Project Has Been Nine Years In The Making

A German doctor practicing in England, who has spent the last nine years building a replica of the Fokker Dreidecker Dr.1 triplane made famous by Baron Manfred von Richthofen, flew the airplane for the first time late last week.

Dr. Peter Brueggemann took off from Felthorpe Airfield in Norfolk, according to the report from the U.K. newspaper The Daily Mail. He took the triplane to an altitude of about 3,000 feet in a flight lasting a little over an hour. Among those welcoming him back to Earth were family, friends, some of his patients, and a representative of the German Luftwaffe, which has adopted the plane as a mascot.

The plane was built using technical drawings created by American aviation enthusiast Ron Sands in 1976. It is almost an exact replica of the WWI airplane, built with many of the same materials as were used nearly 100 years ago. It is even fitted with two replica Spandau 7.92 mm machine guns that make a lot of noise and smoke but do not fire a projectile.

Dr. Brueggemann has been dubbed the "Red Baron of Norfolk" by his patients. He described sitting in the cockpit wondering if taking off was a great idea, but then he just committed, applied full throttle, and took to the air.

He said that the airplane was difficult to control at first because it pulls hard to the right. But he had gotten advice from other pilots about how to combat the torque, and the flight was a success.

Dr. Brueggemann says he hopes to fly the airplane to Germany next summer.

(Image of similar replica Fokker Triplane from file)

FMI: Source report