WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust

We exist solely to keep the Aviation Legacy of World War 1 alive!

Michael Drayton

MD photoDespite a career in international shipping, Michael Drayton has strong family links with the RAF. His father was a fighter pilot in WW II flying Hurricanes and Spitfires and his father-in-law was a navigator on Mosquitoes. Indeed, a visit to The Imperial War Museum at Duxford will reveal a Rolls Royce Merlin engine on display in memory of his father. Michael’s career has been mainly City of London based although he was seconded to his Hong Kong office for a period of seven years in the 1980s. In 2007 he became Chairman of The Baltic Exchange, overseeing the worldwide commercial activities of international shipping while his ship-owning interests extended to his chairmanship of Arlington Tankers which was listed on the New York stock exchange. Reflecting his concern for the welfare of ship crews Michael is a trustee of the Sailors’ Society.

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 together with YES Young Flyers completed their18-month journey visiting 60+ Primary Schools in Essex with the WW1AHT Simulator in July 2024 – thanks to a grant from the CAA’s Reach For the Sky Initiative.  One hundred and thirty-seven schools applied for the day visit so we hope this will become an enduring feature. We have applied for a further grant from the CAA for 2025 and 70 schools have applied for a visit. 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. It is equally important that they are made aware of the sacrifice in the Great War as the subject disappears from the syllabus in English schools. SE5a Simulator 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 take part in a quiz about the life and times of the simulator’s designer, Major Lanoe Hawker VC DSO RFC, and 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 WW1AHT’s initiatives – The Poetry Plane. This is a collaborative effort with the Poetry Postie, ArtConnexion, Hautmont College, Somme Tourism, Le Quesnoy Kiwi Association and the Sir John Monash Museum. Over 3500 poems were dropped from our Plane over the commemorations for the Battle of the Somme, Wilfred Owen and the Kiwi Division of Le Quesnoy on 1 Jul 2024 where they were collected and planted by those attending 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. French and German children also wrote poems as part of a wider initiative to expand the Poetry Plane concept around the world. We have much bigger plans to include Australian, Canadian and US children in writing poems in 2025. The children in any country can join in. WW1AHT provide lesson plans, videos and links to the seeded paper as part of the concept. Watch out for updates on the plans for 2025 coming before Christmas . We plan to return to the Somme and Le Quesnoy on 1 Jul 2025 and hope also to deliver poems at the Remembrance Service at the UK National Memorial Arboretum in November 2025. 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 was not restricted to Great Britain and N Ireland but children from France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand were invited to participate. We hope to expand it further in 2025. A small team of 8 WW1 AHT & YES 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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