Great War Treasure

摘要

Since discovering the rare remains of some early RAF bombers in lndia, Guy Black and his Retrotec team have returned a rare DH.9 to the air. Retrotec has been responsible for many stunning aircraft 'rebirths' over the years (see Striving for Perfection in August's issue), but this is arguably its crowning glory. The Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Airco) DH.9 was first conceived by Geoffrey de Havilland while he was a designer with that company, before starting his own famous eponymous firm. It was a development of the DH.4 with many of the components being shared, but it also lays claim to being the first strategic bomber whose bombs were no longer dropped by hand over the side - they were housed within the fuselage instead. The introduction of the large biplane enabled far larger payloads to be dispatched more accurately over enemy targets, using a bomb sight fitted into the aircraft's floor.