Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson will fly a WW1 replica plane as part of The Great War Display Team performance at the Duxford Air Show
The September 13/14 weekend event will commemorate the centenary of the First World War’s outbreak. Replicas of aircraft from this conflict will be taking to the sky above the air show-hosting Imperial War Museum Duxford when The Great War Display Team performs.
Dickinson joined The Great War Display Team this year after buying a replica Fokker Dr1 triplane - the model was used by Manfred von Richthofen, known as the Red Baron, during the First World War. He will fly at Duxford Air Show alongside the team’s Sopwith triplane, Royal Aircraft Factory SE5, Junkers CLI and Royal Aircraft Factory BE2 aircraft.
The singer, whose godfather and uncle both served in the RAF, qualified as a commercial pilot in the 1990s and flew Iron Maiden on their 2008-09 world tour in a converted Boeing 747, named Ed Force One after the band’s mascot Eddie the Head.
He said he only decided against applying to join the RAF and turned to rock music instead because he was “rubbish at maths and physics”.
“I started actually flying at the ripe old age of 30 and 7,000 hours later I finished up as a Boeing 757 captain and 737 instructor,” says Dickinson. “Luckily the aircraft design I fly is still older than me but the gap is closing. In my spare time I sing a bit, own a company that fixes airliners and am trying to bring airships back into the skies... I should have been born in 1898, not 1958. C’est la vie.”
More details about The Duxford Air Show can be found here.
Dickinson and The Great War Display Team staged a 12-minute air display in the skies above Knebworth Park prior to the band’s performance at Sonisphere UK on July 5th – check out video of the action here.
Iron Maiden recently wrapped up their Maiden England world tour, which saw the band play 100 shows to more than 2 million fans in 32 countries over the course of the 2-year run, which began in June 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
See also:
Iron Maiden to reissue back catalogue on vinyl
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Search Iron Maiden at hennemusic
