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Fighting the Red Baron

Two Red Arrows pilots recreate the challenges the aviators of World War I faced, flying original WWI aircraft, to find out how this pioneering form of warfare changed so rapidly during the conflict

In 1914, when World War 1 began the aeroplane was so new the British had never used it in battle before. Eager recruits, some as young as seventeen, rushed to join the British army?s new aircraft service ? the Royal Flying Corps-and quickly came up against the Red Baron and the German hunting squadrons. By the end of the war in 1918the Royal Air Force had been formed to countera new and terrifying form of warfare and has been a force for good in the world ever since.

Fighting the Red Baron follows two modern-day pilots as they face the same challenges the aviators of WW1 faced, in order to find out how aerial warfare changed so quickly in just four years. In this film they fly original WW1 aircraft, and carry out the key challenges the plane took on in the course of WW1: photo reconnaissance, artillery ranging and bombing missions, all leading to a final classic dogfight in replica period aircraft kitted out with camera guns.

Helping them make the comparison with the modern RAF are Typhoon pilot Sqn Ldr Matt Peterson and Flt Lt Richard Bush from RAF Marham?s Tactical Imagery-Intelligence Wing.

At the start of the war, British High Command hadn?t realised how the plane would revolutionise warfare. But pilots quickly proved their worth spotting enemy movements from the air - and photo reconnaissance was born. At first on these early reconnaissance missions, British and German pilots flew past each other and waved, but they were soon duelling with pistols. The race to develop fighter planes to bring down the enemy was on.