Claude Grahame-White was one of the first to qualify as a pilot in England. He received licence No 6 in 1910. In 1911 he established a flying school at Hendon aerodrome. A few years ago an original World War I Grahame-White aircraft factory hangar was relocated to Hendon and today it houses the museum’s World War I collection – the Grahame White Factory.
Picture above is from another WWI factory, with the assembly of…
…the famous trainer Avro 504K. More than 8,000 were built during the war!
Introduced as a two-seat fighter on the Western Front in late 1915 the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E. 2b was soon outperformed by German fighter aircraft and transferred to night-time duties, which explains the paint-scheme on this aircraft. 
The condition of many of the aircraft here is remarkable. This is however a flyable replica built in New Zealand using a few original parts of…
…the Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8. It was the RFC/RAF’s most widely used type of Corps reconnaissance aircraft from 1917.
This Albatros D.Va is also a flyable replica aircraft built in New Zealand in 2011, using an original contemporary Mercedes D.III engine from RAF Museum stocks.
This poster is warning of “the hun in the sun” and shows an Albatros attacking a Bristol Fighter. The museum…
…provides its visitors with an opportunity to get a good view of the working conditions for the crew of a Bristol Fighter.
The Bristol F.2b Fighter was used for offensive patrols, photographic reconnaissance, escort fighting and ground attacks.
The Sopwith Camel was the highest scoring fighter of World War One, “so famous the Arabs named an animal after it”. Nicknamed “The King of the Air Fighters” this was the WWI equivalent to the the Spitfire in WWII.
I find the quote and facts above moving. Albert Ball had shot down 44 aircraft when he died at the age of 20. War is terrible…
The Fokker D.VII is considered to be one of the outstanding fighters of World War One. It was so successful that it was the only aircraft to be singled out by the Allied Powers in the Armistice Agreement section which detailed war material to be handed over: “In erster Linie alle Apparate D.VII (especially all first line D.VII aircraft)”. 
The Sopwith Dolphin’s unusual wing layout with its ‘backwards stagger’ was designed to provide the pilot with excellent all round visibility. It was also the world’s first single seat multi-gun fighter as it entered service in February 1918.
