Aviation Advances Of World War I Will Be Remembered At EAA AirVenture 2016

It’s a sad reality that war brings technical advances, and such was the case in World War I. This year at AirVenture World War I aviation will be on displayed and honored for the contributions it made to the advancements of aviation.

In the time we live in, there are aircraft capable of shooting one another down at supersonic speeds and altitudes miles above the Earth’s surface. Some of them fly and fight without a pilot and can achieve an aerial victory without ever seeing one another. That is not how it always was. To get a full appreciation for how far we have come, we must look at where we started.

In the skies over the battlefields of World War I men and machines were pushed to their limits. The aircraft were mainly made of wood and fabric, and had very little in the way of creature comforts. Yet these gritty pilots would push the limits of their aircraft right up to the edge of the envelope. Remarkably they would fly to altitudes of 20,000 feet with no oxygen and often no parachutes. There, for the first time, aircraft would duel in the clouds, and this was only a dozen years after the Wright Brothers made their first flight.

EAA says it is with great excitement that they are paying tribute to those brave pilots this year at Oshkosh 2016. Located across from Vintage airplane parking at south end of flightline, EAA is going to have a number of authentic WWI restored aircraft powered by their original engines.

There will also be a WWI encampment with living history volunteers who will be representing the soldiers and aviators of the World War I. Each day there will be engine runs, flights, presentations by the pilots as well as the National World War I Centennial Commission, and much more. This is your chance to see these rare machines and national treasures up close and personal and, better yet, you’ll see them in the air!

Some of these aircraft will be representative of their type and style, while others will be very close re-creations to the actual machines. At first glance it’s easy to see these as primitive technology, but do yourself a favor and look very closely at the details. They are, in fact, examples of engineering being pushed to the limit for the time they were built. Even today it’s possible to see engineering concepts that have stood the test of time.

WWI aircraft that will be at AirVenture this year include: Golden Age Air Museum's Sopwith Pup and Fokker Dr.I, Old Rhinebeck's SPAD and Fokker DVIII, Fantasy of Flight's Albatros, EAA's J-1, and Collings Foundation's 1909 Curtiss Pusher.

Check out the link listed below for the times and places of demonstrations and lectures regarding these fascinating pieces of aviation history.

(Image provided in EAA press release)

FMI: Scheduling information