BE.2c, BE.2f, FE.2b, DVa, Triplane and the Blue Ma

[Gavin Conroy]

It has been an amazing year on the WW1 front in New Zealand.
Has been just under a calendar year since the FE.2b first flew and in the same year we have seen the Avro 504k, BE.2f, BE.2c, Albatros DVa take to air.

An amazing year indeed.
I recently flew with the two BEs again except this time the pair were flown together and was quite a sight.
The BE.2c would have to be one of the most beautiful aircraft I have seen in flight and the two should feature soon in a magazine article and the comparison is quite interesting.

BE.2c


BE.2f


FE.2b


Albatros


Albatros and Pfalz D.III


Albatros


Sopwith Triplane


Sopwith and Fokker Triplane


The Blue Max pair

[Dave Homewood]

Wonderful photos. That BE2c looks really nice, doesn't it? Is that early WWI military colours or is it in a civil (ie factory) livery? It's a rel contrast to the other one in green. I only just noticed the 'c' has skids.

I'm looking forward to seeing the photos of the two BE2's together.

[ZacYates]

I'm with Dave, as a big Be fan I'm very keen to see and read about the two together. I love the C, for some reason it simply appeals to me more than the F. I think it may the the simple scheme, equal-span wings, and the skids. Glorious machine!

As always, wonderful pics Gav you lucky devil! Looking forward to seeing all these in the flesh again soon.

[Andy Wright]

Simply superb.

[baz62]

Very nice photos. There seems to be quite a bit of difference in the engine installation between the Be2-C and -F at least visually. Are the engines the same just a different setup?

[shamus]

Seeing we have a couple of Blue Max aeroplanes, I thought I might add in a couple of photos given
me by my good friend, John Earnshaw who was one of the camera men on the original Blue Max film
As he told it to me, the plane did not come over the camera low enough as in the photo and the pilot was instructed to come down lower. He did, and hit the camera, tearing it out of the camera mans hands. The cameraman, not John, was not hurt but it was a close shave. Will try and get a photo of it after it happened and post it.

[Dave Homewood]

Amazing shots Jim, thanks for sharing them.