Marked for Death (44 page)

19. The Nieuport 11 or ‘Bébé’ did much to end the ‘Fokker scourge’ in 1916. For many months RFC aces like Bishop and Ball preferred this superb French fighter despite its lack of a synchronised machine gun. Note the narrow lower wings of its ‘sesquiplane’ design.

20. No. 1 Squadron RAF’s officers, ground crew and at least two canine mascots drawn up on Clairmarais aerodrome near Ypres in July 1918. The aircraft are S.E.5a scouts. The men at either end of the front group are two American pilots who served with this British squadron.

21. Billy Bishop in the cockpit of his Nieuport 17 in late summer 1917. With 72 victories he was not only the top scoring Canadian ace but that of the British Empire as well. His very dangerous ‘lone wolf ’ tactics led to controversy over unverifiable claims and especially over his Victoria Cross.

22. The observer in an F.E.2d’s nacelle demonstrates firing back over the top wing. With no parachute or safety belt he might have to balance on the cockpit rim during violent manoeuvres. He also manned the front Lewis gun and the camera visible on the right.

23. Ernst Udet standing beside his Albatros D.III. Udet became Germany’s second-highest scoring ace of the war with 62 victories and survived to become a playboy alcoholic. He shot himself in 1941, exasperated by Hitler’s mishandling of the Luftwaffe

24. The SPAD S.XIII: another excellent French fighter, with a top speed of 135 mph and a ceiling of 22,000 ft. It was flown to brilliant effect by Guynemer, Fonck and Baracca as well as by the Americans Luke and Rickenbacker (whose insignia this aircraft bears).

25. The Sopwith Triplane was a revolutionary design flown by the RNAS. In its short career it showed superiority over the Albatros D.III and triggered a triplane fashion among the Central Powers that produced Fokker’s Dr.I and thirteen other lookalikes.

26. The Fokker Dr.I was a quite different aircraft to the Sopwith, highly manoeuvrable but prone to wing failures. Although he only scored 19 of his 80 victories in the triplane Richthofen is indelibly associated with this type in which he died.

27. W. O. Bentley’s magnificent B.R.2, perhaps the apotheosis of the rotary engine and the last of its kind to be used by the RAF (in the post-war Sopwith Snipe). It also powered some Camels. With a displacement of nearly 25 litres it was rated at 250 h.p.

28. The highest-scoring of all WWI fighters, the Sopwith Camel was also a serial killer of incautious and trainee pilots. Engine, gun, fuel tanks and pilot were all contained in the aircraft’s first six feet. Those who mastered it swore by it. Those who didn’t swore at it.

29. This S.E.5E was a version of the S.E.5 built in America after the war as a trainer. It lacks armament but is otherwise the same aircraft that in sheer strength and speed outdid the Camel. Many pilots thought it the most successful British design of the war.

30. A replica of the Fokker D.VII, the aircraft reputed to ‘turn a mediocre pilot into a good one and a good pilot into an ace.’ Its reputation led to the Allies’ nearsuperstitious confiscation of hundreds of these capable but outmoded aircraft after the Armistice.