In 1914 a new kind of Hero was born the fighter ace
These men took to the air in Flimsy primitive aircraft and fought to the death
Today, I'm going to find out what it's like to be in the middle of a world war one dog fight
I'm flying with the great war display team in a replica of the British Be2
This is a reconnaissance aircraft, so I'm in the observers seat at the front
The Be2 was famed for its stability in flight
Perfect as an observation platform but hopeless at fighting
Planes like this would usually be accompanied by a more nimble fighter
My escort is this Sopwith triplane?
maneuverable and well armed
But for a dogfight we need an opponent
Our nemesis is a Fokker Dr1 triplane
It was Germany's answer to the Sopwith they took the British design and improved on it
It spotted us and decided to go in for the kill
air to air combat decides who lives and who dies a
Young German Ace Oswald Boelcke
Decided to change that he wrote a list of what he believed were the key tactics of aerial combat
The Dicta Polka so here is bonkers guide to winning a dogfight
secure the upper hand before attacking
The Fokker is using the sun to mask its attack
It's also climbed up higher than the Sopwith if you have the height you have the stored energy which you can convert to speed
The fucker attacks hoping to take out the Sopwith with ambush. He can see the plane, but he's not firing yet
He's following another of Boelcke's dictum's
Open fire only at close range
But the Sopwith got lucky and spotted the Fokker
time for the next rule
if your opponent dives on
Fly to meet it
Facing a tag your instinct might be to flee but in fact flying toward your attacker is the best strategy
By turning up. It makes it harder for the fucker to hit it the sopwith survived and now it's got the height advantage
The two sides are now maneuvering putting into practice another one of booker's rules
It's essential to assail your opponent from behind
The two Pilots are now twisting and turning
desperately trying to get behind the other it's a battle of nerves wits
and engineering
Both Pilots are pushing their planes to the limit, it's this that drove such rapid technological development
Just turning a little bit faster and tighter can be enough to secure victory
In this case it's the Fokker that has the advantage it has the Sopwith in its sights and fires
The Sopwith has been hit it's thin canvas walls offer no protection for the pilot or fuel tanks
We're now on our own with no escort. We're sitting duck
But the stability of the Be2 makes it hopeless against the Fokker
We've been hit
Even though I wasn't flying the plane. I still found that dogfight an exhausting experience
And to do that day in day out for much much longer sorties up to a couple of hours
With people shooting at you
It's hard to imagine
Not surprisingly the life expectancy of pilots was measured in weeks, not years
Those that made it safely to the ground were the lucky ones
Just a few months after writing his rules Boelcke was killed during a dogfight. He collided with another German aircraft
He was just 25 years old
Technology may have evolved Beyond all recognition, but today every fighter pilot still needs to know how to win an aerial dogfight