Three iconic aircraft have been moved to the Royal Air Force Museum’s Cosford site for a new exhibition about the use of air power in the First World War.
The Bristol M1c, the Sopwith 1½ Strutter and the Sopwith Pup are due to go on display in the Museum’s War Planes Hangar in December 2014.
The Sopwith Pup is an original aircraft which was active during the First World War.
Regarded by its pilots as the perfect flying machine, the Pup was used extensively by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps both at home and abroad.
The Bristol M1c and Sopwith 1½ Strutter are full scale reproductions.
The aircraft were transported on lorries along the UK motorway network to Cosford in Shropshire from the RAF Museum’s Hendon site in Northwest London.
The Sopwith Pup will undergo some minor fabric repair work to its tail before going on display later this year.
All three planes will be exhibited as part of the RAF Museum’s First World War in the Air exhibition which will be a feature of both the Hendon and Cosford sites.
Fourteen aircraft, including a Sopwith Camel and a Fokker D.VII, will be on show at Hendon.
The Museum says the aim is to allow visitors to ‘discover and explore the unique and often overlooked role of air power during the First World War through the incredible stories of the men and women who took part.’
The exhibition has been made possible with a £900,000 grant from the UK’s Heritage Lottery Fund.
Source: RAF Museum
Images ©Trustees of the Royal Air Force Museum
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News