The Greatest Air Race

In 1919, when military surplus aircraft were being destroyed in their thousands, two Australian brothers who were flying the Vickers Vimy in the Royal Air Force bought one to enter the Greatest Air Race. They teamed up with an Australian fitter and rigger to have a go at winning the Race and to get home. It was not without its perils frequently flying over parts of the world that had never seen an aircraft. Four out of the six crews crashed en route – two of the crashes were fatal. The pilots were knighted for their courage and determination. The Vimy is an Australian aviation icon that has been preserved to this day. If you would like to learn more or support their preservation efforts, a trailer is available. To learn more, go to the Greatest Air Race website.

Recent Posts
  • Send Your Poems to the Battlefields in our Plane

    Write your WW1 poems on paper seeded with memorial flowers. Join the 2500 other children that have already done so. See your thoughts grow into flowers on the battlefields where so many soldiers died. WW1 Poetry Registration (ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk)

  • Essex Primary Schools Reaching for the Sky

    The WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust has now started an 18-month journey visiting 50+ Primary Schools in Essex with our Simulator – thanks to a grant from the CAA’s Reach For the Sky Initiative.  One hundred and thirty-seven schools applied for the WW1 AHT day visit so we hope this will become an enduring feature. The Programme is to encourage and inform Years 5 and 6 about careers in aviation. It is important that they understand the origins of the flying machine and it how it surged into the front pages over a hundred years ago in World War 1.  This is exactly what the Trust is doing by visiting the Schools with their WW1 Flight Simulator.  The Pupils are all motivated by the prospect of a flight in a simulator designed in 1915 based on WW1 SE5a fighter with a VR game that includes all the missions available to a Scout pilot as they were known back in the day.  While not in the Sim, they either take part in a quiz about the life and times of the simulator’s designer, Major Lanoe Hawker VC DSO RFC, or take part in poetry writing workshop based on the Great War which culminates in each of them writing a poem on seeded paper as a part of another of our initiatives – Poems, Poppies, and Planes.   Our plan is to drop more than 3000 poems from our Nieuport 17 (Poetry Plane) over appropriate sites in N France in Jul 2024 where they will be collected and planted by the French children as an act of remembrance and reconciliation.  The British, French and German Memorial Flowers (Poppy, Cornflower, and Forget-me-Not) are the seeds in the paper.  It is our hope for the Poetry Plane to bring some of the overseas poems back to England in due course. We are delighted with the progress so far.  We have visited 20 schools since March and over 1000 children have flown WW1 missions in our simulator, completed the quiz, and written poems about WW1. Sam Dunne, the Headteacher at Colne Engaine Primary School, wrote after our visit: I would just like to say another big thank you for the wonderful opportunity the children had today.  The whole session was so very well organised, and the children have been talking about it all afternoon. They thoroughly enjoyed learning the history in class and then experiencing the simulator. We are full swing with some wonderful poetry too. Opportunities like today are those golden moments, moments that make children aspirational about their futures and know more about the endless opportunities there are out there for the taking. Who knows we may have another aviation enthusiast joining you or seeking out a new interest!  Thank you for bringing your knowledge and enthusiasm to our little school and of course being part of such a brilliant STEM opportunity. The poetry-writing is not restricted to England (Essex, Surrey, Cornwall, & Hampshire) but children from France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand are being invited to participate. A small team of 8 WW1 AHT volunteers are giving freely of their time.  Each visit involves 3 members of the Team for 6 hours on site – 1500 hours of volunteering.  The Programme would not be possible without the Twins, Ant and Ed, who drive the Simulator to each location and ensure its safe operation during each visit. If you want to know more, please contact dick.forsythe@ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk

  • Did you Miss It – WW1 AHT Chat Session 5-5.

    The Best Fighters of WW1 and Their Tactics On 28 Feb 2023, the WW1 AHT Pilots and Friends had their final chat session of the Winter 2033/23. The Session provides a summary of the Scout Development over the 4 years discussed by Year in the previous sessions. It also covered the tactics that evolved as the aircraft became more capable. The pace of development was set by the German Ace, Boelcke, who was the first to codify fighter tactics with his Dicta that became the byword for fighter pilots for the rest of the century. He also was major influence of the transition of the Fliegertruppe into the Luftkeitkrafte empowering German tactics to the maximum advantage. All this before his untimely death, as with his famous protégé – Richtofen, by the age of 25. Want to know more? https://ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk/index.php/product/the-best-fighters-of-ww1-and-their-tactics/

  • WW1 AHT Chat Session 5-5, The Best Fighters of WW1 & What Had They Learned By The End of The War

    As our Final Chat of this Winter season (22/23), the WW1 AHT pilots and friends will review the best Fighting Scouts of WW1 which cannot be done without framing the progression of aerial warfare from unarmed reconnaissance in 1914 to Wings of Fighters in mortal combat at astonishing altitudes over N France without oxygen by 1918. Join us on Tue Feb 28th at 1930 UTC to learn more. The Best Fighters of WW1 & What Had They Learned by the End of the War (ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk)

  • WW1 AHT Chat Session 4-5, The Fighting Scouts, 1918, A Bitter Climax

    Welcome to the 4th of five Chats on the evolution of the Scout into the fighter role that survives to this day – although the term fighter was a post-war connotation. One of the most frightening statistics is that over 2051 of the 4733 air combat casualties in N France occurred between April 1918 and the Armistice.  The WW1 AHT Pilots and Friends will chat about their experiences flying these planes. This is now only available Pay Per View

  • Did You Miss It? Chat 3-5 The Fighters of 1917

    The WW AHT Panel of Pilots from NZ and UK explored the good, bad and the ugly of both Allied and German Fighting Scouts that graced the skies over N France in 1917 from their experiences of flying them today. From the Albatros to the DH5, the Fokker DR1 to the SE5a, the Sopwith Camel to the Halberstadt and many more. Click the link to find out more

  • Chat Session 3-5, The fighting Scouts of 1917

    This is the third of our monthly chat sessions where we have been discussing the evolution of the Scout aeroplane as a fighter aircraft year by year with our pilots and their friends that fly them today. 1917 was a crucial year for the development of fighter tactics setting some of the primary principles that survive to this day. If you would like to to learn more join us for our Christmas Special at the link below. All proceeds go to help us keep our aeroplanes flying. To join the meeting, find the instructions in your My Account/Orders on our website once you have paid. Tue 20th December 2022, 1930 UTC

  • Chat 2-5, 1916 Scout (Fighter) Development, The Stuff of Legends

    Join us on Thur 17th November 2022 at 1930 UTC Want To Know More Fokker DIV

  • WW1 AHT Winter 2022 Pilot Chat Part 1-5, The Verdict

    From one who was there on the night. ‘I attended the first session of the WW1 AHT Winter Chats Programme 2022, and it was a fascinating insight into the development of the scout (fighter) aircraft of WW1 during 1914-1915. The panel presentation involved a range of pilots with current experience of flying some of these early aircraft and they gave a real insight into how these amazing aircraft performed and the challenges they faced. Their fascinating commentary was very well illustrated by a great range of photos and film, both historic and current, of these diverse early scout aircraft.’ If you missed the Chat, it is available at this link The next Chat covers 1916 which saw an Explosion of Fighter Scouts as both sides started vying in earnest for sufficient control of the air to conduct the vital roles of reconnaissance, artillery spotting, aerial photography. We have photos and videos of all these aircraft as reproductions. Some rarely seen as they did not pass into operational production in significant numbers – Halberstadt, Fokker DIV, BE12. Others became the stuff of legends – DH2, Nieuport 11 & 17, Albatros DII and Sopwith Pup. Don’t miss it. Thursday 17 November 1930 UTC

  • Weird and Wonderful Pilot Chats Programme Winter 2022 | Session 1 | Scout (Fighter) Development WW1, 1914-1915

    Some amazing aeroplanes made it to Northern France at the start of WW1.  None of them were armed.  The idea of air combat grew as they found themselves in the same air space wishing to deny the other side uninterrupted reconnaissance. Pistols, rifles, even grappling hooks lowered on a rope were the first attempts to engage the enemy.  By 1915, machine guns had made an entrance but the spoils went to the Eindecker as the first flying gun firing through the propeller achieving the its first kill in July 1915.  From them on it was mayhem until the allies found the answer in early 1916. Our Panel of expert pilots who regularly such aircraft will debunk the myths. Find out more with our Panel of WW1 aviation experts on Thur 13th Oct at 1930 UK. The whole Programme can be found here.

About WW1AHT

WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust Ltd

We intend to provide an enduring flying collection of World War I Allied and German aircraft based in the UK flying from heritage sites like Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome.

Company No 8753767

Registered Charity No 1156699

Contact:

+44 870 9191914
info@ww1aht.co.uk
rockingnacelle@ww1aht.co.uk

Photography

With thanks to Darren Harbar, Huw Hopkins, Leigh Smith and Russell Savory for their magnificent photographs

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Art Connexion
Yes Flyers | UK Youth Aviation Education
Sally Crabtree – Poetry Postie, Pushing the Envelope of Poetry

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