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BE2C
First World War Art  Aviation Art British Aviation  BE2C |
[UP] - SE5 - Sopwith Camel - Bristol F2B - DH2 - DH4 - Sopwith Pup - Vickers Gunbus - Sopwith Triplane - Handley Page HP0400 - BE2C - Bristol Scout - RE8 - FE2 - Nieuport 10 - Nieuport 17 - Nieuport Scout - Felixstowe F.3 - Fairey IIID - Fairey IIIF - Morane Saulnier Type L - Sopwith 1.5 Strutter - Sopwith Tabloid - British WW1 Aviation Print List |
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| Text for the above items : |
Zeppelin Gunners by Ivan Berryman. Droning over the coast en route to another night attack on mainland Britain, the Zeppelins top gun platform goes into action as BE.2 fighters wheel around the gas-filled giants, trying desperately to fire their Brock, Pomeroy and Sparklet ammunition into the volatile gasbags that lay beneath the Zeppelins skin. Often freezing cold, always vulnerable, the defensive gunners occupied a tiny, sunken recess on the very top of the airship, shielded from the buffeting winds only by a shallow screen and their thick leather flying suits. Just a handrail and a shallow step lay between them and a vertiginous drop over the rolling sides of their massive craft. Their air-cooled Parabellum MG.14 machine guns did little to repulse their attackers, whilst the great Zeppelins offered themselves as huge, bloated targets for ground artillery as well as the brave pilots of the RFC. |
A Zeppelin over London by Ivan Berryman. From 1915 to 1917, there existed a very real threat of a bombing campaign on mainland Britain as the giant German airships drifted silently and menacingly across the English Channel and the North Sea to deliver their deadly cargo on the towns and cities of the east coast. Countermeasures were soon put into action as powerful searchlights picked out the Zeppelins for the anti-aircraft batteries and RFC pilots to pour their unrelenting fire into the raiders, sometimes with little effect, sometimes with catastrophic results. Here, 2nd Lieutenant Brandons BE.2 climbs for position, its exhaust pipes aglow in the dark, whilst flak bursts all around the massive bulk of the L.33 as she passes over the east end of London on the night of 23 / 24th September 1916. |
Tribute to Louis Strange by Ivan Berryman. Having made his name as a fine fighter pilot, innovator and prankster, Royal Navy pilot Captain Louis Strange took the air in his 6 Sqn BE2c on Christmas Day 1914, flew menacingly low over the German occupied airfield at Lille and bombed it with footballs. |
Lieutenant W L Robinson Attacks an Enemy Airship and Brings it Down in Flames by W Avis (P) On the night of September 2nd-3rd 1916. Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson, of the Worcester Regiment and Royal Flying Corps, attacked an enemy airship under circumstances of great difficulty and danger, and sent it crashing to the ground as a flaming wreck at Cuffley, near Enfield. He had been in the air for more than two hours, and had previously attacked another airship during his flight. For this act of most conspicuous bravery he was deservedly rewarded with the VC. |
William Leefe-Robinson by Ivan Berryman. Lieutenant Leefe-Robinsons BE2C, converted to single-seater night-fighter configuration, destroying the German SL11 over Hertfordshire on the night of 2/3 September, 1916. Robinson attacked the SL11 from below, raking it with incendiary fire, before turning and diving past the airship for another attack. As he did so, the airship exploded into flames and crashed into a field near Cuffley, killing all sixteen crew. For this action, Leefe-Robinson was awarded the VC. |
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