The Great War Display Team re-enacts great air battles from World War I with their reconstructed planes. Why? Because it’s great fun!
A group of modern pilots in their replica planes recreate the moves and manoeuvres of flying aces a century ago, complete with dogfight sequences, pyrotechnics and drama.
One hundred years after the end of the First World War, a flying display team based in the UK offers a unique perspective on the conflict. The Bremont Great War Display Team (GWDT) has created a series of spectacular swirling dogfight sequences above the heads of air show audiences, as might have been seen from the trenches of the Western Front a century ago.
The team’s aircraft represent the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service, US Army Air Service and the air arm of the Imperial German Army, and equally represent the diversity of design and rate of development of the period. The six different types of aircraft range from the plodding 65 mph BE-2 observation biplane of 1914, through the short-lived triplane scouts of both sides to the definitive SE-5a fighter, and the heavily armoured Junkers CL-1 trench-strafing monoplane of 1918.
The aircraft in the team are all replicas, but built to original drawings and specifications, and many accurately reproduce the handling quirks of the original as well as their appearance. They offer an irresistible flying challenge to the team members, who are from a wide range of backgrounds, ranging from retired military test pilots, airline captains and engineers, to rock musicians and flying instructors.
Modern-day dogfights
Put a modern-day pilot into one of their open cockpits and he would probably wouldn’t even get the engine started and taxi, let alone takeoff or get safely back on the ground. Many of the aircraft have to have their propellers hand swung for starting, all are tail draggers, and most of them have no brakes, relying on bursts of power over the rudder to turn on the ground and the plough-like effect of the wooden tail skid for retardation.
Add in sometimes limited control responses, the torque reactions from the big, slow turning propellers, sensitivity to gusts of wind and surprisingly large amounts of wake turbulence, mainly from those aforementioned big props, each aircraft demands the fullest of pilot attention. Plus, as can be imagined with nine or more aircraft at low level in close proximity, a carefully choreographed display sequence is vital.
Each 15-minute display is flown to a well-rehearsed, standard format, which keeps the aircraft circling at three different levels descending in turn for tail-chases and crossover passes in front of the crowd. Meanwhile, to simulate the dogfights of yore, pyrotechnics and bursts of smoke from the aircraft pepper the sky, simulating anti-aircraft fire.
Triplane stars
Perhaps the stars of the team are its three triplane fighters. The team leader, former British Airways captain Gordon Brander, flies a replica 1916 Sopwith Triplane, built to original Sopwith drawings. Few realise that the later Fokker Triplane was inspired by the British design, which used the triple-winged configuration to aid climb performance and manoeuvrability, while offering better visibility for dogfighting.
In addition, the team operates two of the iconic German Fokker Dr-I triplanes. While the type has long been associated with Red Baron Manfred von Richthofen’s scarlet, the team’s two aircraft carry different but equally authentic liveries.
One aircraft replicates the Dr1 flown by Lieutenant Johann Janzen (13 victories) of Jasta 6, of JG1, carrying Janzen’s personal marking of a “white snake” line on the rear fuselage. It is today owned by Iron Maiden lead singer, Bruce Dickinson. The Iron Maiden connection led to one of the GWDT’s most unusual display locations, when the team performed above 40,000 heavy metal fans at a rock concert in which Bruce both flew, then after landing nearby, leapt onto the stage. Talk about dramatic entrances!
The second Fokker Dr1 aircraft, 556/17, replicates the Dr1 flown by Leutnant Ludwig “Lutz” Beckmann of Jasta 6 in March 1918. Beckmann survived the
Great War and went on to command a transport unit of the Luftwaffe in WW2.
The Allies
On the Allied side, the oldest aircraft design represented by the team is the Royal Aircraft Factory BE2c, designed and built in 1912 at the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough. The world’s first purpose designed military aeroplane and developed with artillery observation in mind, it was an early mainstay of the Royal Flying Corps.
The SE-5a, designed by Henry Folland at the same Royal Aircraft Factory as the BE-2, demonstrates just how fast aircraft developed during the Great War. It went into service in 1917 and was regarded as one of the definitive fighters of the First World War, with a total of 5,265 being built. Among the three replica SE5as are two in khaki Royal Flying Corps colours and one carrying a more unusual livery complete with reversed red, blue and white roundel colours representing the first United States combat aircraft. It represents Blue 19 of the American 25th Aero Squadron, the sole US Army squadron, which operated in France using S.E.5a during the closing stages of the war.
Another unique aircraft, which made its debut with the team in 2018, is a replica 1916 Avro 504, a large two-seat biplane which was predominantly used for training. The name Avro comes from the company’s founder Alliott Verdon-Roe, and the team’s aircraft is owned by Eric Verdon-Roe, the grandson of the pioneer aircraft maker. It seems that the tradition of flying lives on in the present generation.