....1969 Apollo. The day man walked on the moon, I watched the footage with my grandad who said, "when I was your age, man still hadnt flown, and in my lifetime not only has he done this he has now reached the moon; just think what they'll do in your lifetime"
Think about the rate of advance in the last 200 years. 1819, SS Savannah first steamship to cross the Atlantic, 50 years later, 1869, US transcontinental railroad and the Suez Canal both opened, 50 years later, 1919, First aerial crossing, NC-4, non-stop crossing, Alcock & Brown’s Vimy, and round trip crossing, R-34, of the Atlantic, 50 years after that, 1969, Apollo to the Moon.
Neat aircraft. You did great with it. Good old England. Looked to be flying great. You got the stick touch for sure. Thanks for showing. Retired Air Force veteran.
Learned to fly here. Was called Booker airfield then. Personal Plane services built the airplanes for the movie " those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines". Also partly shot there.
That's a modern replica. The "real" Eindecker didn't have ailerons, and had a full flying stabilizer, no separated elevators. Still a magnificent aircraft.
A wonderful piece of history, even though it's a replica. When will we learn to hang on to retired aircraft for historical reasons? Way too many historical aircraft completely gone. A shame. We need more folks like Kermit Weeks.🙂🙂
Fascinating to watch this classic old Aircraft in the air. What a privilege it must be to Pilot one. Looks like a bit of hand-full in the Air. I know the RC Wing-Warper models of the Eindecker are a bit of a hand-full to fly. Thanks Kermit for sharing your amazing old movies.
Nice to see the old bird fly again.+ a Nice "daisy cutter" by the young AEB. So too, by Kermit. I never flew the E3, but did/sign off quite a few annuals. I believe Anthony Fokker designed a cam & mechanical linkage interupter gear after looking at a shot down Moraine Saulnier which had deflector plates fitted. Quite draughty just running-up, so just as well its not that fast. Thanks for posting.
I was told that in the WW1 period, most Pilots came from Cavalry Units, as they were used to seeing the world from horseback. People were short then, so the 5 foot 4 inch Infantry were only used to seeing grass and weeds. It was thought the Cavalry would adapt quicker to understanding what they were seeing from above. They must have had a lot of respect for your skills Kermit to let you fly that beast.
I think it was more a case of flying the early planes was similar to controlling a horse. I even heard that trainee pilots were encouraged to ride horses to get a feel for flying.
My Favourite WW1 Ace is Georges Guynemer who flew the Spad XIII which was one of the first real forwardly modern fighters with a big powerful Hispano Suiza V8 and enough fuel capacity to have over a 2 hour endurance. Apparently the Germans contacted his Squadron and challenged him to prove himself in the air, of the 6 German planes that came, 2 fell out of the sky in flames, 2 were badly damaged and fled with the other 2. C'est Badass!
Great video...I walked into that hangar in 1980....Asked the fellow in overalls standing next to tool cart if I could have a look ...take some pictures ...he said yes have a look around....I had never seen so many significant airplanes in one spot before...A Spitfire..Lord Lindsay's...a Storch ...an Italian something not sure what Caproni??...then a silver Mosquito in back....he said was getting ready for ferry flight to USA....hanging from rafters was super cool large Heinkel HE111 model....anyway it wasnt until I saw the second Indiana Jones movie that I put 2 and 2 together....I had walked into the hangar of Personal Plane Services and the chap in the overalls was Tony Bianci.....Have to dig up those pics...
I made a documentary about the Eindecker back in the day. But then RU-vid went to hell and copyright claimed the entire video for creative commons music from the 1910s, and they made it clear little guys should just give up.
What's really amazing is practically every world war I fighter in about 1915 to 1918 on the average they almost got 20 miles to the gallon and went 100 miles an hour. And that was over a hundred years ago. A lot of cars get 30 miles to the gallon and even though some planes can go a little bit faster a lot of them don't get any better than 15 or 20 miles to the gallon when you take everything into account of course it varies with wind speed and altitude that's why they say how many hours for 40 or 20 gallon tank. Although with all the advancement in motors and all the advancement from going to jet to rock it to electric motors when it comes to going 100 to 150 mph in the sky they rarely get better than 20 miles to the gallon
Now remember that the original Oberursel was more or less a binary engine, either full power of nothing, since power was managed via the ignition and not a carb or injection.
It takes a brave man to fly an Eindecker given the plane's instability. Watching it fly, it's also hard to believe that the plane terrified allied pilots to the extent it did.
very fun, perhaps a shame we couldn't get to really see what made the place a "menace" as noted at 6:40 (there is a view of part of the interrupter gear in the photo of the original engine at 2:38)
I think that’s where the rules for flying came from Oscar Boelcke. Known as Dicta Boelcke rules for flying roughly translated to Boelcke’s dictates. As far as I know this is right you have to check it for yourself🤷🏻♂️ ☺️
When he says this aircraft has a modern engine I guess it has a throttle, which WWI planes didn't, they were either on or off and couldn't be re-started in the air (although some of the more advanced/later WWI engines had the option to turn of the spark to half the cylinders, reducing the thrust for landing approach). Kermit would be well aware of this.
@@lambastepirate I'm guessing the modern engine doesn't rely on castor oil also. How hard were the pilots back in the day? Much respect to the old pilots (and the new).
@ molly millions. Castor oil. Castrol can still be bought today. Don't know if Castrol R. Is still sold. Had a sweet distinctive smell and was used in two cycle racing engines.
Kermit has had some really unique aviation experience! Certainly not the best performer in WW1 but was a pioneer (ailerons on replica I'm sure made it a lot easier & safer to fly). Oswald Boelcke mentioned scored the most Eindecker victories - 19 out of his final tally of 40. Know Eric Brown has a long established record for types (487) of aircraft flown. Curious how close Kermit is to Mr. Brown's record & do replica's count in the tally?
Hard to believe that this scrawny E Series monoplane completely changed air warfare in WW1.........for a while. With it's revolutionary firing-thru-the-prop gun , it became known as the Fokker Scourge........RFC planes became 'Fokker Fodder' Later allied biplanes made it virtually obsolete..
Bellissimo però non è la versione originale. Questo velivolo ha gli alettoni mentre nel progetto di origine le ali si sventolano tramite tiranti e carrucole.❤
I don't think that the Eindecker had a gun that was "synchronized" to shoot throught the propeller. It shot through the prop, but if I remember correctly it just had metal wedges on the back of the prop to deflect bullets that hit it.
No, the Eindekkers DID have a synchronised gun (or 2 - or even 3, in the case of the EIV). That was its USP, and why it caused such mayhem. Earlier allied aircraft (particularly the Morane designs on which the Fokkers were based, had the metal plates on the propeller, which badly affected aircraft performance.
@@brom1857 Nope, originally they had metal wedges on the prop roots to deflect bullets. Unfortutately the shock of impact would eventually crack the wooden prop and one plane was catured by the British and the British were first to synchronize. Maybe later versions of teh Eindecker adopted sync but the British did a syncro first.
@Arthur Foyt Sorry, that doesn't accord with the history as I have read it over many years - in fact it is a 'mirror image'. There were various patented interrupter gears, some from before the war, but they had been forgotten. The first plated propeller blades were produced by the French. Their best-known and first 'ace' was Roland Garros, who shot down several German planes in early 1915, flying a Morane so equipped, but he was captured, and his secret was discovered by the Germans. Fokker 's engineers quickly developed a proper interrupter gear as a result - and used it on the Eindekker 1, and subsequent models. Meanwhile the British, with no such gear, developed the pusher fighters, DH2 and FE2, and used a side- mounted Lewis gun on the Bristol Scout C, firing outboard of the propeller. The French used the Nieuport 11, with an overwing mounted Lewis gun, firing above the propeller The first British interrupter gear was 1916's Vickers-Challenger, well after the Eindekkers had been defeated. The Eindekkers weren't brilliant fighter aircraft, but it was their modern gun mount which made their fearsome reputation.
@Arthur Foyt Think I've read most of them, too, over the years. But facts are facts - and there can be no doubt whatsoever that the French pioneered the bullet plate on the propeller, that the Fokker Scourge was the result of the first synchronised gun in service, nor that the British were way behind in developing an interrupter gear. You'd find the Aerodrome Forum a fascinating source of information on WW1 in the air.
How one knows this is a modernised replica , the ailerons. the orignal Fokker eindecker used wing warping to turn . and did no posses ailerons. Still understandable wingwarping is quite a complex system to apply .
@@KermitWeeks444 True jus adding some extra information before you get discusions on this is not correct or that ls incorrect. BTW did you know they rebuild a 1940 battle of the netherlands Fokker D21 . it crashed in may 1940 and its airframe with most salvagable parts was rebuild with period parts . There are several videos of it making taxi runs as they wait for the airworthy certificate to make its first flight . in 82 years.
