# Rare Aviation films/newsreels



## CharlesBronson (May 11, 2016)

With the recent restoration and digitalization of film archives by many european countries there are now many sources to watch WW1 videos wich until recently were very much unknown, I created this topic for posting and talking about the (in my view) most interesting clips and parts of that films..

something for a start, Hermann Göring at his Fokker DV, 1918. Notice the telescopic gunsight.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wurger (May 11, 2016)




----------



## CharlesBronson (May 12, 2016)

Testing with a Sopwith Strutter on HMS Argus 1918.

Reactions: Like Like:
2 | Like List reactions


----------



## CharlesBronson (May 13, 2016)

Bombing up a Farman biplane some 101 years ago. Apparently this plane carried only bombs and some pistols, no machineguns in sight.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Gnomey (May 13, 2016)

Good stuff!


----------



## CharlesBronson (May 14, 2016)

Gnomey said:


> Good stuff!


Thank you

A day with the Red Baron, alarmstart of the Fokker Dr1 F102, (actually was painted green) , Richthofens 61st victory, pilot captured unhurt.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Old Wizard (May 14, 2016)




----------



## tigerphoenixsing (May 14, 2016)

These films are just wonderful Thank you for starting this thread. What kind of aircraft is it that Richthoven has shot down?
Best regards
Tony


----------



## CharlesBronson (May 15, 2016)

tigerphoenixsing said:


> These films are just wonderful Thank you for starting this thread. What kind of aircraft is it that Richthoven has shot down?
> Best regards
> Tony



Apparently was a Sopwith Pup, the biplane belongeg to the 46 Sqn RFC, name of the pilot is quited as "Bird", wich is a proper name for a flyer.

Bomber Handley Page:

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Milosh (May 20, 2016)

Nice video.

Did I see Herman on the left in the scene with the pilots?

Notice the priming of the cylinders with fuel before start up.


----------



## vikingBerserker (May 20, 2016)

Excellent!


----------



## CharlesBronson (May 20, 2016)

Milosh said:


> Nice video.
> 
> Did I see Herman on the left in the scene with the pilots?
> 
> Notice the priming of the cylinders with fuel before start up.




In the DR.1 video Goring appears at 3:05 min.


----------



## CharlesBronson (May 21, 2016)

Taking off with the Albatross scout fighter, flight above snowed terrain, winter 1917.


----------



## Wurger (May 21, 2016)




----------



## Milosh (May 21, 2016)

Another nice film of Albatros D.Is or D.IIs.

What is the object of the wing at ~1:00?

colour profiles, WWI Aircraft Profile Gallery: Fighters Albatros Flugzeugwerke


----------



## CharlesBronson (May 21, 2016)

Milosh said:


> Another nice film of Albatros D.Is or D.IIs.
> 
> What is the object of the wing at ~1:00?
> 
> colour profiles, WWI Aircraft Profile Gallery: Fighters Albatros Flugzeugwerke



Probably is the support for the Gopro cam.......

Just kidding, is a good question,I dont know.


----------



## nuuumannn (May 23, 2016)

> What is the object of the wing at ~1:00?



It's one of these; it's an airspeed indicator, the wee vane turns and provides pressure in the valve, which moves the needle.







This one's off an Albatros D Va. (Fxxking Photobucket won't allow me to edit the image by putting it the right way round.)

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## CharlesBronson (May 23, 2016)

nuuumannn said:


> It's one of these; it's an airspeed indicator, the wee vane turns and provides pressure in the valve, which moves the needle.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Here....






I suppose that was the "pitot tube"of that early age. Thanks.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Airframes (May 24, 2016)

Great videos - i din't know the one with von Richthofen even existed.

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## CharlesBronson (May 25, 2016)

Good morning, Happy revolution day for everyone, I found this clips, can anyone indentify this old string birds.





*Great videos - i din't know the one with von Richthofen even existed.*

Thanks, they always put a glimpse of that in WW1 documentaries, but the secuence is much longer.


----------



## nuuumannn (May 26, 2016)

> Happy revolution day for everyone



Yes indeed Happy Veinticinco de Mayo (for yesterday), CB.

Nice clips, the Onree Farman HF.20 was available in numbers in the first year or two of the war, but was obsolescent by mid 1915; during the Dardanelles campaign the commander of 3 Sqn RNAS, Charles Samson described them as "useless", preferring the steel tube Farman F.27 with its more powerful Canton Unne radial.

Just a wee note about the clip aboard HMS Argus, Bell-Davies was only the fourth aerial VC recipient, carrying out the first aerial combat rescue of Lt Smyllie, who was forced down over enemy lines late in the Dardanelles campaign (again), whilst under fire.

Reactions: Bacon Bacon:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## CharlesBronson (May 26, 2016)

nuuumannn said:


> Yes indeed Happy Veinticinco de Mayo (for yesterday), CB.
> 
> Nice clips, the Onree Farman HF.20 was available in numbers in the first year or two of the war, but was obsolescent by mid 1915; during the Dardanelles campaign the commander of 3 Sqn RNAS, Charles Samson described them as "useless", preferring the steel tube Farman F.27 with its more powerful Canton Unne radial.
> 
> Just a wee note about the clip aboard HMS Argus, Bell-Davies was only the fourth aerial VC recipient, carrying out the first aerial combat rescue of Lt Smyllie, who was forced down over enemy lines late in the Dardanelles campaign (again), whilst under fire.



Interesting, are the last ones HF20 ?
Thanks for the adition on the carrier test vid, I think Bell-Davies was killed in one of those carrier test, cant recall well, I believe there is another clip with the Strutter falling into the sea.


----------



## Graeme (Jun 1, 2016)

CharlesBronson said:


> can anyone indentify this old string birds.



Charles, I think they're Farman F.20s....

(EDIT : Sorry, didn't realise there was a Page 2 and Numann had answered this a while ago. )


----------



## CharlesBronson (Jun 1, 2016)

Graeme said:


> Charles, I think they're Farman F.20s....
> 
> (EDIT : Sorry, didn't realise there was a Page 2 and Numann had answered this a while ago. )
> 
> ...



"The flying bathub" thanks Graeme.


----------



## nuuumannn (Jun 2, 2016)

Yes, thanks Graeme, I should have replied sooner. Here's an H.F.20 that's come to grief in circumstances unrecorded - taken during the Dardanelles campaign in mid 1915.


----------



## Wurger (Jun 2, 2016)




----------



## CharlesBronson (Jun 3, 2016)

A clip of Nieuport biplanes in the outskirts of Verdun, I think they are Nieuport babies, but dunno.


----------



## nuuumannn (Jun 4, 2016)

yep, Nieuport 11s, although the aircraft with the rear firing gun mount looks like a Morane Saulnier Parasol. I thought it was possibly a Nieuport 10, which was a two seater, but it has a flat rear deck, which the Nieuport didn't have and there's a lack of interplane struts.


----------



## Graeme (Jun 4, 2016)

Pondered this clip today. At around 43 seconds you see this close-up shot...






Now have a look at these two shots, looking at the strut arrangement and that "plate" on the side....











To me it matches the top one rather than the lower one. It's a Nieuport 10. The lower one is the Nieuport 11 with the single support struts. But that line-up at the start of the clip could well be Nieuport 10s _and_ 11s. Hard to tell.

And what they're chasing at the end of the clip...






Is it a Maurice Farman MF.11 Shorthorn??...

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## CharlesBronson (Jun 4, 2016)

Very good,very investigation, CSI of WW1 planes  Graeme.


----------



## Graeme (Jun 4, 2016)

I could well be wrong Charles, I'm an amateur - but I have fun trying! 

Thanks for posting the clips mate, enjoyable and educational - keep'em coming!


----------



## nuuumannn (Jun 5, 2016)

You could be right, Graeme. The Nieuport X C.1 was a purpose built single seater variant that led to the XI; the line up in the first shot shows Nieuport XIs, but there are probably the Xs in there as well. Nice work.


----------



## CharlesBronson (Jun 7, 2016)

Flight over the french city of laon in summer 1917, according to Bundesarchiv sidenotes the plane is a AEG CIV: Subtitles created by me.


----------



## Gnomey (Jun 17, 2016)

Good video!


----------



## nuuumannn (Jun 20, 2016)

Nice clip CB. Happy Veinte de Junio, by the way, I hope you're enjoying the long weekend...


----------



## Wurger (Jun 20, 2016)




----------



## Graeme (Jun 20, 2016)

Gents - it takes off as an AEG as Charles says, but at around 5 minutes 30 seconds it lands as an...Albatross of sorts??


----------



## CharlesBronson (Jun 21, 2016)

nuuumannn said:


> Nice clip CB. Happy Veinte de Junio, by the way, I hope you're enjoying the long weekend...



Thanks, excesively long for my taste , for independent workers is not very good.

*Gents - it takes off as an AEG as Charles says
*
Yea, the differences between the two planes are quite evident, maybe it is an Albatross DIII.


----------



## nuuumannn (Jun 26, 2016)

Hi CB, An Albatros D V, you can tell by the Vee struts and if they have a wee detuning strut attached to the forward strut of the V down to the lower wing, it's a D Va.


----------



## CharlesBronson (Jun 29, 2016)

nuuumannn said:


> Hi CB, An Albatros D V, you can tell by the Vee struts and if they have a wee detuning strut attached to the forward strut of the V down to the lower wing, it's a D Va.



I still cant learn to differentiate that family biplanes, fortunately there are sharp eyed members like you.

A very interesting 28 min clip dealing with manufacture under licence in USA of several european warplanes including the Handley page heavy bomber.


----------



## nuuumannn (Jul 1, 2016)

CharlesBronson said:


> fortunately there are sharp eyed members like you



I don't know about that, too much time spent looking at books instead of going outside to play... There's one that is stumping me in that last clip; at 28:33 there's a two seat three bay biplane powered by what looks like a Hispano Suiza Vee 8 engine, which I can't identify. Like the footage of the Handley Page bomber, it's often overlooked that during Billy Mitchell's bombing demonstrations of ships off the Outer Banks, these were among the formations of aircraft that took part in the bombing.


----------



## Graeme (Jul 1, 2016)

nuuumannn said:


> I don't know about that, too much time spent looking at books instead of going outside to play...



Ditto that childhood! 



nuuumannn said:


> There's one that is stumping me in that last clip; at 28:33 there's a two seat three bay biplane powered by what looks like a Hispano Suiza Vee 8 engine, which I can't identify.



Is this the one we're looking for Nuuumann (Grant?)?


----------



## nuuumannn (Jul 2, 2016)

Yep that's the beastie. Don't know what it is. Looks like it has a ply skinned fuselage and that radiator looks like a smoke stack.


----------



## Graeme (Jul 2, 2016)

First thought was something along the lines of the LWF G.2?


----------



## nuuumannn (Jul 3, 2016)

Hmm, had to look that up too, Graeme and I don't think it is since the LWF has a Liberty V-12 whereas our mystery machine has what appears to be a Hisso V-8, also it's three bay, whereas the LWF is two bay. The tail is distinctive. I'll have to keep looking...


----------



## CharlesBronson (Jul 5, 2016)

Film dealing with the Lewis machinegun and his Scarff mounting, the video is very good on quality, french archive restorers have made a fine job !


----------



## Wurger (Jul 5, 2016)




----------



## CharlesBronson (Jul 16, 2016)

One more of the Farman 11, this time a photo recce variant...

Reactions: Informative Informative:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Wurger (Jul 16, 2016)




----------



## CharlesBronson (Jul 22, 2016)

Testing 2 large german navy zeppelins


----------



## Wurger (Jul 22, 2016)




----------



## Graeme (Jul 26, 2016)

nuuumannn said:


> that radiator looks like a smoke stack.



G'day Grant.

Posted the photo elsewhere and a very clever friend suggested the possibility it may be an "experimental" wheeled version of the N-9H?


----------



## CharlesBronson (Jul 27, 2016)

Bizarre bird, the US aircraft design at that time were not very mature I suppose.


----------



## nuuumannn (Jul 27, 2016)

Y'know Graeme, you might have cracked it; it certainly looks the part. Nice detective work.



CharlesBronson said:


> Bizarre bird, the US aircraft design at that time were not very mature I suppose.



Yeah, the Curtiss company was one of the very few US manufacturers that produced good indigenous designs that saw use beyond the USA.


----------



## Graeme (Jul 30, 2016)

Bingo?

Found in Aerofiles by that very clever friend of mine - but minimal history provided for it...


----------



## CharlesBronson (Jul 31, 2016)

Graeme said:


> Bingo?
> 
> Found in Aerofiles by that very clever friend of mine - but minimal history provided for it...
> 
> View attachment 349417



The nose looks like it was inspired by the Albatross D series.


----------



## CharlesBronson (Oct 5, 2016)

Hello to all. I would like to politely ask to WW1 experten here.... WHAT THE HECK IS THIS ??


----------



## CharlesBronson (Oct 7, 2016)

BY the way, the longer film from wich I had cut the clip above is this one. In that you could see a early french "gunship" firing a 37mm in the ground, the biplane is (I think) a Voisin VII.


_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHMHQfpg_k_


----------



## Graeme (Oct 19, 2016)

CharlesBronson said:


> WHAT THE HECK IS THIS ??



Hi Charles.

I'm thinking one of the Caproni Ca 3 series. You can make out the triple tail and the pusher prop at the back - but the top wing gondola gunner's position is new to me. Usually you see a cage-like construction at the back. I have read that the French manufactured the Caproni under license, so I wonder if they tweaked and experimented with the design?


----------



## Graeme (Oct 19, 2016)

CharlesBronson said:


> In that you could see a early french "gunship" firing a 37mm in the ground, the biplane is (I think) a Voisin VII.



I agree - a Voisin of some description.

But at the very start or your clip - looks like a Breguet Br.M5...











Fascinating clips as always mate! 
Cheers!


----------



## CharlesBronson (Oct 26, 2016)

Graeme said:


> I agree - a Voisin of some description.
> 
> But at the very start or your clip - looks like a Breguet Br.M5...
> 
> ...



Those were ugly but really interesting machines, thank you.


----------



## CharlesBronson (Dec 23, 2016)

The first gunship, Voisin VII load a fire and take off in Greece. Video made up from 3 films.

remarkable that it could fire a 37mm without falling apart !!


----------



## Gnomey (Dec 23, 2016)

Cool!


----------



## Blacklist (Feb 14, 2017)

I viewed these shorts. Interesting stuff.

My interest is period fonts or lettering on the DR1.

I know when these aircraft get restored little attention is paid to the smaller lettering. Generally done my machine cut "paint masks."

Done by hand in the day. So I'm attempting to get correct information as to the lettering used?

I do see some variations in art drawings, but are these correct? One could only guess.

Anyone have reliable info on fonts of that day and what was used on the DR1?

Thanks in advance.

Blacklist


----------

