with an admiration and respect that amounted to awe; as I got to know him better my respect and admiration increased, but the awe diminished. It was replaced by a feeling that I can only describe as devotion. Hawker taught me the meaning of leadership. In two years of war his influence on all who served with him was profound. He died young, at the height of his glory, and his death cast a shadow’ far and wide. Project Lanoe has touched people across the globe – from Essex, to Greece, to New Zealand – all who have helped make this a true community effort. In the words of our sponsor the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Project has enabled us to explore, conserve and share our First World War heritage and deepen our understanding of the impact of the conflict – the battle cry of our Trust. Lanoe Hawker was as an innovative as he was charismatic. He invented many things to improve the lot of the crews flying at great heights in open cockpits – cold weather clothing, gun sights, doubling the ammunition drum size, disintegrating ammunition clips. The Rocking Nacelle at first was just a cut down aircraft mounted on a gimbal on a range to teach pilots how to shoot against moving targets. We obviously could not fire the gun so we have come up with a solution that we think Hawker would entirely have approved – virtual reality headsets – making the WAHT simulator an elegant blend of 100-year old technology combined with the latest virtual reality developments. We plan that this rocking nacelle will be a source of income shared by ourselves and our partners – the Stow Maries Great Aerodrome Trust. Together, we are seeking to restore the Aerodrome to its original operational status in 1918 with aeroplanes and buildings forming a global centre of excellence for WW1 aviation with an active STEM Hub and a vibrant apprenticeship scheme anchored by the engineering support for the aircraft. Our thanks go the many contributors and supporters: John Whittingdale for his continued support and through his DCMS commemorative team I can now announce that we will be taking the BE2 and the Albatros to France at the end of the month to support the commemoration of the Battle of the Somme. A BE2 returning to France 100 years later is an odyssey in its own right. The Heritage Lottery fund for sponsoring us. Colchester Institute for designing and building the rocking nacelle using plans loaned to us by the RAF Museum. Their Media Graphics for building some of the 3D Models used in the VR missions. IThe Institute’s Project Lead, Andy Payne, without whose enthusiasm and industry this Project would not have got off the ground. He introduced his 3D modeller son, Matt, who is responsible for the aircraft in the VR missions. Also, Philip Clegg one of the WAHT Trustees who has masterminded the mechanical end of the Project We are fortunate to have a former national model helicopter instructor and examiner who operates a drone company from Stow Maries. His skill set has been essential in integrating the mechanical and the virtual. Without Denis Stretton’s determination and enthusiasm we also would not have reached the point we have today. Denis discovered our software developer, Ben Librojo, who operates from Greece and has worked frantically hard to cut down his Flying Aces VR programme available on the Oculus Rift App site to the 10 minute missions we require – some of which are based at Stow Maries and some in N France. We have a banner about Major Hawker researched by the Ormiston Rivers Academy. They will continue their research about the rocking nacelle and its impact on training RFC pilots into the summer. Unfortunately they could not be with us today as they are all sitting their exams. The Exam schedule across the board has prevented us from completing the rocking nacelle as we would wish for today. We have cockpit instruments and the gun to be mounted, and the fuselage to be faired in, before it is complete. Our target is to have it ready for the Stow Maries evening Show on 15th July Final thank yous, would be to the Vintage Aviator Ltd in NZ who have provided the instruments and harness but they also built and operate the 3 WAHT aircraft on the flight line. These are flown by a small but select group of pilots headed by John Munn who has also been testing the goggles; Russell Savory and the volunteers at Stow for their amazing support; the Dawn Patrol who are going to finish off the Nacelle; the list goes on. DF
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