Crazy WW1 Aircraft With No Fuselage - Airco DH.2

Here's an old video of the Airco DH.2 of The Vintage Aviator Collection (in New Zealand) that we've upscaled to 720p so that you can enjoy watching this amazing piece of early aviation technology on a bigger screen.

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[ianmorris]

Superb to see one of Geoffrey De Havilland's old designs flying today!Awesome, thanks!🤓👍🏻
It may, as one pilot exclaimed, that it "dived like a brick", but alongside the French Nieuport 11 'Bebe' it arrested Air Superiority from the Fokker E1, 2&3's that had made anything that came before them obsolete as a majority at best when the single seat scout/fighter finally eclipsed the 2 seater as a premier fighting machine.

[oudeiseimi]

The radial sound is fantastic. I bet it would be a blast to fly.

[Xynudu]

Great stuff. Put a smile on my face. Bit of a bumpy landing.

Is that a replica?

[abcdefg]

I cant see why modern man, (with jelled hair) would think this design "crazy", it was a very good solution to the problem of firing a machine gun forward without shooting your prop off, it also gave a lot of rearward protection against enemy fire . It was not until much later the interrupter gear was invented so that you could shoot through the rotating propeller without hitting it.

[curtite]

If this is the similar airship that Major Lanoe Hawker used against Manfred von Richthofen's Albatros D.II, they should recreate their famous duel. Though it would not be the same without the handy rotary engine to bring the DH.2 about it's axis in a right turn.

[thomasfarr]

Gorgeous! I only wish it had a rotary engine instead of a radial.

[drivernjax]

Interesting. I had always been led to believe that a biplane only had ailerons on either the upper or lower wing. Now, I see that either I had been told incorrectly or the Airco DH.2 was innovative in this area. Either way, this a/c just proved what was rediscovered in recent years; an aircraft doesn't NEED a fuselage, just wings and control surfaces.

[generalripper]

How does it handle compared to a modern day sport aviation type aircraft?

[mikemusto]

Cool plane, but was it stirdy or flimsy? Thanks love the channel:)

[StewartNicolasBILLYCONNOLLY]

Men fought and died in this aircraft! At this point the Germans were ahead but the British RFC gave as good as they got. Later there was the Bristol Fighter, the Sopwith Camel and the S.E.5a which defeated the Fokker Eindecker and The D7 Albatross. Later....MUCH later...the Yanks arrived and claimed much of the credit, as if they were the seventh cavalry arriving just in time to save the British. They weren't and they didn't save anything! The German Establishment did not realise that they had actually won in 1918. They capitulated in fear of the USA manufacturing might.

[catholicdad]

My favorite WWI airplane. Didn't America's top WWI Ace fly one of these?