I recently had the opportunity to fly a beautiful Albatros reproduction in the Shuttleworth and Duxford Airshows just outside of London. My good friend Gene DeMarco from TVAL (The Vintage Aviator Limited) invited me to fly it while he flew an Re-8.  His boss Peter Jackson had them both built for an undisclosed trade with the RAF Museum at Hendon.

Flying a TVAL built Albatros destined for the RAF Museum  (Photo by Keith Wilson)

By the time I got to England, Gene and the mechanics had assembled both aircraft and we soon were test-flying them over the English countryside.

Gene in the Re-8 and me in the Albatros over the English Countryside!  (Photo by Keith Wilson)

We got to stay in a wing of the Shuttleworth Mansion, which was owned by Richard Shuttleworth, who began collecting and flying vintage airplanes prior to WWII.  Unfortunately, he was killed during the War but his collection continues to be displayed and they fly shows during the summer months.

The Shuttleworth Mansion!

I had visited the Shuttleworth Collection many times in the past but had never been to one of their shows!  This was to be a first of memorable proportions!

We flew a Sunday Show at Shuttleworth and then the following weekend at Duxford about 20 miles away; home of the Imperial War Museum.  The airplanes were still technically owned by The Vintage Aviator Limited but, much to the delight of the local aviation enthusiasts, Peter had offered to let them fly for the public before they actually changed hands.

Gene and I in front of the Re-8 about to go on a sortie!

Gene had the capability of taking up “tail gunners” and gave a number of rides to the mechanics and volunteers at Shuttleworth and the RAF Museum, which is something they rarely get to do.  Of course, I took every opportunity to fly the Albatros to give them the exerience of what it must have been like in WWI with an enemy aircraft bearing down on them. 

Gene and I give Re-8 riders the experience of a lifetime!

Gene and I both brought several GoPro cameras each and used them on every flight, changing locations many times to get different perspectives.  There were plenty of other cameras in the air and on the ground and we all got a chance to share photos as well as video footage.

A gunners view from the Re-8!  Fortunately for me, he was out of ammunition at the time!

The original Mercedes engine used in this Albatros was supplied by the RAF Museum.  Since the airplane was not meant to continue flying, they kept as many original parts in the engine that might have been replaced.  Consequently, it tended to leak a bit of oil and I always took several rags with me flying, continually having to wipe the windshield down soon after takeoff.

An oily windscreen is not helpful when engaging the enemy!

It was a great experience and a lot of fun doing photo missions and dogfighting with Gene.  During the actual shows, we would alternate following each other for the crowd in a figure-eight pattern.  Unfortunately for Gene, he could not take a passenger (tail gunner) with him during the actual show flights so, he was pretty much a sitting Duck for the Albatros!  :-)

An easy kill!

One gorgeous evening I spotted a giant hot air balloon overhead at about 2000 feet.  We were about to fly anyway, so I took off early and started climbing with two cameras rolling; one on my tail and one on my right strut, both looking forward.  It turned out to be a ride balloon owned by Richard Branson with about 15-20 people in the basket!  I had never seen such a big balloon and made several passes around it, sometimes with it in my sights.

I purposely didn’t venture as close as I would have liked but found out later the waving guests enjoyed every minute of it.  Without a parachute, I was a lot happier when I got back down to a lower altitude!  Later, Gene and I found out we had both made the Virgin Balloon website!  I sent them several shots from my “gun cameras,” including this one, which they later posted.

Bagging my first balloon . . . and a Virgin one at that!

One of my more memorable flights was a photo mission over the original WWI Airship Sheds at Cardington.  This was a Restricted Area and we had to get special permission to fly over them.  I can only imagine this had to be the first and only time this ever happened!

Not only did I get the opportunity to shoot down the Re-8 many (actually many, many times) but I also got to shoot down a balloon and bomb enemy Airship Sheds!  The Kaiser would have been proud!

Over enemy Airship Sheds at Cardington (Photo by Darren Harbar)

One fun thing that happened was that, at some point, one of the Shuttleworth pilots showed up with a ponytail hat; obviously as a subtle joke poking fun at mine.  Several tried it on for pictures and by the time we got to Duxford it was not so subtle, as most of the pilots were now wearing them.  Here’s a shot after one of the pilot briefings!

Ponytail Row!

While I’ve heard that “imitation is the most sincere form of flattery,” I think there was some plain fun going on here as well.  One thing is for sure . . . they’ll be talking about those two crazy Americans that showed up adding some spice to their airshow season for quite some time!

I did a lot of Facebook posting while I was there and was surprised to discover during my visit that my “Most Popular City” was London, England!  Too cool!

Did I have a good time?  I think this picture says it all!

 

One happy Albatros Pilot!

Kermit

My Sopwith Snipe has been completed, signed-off by the authorities, and recently test-flown!

All this is courtesy of Peter Jackson’s great interest and efforts building up very authentic reproductions of famous WWI aircraft.  As mentioned in a previous blog, I did a trade with Peter for the Snipe and Albatros and sent down several engines they overhauled for the projects.

Snipe being Rigged for Flight!

Since this is the first Snipe built by Gene DeMarco and The Vintage Aviator Ltd. (TVAL), it took considerably longer than my Albatros, which already had a prototype flying.  I blogged about my exploits in April flying the Albatros at the Omaka Airshow.

I chose to paint the Snipe in the colors of highly-decorated WWI Canadian Ace Billy Barker, who was the 12th highest scoring ace in WWI with 50 confirmed kills.  It represents the airplane he flew his last combat in on October 27, 1918, in which he received the Victoria Cross for his valiant efforts against enemy aircraft.

Ready to Test-Fly!

One of the cooler aspects of the restoration was that Barker and his squadron mates used to put car ornaments of the time on their airplanes to “personalize” them.  Gene and his restoration crew did some research and found the ornaments are still being made for period cars . . . by the SAME COMPANY that built them in WWI!  How cool is that?  They ordered me the one Barker used . . . a Red Devil!

Barker’s personalized weapon with WWI period car hood ornament!

The Snipe uses the largest Rotary engine ever built: a British Bentley BR-2 with 230 hp!  I have seen videos of it running on a test stand and can’t wait to get it back to hear it in person.  Better yet, fly behind it!

She Flies!

As I write this, both the Snipe and the Albatros are on a ship headed to Florida.  We hope to have them assembled and flying at Fantasy of Flight and by the end of March in time for the 2012 Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In!

Kermit

After my annual trip to Australia for meetings, I stopped in to see my friend Gene DeMarco with the Vintage Aviator Ltd. (TVAL) in Wellington, New Zealand.  I went to check up on the status of a couple of projects they had been working on as part of a trade I made with his boss Peter Jackson and hopefully participate in the upcoming Omaka Airshow.  I met Peter years ago in New Zealand through Gene and he has since come to visit Fantasy of Flight where I gave him a vision tour, looked at my WWI collection, and took him flying in a Stearman.  Peter is an avid enthusiast of WWI airplanes and we struck a deal for a trade that involved my original and extremely rare Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter.  Initially I was somewhat reluctant to part with such a rare airplane but he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  The Sopwith for two new production WWI reproductions using two original engines that I would supply and they overhaul.

The first aircraft completed was a German Albatros D-Va and is an absolutely beautiful piece of art!

Proud new owner of an Albatros D-Va!

I arrived about a week before two of my mechanics did and got a chance to first get checked out in their original prototype.  Since Gene had to do the initial test flights for the NZ CAA, I flew the prototype while Gene put some time on mine.  A great kid named Bevan Dewes was onsite with a new camera and took some great shots of us flying.  What an absolute blast!

On Patrol with Gene test-flying mine and me in the prototype!

The main thing we did during our flights was tighten up the rigging on the prototype, which was way too loose for my tastes, and then proceeded to do the same to mine.

The Bad Boys are in town!

They did a magnificent job on the construction, which included reproducing the original instruments, radiator, seat belts, etc.  The original in-line six-cylinder Mercedes engine is a joy to hear and fly behind and with it’s low rpm, sounds like a John Deere tractor!  One of the more interesting things about operating it is that you have to twist a screw about every ten minutes on a grease canister mounted in the cockpit to keep coolant from leaking into the engine.  It has a rather interesting starting procedure where the mechanic has to climb up on the tire to grab a handle on the engine to lift the cam for starting, which then has to be lowered after the prop is turning!  True to the original, there are no brakes and a tailskid.  The radiator gauge and cooling shutter handle are outside the cockpit in the slipstream and only add to the whole experiencing of flying this wonderful piece of history!

Cockpit showing the external radiator gauge on strut and shutter control with wooden handle

Once the time was flown off by Gene, I got to start flying it.  Soon after, my guys showed up and we all got a chance to play with some of Peter’s other airplanes.  While Gene gave rides to my guys, I jumped in a number of other airplanes and joined in the fun.

Me flying an original Be-2c

Gene giving a ride to one of my guys in an original Bristol Fighter while I follow in a SE-5a

Not to be one not to partake in the rides, Gene let me play gunner in an Fe-2b they had built using an original Beardmore engine.  Oh my God . . . what a blast!  Literally!  I couldn’t help but not pose for some shots as we did some fly-bys!

Recognize the Gunner?

The Albatros passed it’s test-flights with flying colors and I was now comfortable in the airplane.   We began the disassembly process to take it over to the south island by ferry for the Omaka Airshow.  After arriving, everyone pitched in to re-assemble it as preparations for the show began.  We took the time to visit the onsite museum, which Peter and graciously supplied with many of his airplanes for display.

Albatros on the Omaka show line with seven Fokker Triplanes!

My part of the two-day show was to dogfight with Gene in a rotary powered Sopwith Camel as seven Fokker Triplanes made fly-bys in different formations.  There were other WWI planes flying as well and it had to have been the biggest group of WWI airplanes flying at one time since WWI!  I later got to go up for a photo mission with a helicopter and photographer Gavin Conroy got some unbelievable shots over the countryside.

Phenomenal shot taken over the Omaka countryside!

Although Peter was deep in to filming The Hobbit, he took the time to give everyone a break so he come over and attend the show.  I got the chance to visit his VIP Chalet on the flightline where I got to hang out with Peter and some of the actors.  While in Wellington, I got to visit the Hobbit set twice, which was a fascinating experience.  It’s amazing to see how many people it takes to pull off a major motion picture production like that.  The second time, my guys were with me and we got to watch Gandalf (Ian McKellan) do his stuff.

With Peter and Gene at the Omaka Airshow!

After the show was over, I got to visit with Richard Taylor at the Weta Workshops.  Richard and Weta are the genius behind all the computer graphics that support Peter’s endeavors as well as other films.  They’ve won many Oscars and awards for their work that includes: Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Avatar, and Chronicles of Narnia to name a few!  Richard is working with me on several small projects for Fantasy of Flight and is a great guy.

With Richard at Weta Workshop

As if this wasn’t all cool enough, we also got to check up on the second airplane Gene and Peter’s guys are building for me . . . a WWI British Sopwith Snipe with an original Bentley rotary engine!  The Snipe was the airplane intended to replace the famous Sopwith Camel at the end of the War and was powered by the most powerful rotary ever built.  The Bentley engine has the distinction of being the first engine produced using cast aluminum cylinders with steel liners.  Gene’s guys overhauled both my Mercedes for the Albatros and my Bentley for the Snipe.

When I first arrived, the Snipe was just being covered.

Snipe fuselage being covered at the TVAL workshops

By the time we left, it was painted and being rigged for assembly.  Amazing!  Many small items still need to be accomplished before it’s ready to fly but it will make a great addition to the Fantasy of Flight collection.

Snipe being rigged for the final fitting of bracing wires, etc.

Now, was that a cool trip or what?  When I grow up . . . I want to be me!

Kermit