First World War planes to set off from Stow Maries Aerodrome for Battle of the Somme commemoration

A group of planes will fly 150 miles across the Channel from Stow Maries Aerodrome to Albert, just north of the River Somme in France, on the centenary of the start of the battle.

The Battle of the Somme began on July 1, 1916.

By the time it was over on November 18 it ranked as one of the bloodiest battles in human history.

In the 18 weeks of the Somme offensive 782 aircraft were lost, 586 aircrew were killed in combat and there were 268 non-battle casualties.

The aircraft for the return to the Somme flight are exact replicas of the originals.

They are owned by the WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust’s parent in New Zealand, chaired by the filmmaker and aviation enthusiast Sir Peter Jackson.

For the flight to the Somme on July 1, a BE2 and its erstwhile German opponent will fly together to Albert in tribute to the pioneer flyers on all sides who lost their lives in the conflict.

Of the 50 aircraft deployed by the Royal Flying Corps as part of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914, most were BE2s.

Dick Forsythe, chief trustee of the WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust, said: “The British BE2 aircraft is the hero of the piece but it very fragile, incredibly vulnerable and notoriously difficult to fly.

“The BE2 was designed in 1912, just three years after Bleriot flew across the Channel for the first time. In 1916 the pilots were flying into the unknown, on their own, and they were doing it in an aircraft with no radio or navigational aids, no brakes, no parachute, a bungee cord for suspension and covered in nothing more than Irish linen.

“The BE2 could do just 55mph and took an hour to climb to 8,000ft and another hour to get to 12,000ft. It was a very hazardous journey just getting to Northern France and a lot of the aircraft crashed during take-off or landing, or were lost in the Channel.

“Flying back to the Somme in identical aircraft is our homage to the brave pioneer pilots of WW1.”