WWI Dawn Patrol event (Dayton OH)

[jumpinjan]

I was working this event all weekend. I was walking the WWI replicas on the taxiway (they are tail draggers and they cannot see directly in front, so they rely on us giving them hand signs, to go straight, or turn left or right, and so on)
Here's a group picture of some of the participants ( I'm in the blue shirt). We posed in front of a 1917 Sopwith Triplane with authentic rotary engine.
Cool isn't it?

 

[jumpinjan]

The guy in the lime shirt in the back row is Stephen Cox, professional racer and announcer on ESPN. He did the announcing there at the event. He is very, very good. I wish I had his voice.
http://sopwithmotorsports.com/id7.html
Stephen is very serious WWI historian/researcher. He has researched and now has proof of what happened to American ace Frank Luke (Luke was shot down, but no trace of his airplane or himself was found)

 

[jumpinjan]

Here's a shot of the Triplane and they were attempting to start the rotary. It ran on a prime, but thats all.

 

[jumpinjan]

Big is beautiful

The bigger the RC model the more beautiful it is. This Fokker Triplane is slightly bigger than 1/3 scale (about 37% scale). They had over 100 models, plus about $5M in antique autos of the period. Plus, about 50 reenactors in military uniforms.

 

[jumpinjan]

Fokker Triplane

Here's the full size Fokker Triplane powered by Warner radial engine (beautiful sound)

 

[jumpinjan]

Here's a quick & dirty video that I made from these wonderful digital cameras:
http://janswerks.com/aircraft/dp07/DP07_fri.asf

I helped this Fokker D8 owner/builder with the multi-colored camoflage on the fuselage. I provided color chips (much like the Rootes color chips that I make) and the color pattern scaled to 70%.
A 27 year old woman built the aircraft. Cool isn't it? She did a great job.

 

[Series6]

Biplanes

Just going up in thise aircraft took some nerve.

I am always in awe of the courage of the pilots who fought in those planes. At least WWII aircraft offered the pilots some protection around them and, even when the plane was crippled, the pilot had some chance of survival.

 

[jumpinjan]

Absolutely, it took tremendous courage to go up day after day while thinking today could be my last.
This event is a great way to experience "Living History", and it doesn't get as much advertisement as it should. Please try to come to the next event and tell your friends about it.
Jan

 

[Chuck Ingram]

Jan
Is that the light blue or darker blue
You sure seem to always have fun things to do.
I think working on the cars must get in the way for you fun times.
Love the models.Used to do them way back when
I have been thinking about getting back as there are a few RCs around that my son never got around to building.
Hey I think that will make winter interesting

 

[jumpinjan]

Chuck,
I enhanced the Sunbeam letters on my hat in Photoshop, so they can stand out more. Well, here's a picture after processing the image better. It's amazing what detail comes out with just a little contrast enhancement

 

[Nickodell]

Just going up in thise aircraft took some nerve.

I am always in awe of the courage of the pilots who fought in those planes. At least WWII aircraft offered the pilots some protection around them and, even when the plane was crippled, the pilot had some chance of survival.

And only the Germans had parachutes.