The Great War Display Team (GWDT) started out in 1988 and was originally called The Wombats. [1] [2] It was an ad-hoc collection of aircraft including five SE5as, two Fokker Dr.Is and a Fokker D7, many of them flown by their builders, and appeared that year at the Biggin Hill Air Show. 2014 was the 27th anniversary of the Team's formation and two of the original members, Des Biggs and Doug Gregory, were still flying with the Team until 2012 and Doug flew his SE5a in January 2013 to celebrate his 90th Birthday.
Over the years the aircraft and pilots changed frequently. Robin Bowes [3] flew his red Fokker Dr1 for several seasons and Nick O'Brien flew the black Fokker Dr1 for many years. Ernie Hoblyn joined in 1997 with the Sopwith Triplane he had built, which flies now in the ownership of Gordon Brander. [4] The following year John Day and Bob Gauld-Galliers joined, flying the Nieuport 17 they had built and also the Junkers CL1 they had converted. John extended the types in 2006 when he finished building his Fokker Dr1 and that joined the Team as well. Following John's death [5] his Dr1 was bought by Bruce Dickinson [6] and still flies with the Team in company with Peter Bond's [4] Dr1 as well; there aren't many places you can see three triplanes flying together. The SE5as and their pilots changed frequently, with Dave Linney and Vic Lockwood, [4] the current pilots, joining in 2007. The two Junkers CL1s are flown by regular pilot Richie Piper [4] and the other CL1 by either Francis Donaldson or Alex Truman. [4] Matthew Boddington's R.A.F. BE2c joined in 2013. [4]
The GWDT have been seen at many large and small airshows in the UK and abroad, including Duxford Air Show, Biggin Hill, Waddington, Farnborough Airshow, Cosford, Shoreham and Fairford and as far afield as Portrush in Ireland and La Ferté-Alais Air Show in France. [7] [8] They have also performed a number of important flypasts such as for the funeral of Henry Allingham in 2009. [9]
The GWDT currently has five different types of aircraft available to fly, [10] with nine aircraft in total. The GWDT looking to expand to a ten or even eleven aircraft display in 2015.
Sywell Aerodrome is the local aerodrome serving the towns of Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering and Rushden, as well as wider Northamptonshire. The aerodrome is located 5 nautical miles northeast of Northampton and was originally opened in 1928 on the edge of Sywell village.
The Fokker Dr.I, often known simply as the Fokker Triplane, was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became famous as the aircraft in which Manfred von Richthofen gained his last 17 victories, and in which he was killed on 21 April 1918.
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gliders for training, recreation, entertainment, and sport. Additionally, some helicopters, such as the MBB Bo 105, are capable of limited aerobatic manoeuvres. An example of a fully aerobatic helicopter, capable of performing loops and rolls, is the Westland Lynx.
The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the best-known fighter aircraft of the Great War. In total, Camel pilots were credited with downing 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than their counterparts flying any other Allied fighter of the conflict. Towards the end of the war, the type also saw use as a ground-attack aircraft, partly because the capabilities of fighter aircraft on both sides had advanced rapidly and left the Camel somewhat outclassed.
The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force (RAF) based at RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-Royal Air Force team, replacing a number of unofficial teams that had been sponsored by RAF commands.
The Sopwith Triplane is a British single seat fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War. It has the distinction of being the first military triplane to see operational service.
A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three vertically stacked wing planes. Tailplanes and canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they occasionally are.
Warbirds over Wanaka is a biennial air show in Wānaka, held on the Easter weekend of even-numbered years since 1988. It is held at Wānaka Airport, 10 km south-east of Wānaka, in the southern South Island of New Zealand. Initially conceived by New Zealand live deer recovery pioneer, Sir Tim Wallis, as a show for him to display his collection of World War II aircraft, the event has grown into a major institution. Roads are closed and traffic is detoured around the area during the weekend. Hotels, motels and backpackers around Wānaka are usually booked well in advance. Accommodation is impossible to find if one does not have a booking.
The Wildcat Demo Team are the Royal Navy's helicopter aerobatics display team. The team is composed of two AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2 anti-submarine (ASW) and anti-surface (ASuW) helicopters, with the aircraft and crews drawn from 825 Naval Air Squadron, based at RNAS Yeovilton , in Somerset.
The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is a living museum in Red Hook, New York. It owns many examples of airworthy aircraft of the pioneer era, World War I and the Golden Age of Aviation between the World Wars, and multiple examples of roadworthy antique automobiles.
Raynham George Hanna, was a New Zealand-born fighter pilot who emigrated to England to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). During his RAF career he was a founding member of the Red Arrows aerobatics display team. He also founded The Old Flying Machine Company, which commercially flies Second World War vintage fighter aircraft at air displays around the world, and for television and cinematic productions. He was a Spitfire display pilot in the latter half of the 20th century, noted for his daring aerobatic stunt flying.
The Fokker Spin was the first airplane built by Dutch aviation pioneer Anthony Fokker. The many bracing wires used to strengthen the aircraft made it resemble a giant spider, hence its name Spin, Dutch for "spider".
The Fokker F.I was a prototype German fighter triplane design by Reinhold Platz of World War I. It was an improved version of the V.4 prototype triplane. For many decades, the V.5 was misidentified as the V.4.
Sean Doherty Tucker is an American world champion aerobatic aviator. He was previously sponsored by the Oracle Corporation for many years, performing in air shows worldwide as "Team Oracle". Tucker has won numerous air show championship competitions throughout his career, was named one of the 25 "Living Legends of Flight" by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in 2003, and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2008. He has led several efforts to assist youth in learning to fly or becoming involved in general aviation, and currently serves as co-chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)'s Young Eagles program, a role he has held since 2013.
Charlie Hillard was an American aerobatics pilot, and the first American to win the world aerobatics title.
William Lewis "Skip" Stewart, better known as Skip Stewart, is an aerobatic and commercial pilot from the United States. Stewart flies in airshows in the United States and abroad, in his two highly modified Pitts muscle biplanes.
The Flying Lions Aerobatic Team is a South African formation aerobatic team. They fly a four-ship aerobatic display using North American Harvard aircraft. The team operates five aircraft but only uses four in their display, leaving the fifth to be used as a backup. The Flying Lions have been in operation since 1999 when Arnie Meneghelli acquired the Harvard aircraft that the South African Air Force was decommissioning. The Flying Lions participate at many major airshows around South Africa during the airshow season.
On 22 August 2015, a former military aircraft crashed onto a main road during an aerial display at the Shoreham Airshow at Shoreham Airport, England, killing 11 people and injuring 16 others. It was the deadliest air show accident in the United Kingdom since the 1952 Farnborough Airshow crash, which had killed 31 people.