We are thrilled to announce a very special treat for all attending Sonisphere Festival on Saturday July 5th. The Great War Display Team, a group of pilots which includes IRON MAIDEN vocalist Bruce Dickinson among its illustrious members, will stage a spectacular 12 minute air display in the skies above Knebworth at approximately 6pm. Having played way too much Red Baron growing up We have gone and raided the Great War Displays Team's website to find more about the planes. We advise listening to Tailgunner while reading this article, and take some facts with a pinch of salt. 1. Sopwith Triplane Biggles classic Sopwith Camel was a 10 out of 10 plane. This is the Sopwith Triplane and is one better then the camel as it has one more wing: The Sopwith Triplane goes to 11. This number is a replica as the originals were built in 1917, which makes them almost as old as your lucky pants. 2. Fokker Dr1 Triplane Designed by Reinhold Platz, the Dr1 was a direct attempt to copy the successful Sopwith Triplane. Armed with two forward firing Spandau ballet machine guns, it was highly manoeuvrable, and was a favourite mount of a number of German aces such as Werner Voss and the legendary Manfred von Richthofen. It is also sounds like a swearword. 3. Royal Aircraft Factory BE2c The BE2c was designed and built in 1912 at the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough and was Britain's first-ever military aeroplane. Designed with artillery observation in mind, it was the most stable aeroplane ever built. It was named by boring people, if this was American they would have called it Dragonfly Scout Master II or if German Mörder-Moskito. But the stiff upper lip of the English named it by it's serial number! We are Imperialist dullards sometimes. 4. Royal Aircraft Factory SE5a Named by the same spannerheads that named the BE2c the SE5a is a entirely different kettle of plane. With their 200HP Wolseley Viper, they continued in service right up to the end of the war, with a total of 5,265 being built. The Great War Display have three of these bad boys in the team. 5. Junkers CL1 Now... two of these troublemakers are in the fleet, and they were originally designed as ground attack vehicles. So you in the queue for Pootopia run for cover! They then upgraded them with Tailgunners. How do they not blow off their tail fin thing?* *technical term.
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