Historical:

Franz Buchner was one of the most successful German fighter aces of the First World War, shooting down 40 enemy aircraft. He began his military career as a 16-year-old infantryman. His doughty exploits earned him a battlefield commission just after his 18th birthday, in early 1916. After being wounded and invalided from the infantry, he joined the Imperial German Air Service. Once he progressed to become a fighter pilot flying a Fokker D.VII, he initially struggled to gain his first aerial victories. Something clicked after his fifth victory, and he began to regularly shoot down enemy airplanes, scoring 35 victories between 1 July and 22 October 1918. Most notably, he shot down four SPADs on 26 September. He survived the war, but died in action in 1920 while combating communist revolutionaries near Leipzig.

Designed by Reinhold Platz to participate in Germany's first single-seat fighter competition, the D.VII prototype (V.11) was first flown in December 1917. Constructed of fabric-covered wire-braced welded steel tubing and powered by an innovative 160 horsepower engine, the D.VII's greatest strength was its maneuverability at high altitudes. D.VII aircrews were equipped with two synchronized 7.92mm machine guns, with which they achieved some remarkable kill-to-loss ratios. By the end of WWI, the Fokker D.VII was regarded as the best German fighter in service, so good, in fact, that one of the Allies' Armistice terms was that all Fokker D.VII's be surrendered.

The Wings of The Great War range presents affordable, ready-made resin models of WWI aircraft. Each model is crafted and painted by hand and features a unique pivoting stand that allows the model to be displayed at a variety of different attitudes.

Wings of The Great War display airplanes feature:

• Molded resin construction with no assembly required.
• Fixed, non-rotating propellers and wheels.
• Poseable presentation stand to display the aircraft "in flight".

Info: Fokker D.VII - Luftstreitkrafte, Franz Buchner, 1917