WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust

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WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust

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We exist solely to keep the Aviation Legacy of World War 1 alive! Support flypasts and static displays at commemorative events.

The WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust Aircraft Collection will:

Advance your understanding of the history of the evolution of military aviation during the Great War by flying displays, dioramas and educational coures as a testament to the men and machines and their sacrifice. Demonstrate at air shows in the UK, in 2014-2018 and beyond, how the aircrews, technology and tactics evolved during WW1. Offer apprenticeships in vintage aircraft preservation, restoration and reproduction.

30/10/2026

A small favour.

If you know a teacher of children aged 10 to 15, anywhere in the world, please send them this.

The Poetry Plane carries children's First World War poems to France and drops them at the Somme commemorations, on paper that grows poppies, cornflowers and forget-me-nots where it lands.

https://ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk/go/poetry

23/10/2026

Planning Remembrance lessons for November?

Our Poetry Plane resources are free to download: a poem-writing lesson video by the poet Simon Mole, a seven-minute slideshow, and lesson plans in English and French, written for children aged 10 to 15.

Any poems your class writes this term can join next year's drops.

https://ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk/poetry-plane-resources/

20/10/2026

Four places, one summer.

Lochnagar Crater and Thiepval, 1 July 1916: the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Le Quesnoy, 4 November 1918: New Zealand soldiers climbed the ramparts and freed the town, one week before the Armistice.
Le Hamel, 4 July 1918: remembering the battle Australian forces led there.

This summer the Poetry Plane dropped children's poems at all four. Schools in New Zealand and Australia have already shown interest. Any school that can't post seeded paper to Europe can be paired with a school here, whose children will copy the poems out for the drop.

https://ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk/go/poetry

Primary schools in Essex can also book a free STEM simulator visit: a WW1 fighter mission, a quiz about the life of a famous WW1 pilot, and poem-writing (we bring the paper), all in one school day.
https://ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk/go/bookings

16/10/2026

Thank you Chris, incredible work!

16/10/2026

How the Poetry Plane works.

1. Your class writes poems about the First World War, on paper seeded with memorial flowers.
2. The poems come to us.
3. We fly them to France and drop them from the air at the Somme commemorations.

For children aged 10 to 15, anywhere in the world. Registration for the next cycle is open, and the link is in our bio.

14/10/2026

Thursday at Winter Gardens Academy on Canvey Island.

Three of our volunteers, Peter, Ant and Ed, spent the day with two Year 5/6 classes: a talk on the aeroplanes of the First World War, a turn in our flight simulator and VR, a quiz, and poetry.

On Saturday, their teacher Carly Virgo wrote to us:

"I just wanted to say a huge thank you on behalf of the children and staff who were involved in the visit on Thursday. It was a truly wonderful day."

Thank you, Winter Gardens. You were brilliant hosts, and thank you for the photos.

Our school visits are for schools in Essex. To book one:
https://ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk/go/bookings

Teaching anywhere else? The Poetry Plane is open to schools in every country:
https://ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk/go/poetry

13/10/2026

The Poetry Plane flies again.

Every year, children aged 10 to 15 write poems about the First World War. We fly them to France and drop them from the air at the commemorations for the Battle of the Somme.

This summer, children from more than 50 schools in 27 countries wrote over 2,000 poems. They fell at Lochnagar Crater, Thiepval, Le Quesnoy and Le Hamel.

The poems are written on paper seeded with poppies, cornflowers and forget-me-nots, the memorial flowers of Britain and the Commonwealth, France and Germany. Where they land, they can grow.

Registration is open for the next cycle. If you teach, or you know someone who does, this is the link to send them:
https://ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk/go/poetry

11/10/2026

Here the diary stops, and we want to be straight with you about why.

The pages covering 11 October to 22 November 1914 have not survived in the papers we hold. Six weeks are missing — and they are not quiet ones. They contain his entry into the trenches and the first twenty-five of the forty-three consecutive days in the line for which he is chiefly remembered.

And they contain something else. On 21 October 1914, at Le Maisnil, Liddell handled his machine guns in a way that won him the Military Cross — gazetted the following February. The pages describing the action he was decorated for are among the ones we do not have.

We could have skipped over all this. We would rather show you the shape of the hole, because that is what working from a real archive actually looks like.

The diary picks up again on 23 November, a month into the line, in the cold. We will be here.

ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk

10/10/2026

10 October 1914. St. Omer: eggs, coffee, a hot bath, a proper dinner, and sheets.

The card shows the good part. The whole day is longer — Etaples about seven, Blendecques about one, then the march into St. Omer, the battalion into cavalry barracks while Henderson, Aitken and himself find rooms at the Hotel de Commerce.

It is the last comfortable night in the surviving diary for a very long time. The next page we hold is 23 November, and by then he has been in the trenches a month.

ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk

09/10/2026

9 October 1914. Sixteen hours after the marching starts, a first-class carriage.

He notes the comfort. He has been sleeping in woods and valises for three weeks.

ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk

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