The Airco DH2 was the second design by Geoffrey de Havilland. First flying in June 1915, it featured a layout similar to the contemporary Vickers Gunbus: a pusher engine, with the armament consisting of a Lewis gun! Power was provided by a 100hp Gnome rotary engine, which gave it a top speed of 93 miles per hour. (Compare that with fighters of the second world war, just 25 years later, which were already pushing 400mph - the pace of development over those 25 years eclipses anything before or since). It was a single seater, grossing 1,440lb. it is 25 feet 2 inches long, and has a wing span of 28 feet 3 inches. 400 were built.

This one was pictured at a wet Mildenhall in May 1987.

The Sopwith Triplane was one of the earliest fighters used in the First World War. It was designed by the legendary Thomas Sopwith, who lived to see the successors of the company he founded producing the Harrier jump-jet. The first one was delivered in June 1916 (to No 201 squadron) and was in action on the day it arrived. Like many aircraft of its day, it was powered by a rotary engine: where the crankshaft is stationary and the cylinders, and the propeller, rotate round it. This makes it difficult to start and adjust, and uses a lot of oil, but the momentum of the whirling engine helps keep it going. The idea of the three wings was to make it more agile in dogfights. It was able to reach 117mph, respectable for its day, and could get up to 20,000 feet (but must have taken ages to do so!).

This one is an accurate replica, seen at Cranfield, date unknown.

The Sopwith Pup first went into action with 54 Squadron in France in December 1916. It was a highly capable fighter and, skilfully flown, could match the German Albatross D.5, then the state of the art. Its armament was a single 0.303 inch machine gun, but some versions could be armed with rockets mounted on the wing struts! It could manage 110mph on its Le Rhone rotary engine.

This one is actually a reconstruction of a Sopwith Dove, a two seat civilianised version converted after the war in 1919 and seen at Cranfield.

The Bristol Fighter represented the next generation of aircraft after the early Rotary powered examples. It was powered by a Rolls-Royce kestrel inline engine, which gave it a top speed of 123mph. It was initially flown as a two seater, entering service as such in June 1917. Early losses led to experiments with operating it with only one person, which were successful, and the `Brisfit' went on to become one of the most successful aircraft of the first world war. It was one of the first aircraft to feature a synchronised machine gun firing through the propeller arc for greater aiming accuracy.

This is an original Bristol F2B, kept in flying condition by the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden, where it was seen in 1991.

The Bristol M1C monoplane scout was one of the few monoplanes to be used by the British forces in the first world war. First flown in July 1916, it incorporated a number of advanced features including a gun synchronised to fire through the propeller arc, so in theory it would hit whatever the aeroplane was pointing at. Its 110hp Le Rhone engine gave it a top speed of 130mph, and a gross weight of 1,350lb. It is only 20 feet 4 inches long, with a wing span of 30 feet 9 inches. Despite its sound design and respectable performance, only 130 were built.

Photograph by Ivy at Old Warden in April 2005.

The SE5A was made by the Royal Aircraft Factory during the first world war. First delivered in March 1917, they were a potent addition to British fighter forces. Powered by a Hispano-Suiza inline engine of 200hp, it could reach speeds of 130mph. Uniquely for a single seater of the period, it had two machine guns: one on the fuselage firing through the propeller arc, and one above the wing.

This one was flying at the Biggin Hill air display in May 1984. Lower photograph at Old Warden in April 2005, by Ivy.

The Hawker Hind was one of a series of elegant biplane fighters made between the wars by the Hawker company, founded by Harry Hawker to take over the design capability of the Sopwith company after it went bankrupt in the 1920s. Other types in the series, all of similar general layout, included the Hart, Fury and Demon. Powered by a 640hp Rolls-Royce Kestrel inline engine, it was capable of 185mph and was armed with a mixture of machine guns and bombs.

Hinds were mainly made for export, this one having served with the Afghan air force until it returned to Britain in the 1970s for restoration. Today it flies with the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden, where it was pictured in 1991. Lower picture by Ivy in April 2005.

The Gloster Gladiator was the last of Britain's biplane fighters. They entered service in March 1937, and production ended three years later after 209 had been built. They were powered by the Bristol Mercury radial engine (same as the Bristol Blenheim bomber) and could reach 250mph - very respectable for a biplane. Armament was four Browning .303 machine guns. The most famous action they took part in was when four Gladiators from Malta helped see off an attempted German invasion, as a result of which the island of Malta was collectively awarded the Victoria Cross - Britain's highest military medal.

This is the last airworthy Gladiator, and is kept at Old Warden, where it was photographed in April 1981.

Of all British aircraft, the Hawker Hurricane is second only to the Spitfire in terms of numbers built, with 14,074 having been completed by the end of the second world war. First of the new generation of monoplane fighters, it used similar design principles to the earlier Hart series, so resulted in a less flexible airframe than the Spitfire. It first flew in November 1935, powered by the same Rolls-Royce Merlin twelve cylinder inline as the Spitfire. Top speed was 340mph and it was initially armed with twelve 0.303 Browning machine guns. Being in production earlier, more were in service at the time of the Battle of Britain, so they claimed more enemy machines shot down than any other aircraft in that conflict.

Fewer Hurricanes survive than Spitfires. This one was at Old Warden in April 2005. Picture by Ivy.

The Supermarine Spitfire is probably the most famous fighter aircraft in history. It was designed as a private venture by the Supermarine company, which until then had specialised in ungainly flying boats and one-off racing seaplanes. Designed by Reginald Mitchell, it first flew in March 1936, and was at once recognised as setting an entirely new standard for fighter aircraft. It was powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, initially of 1,000hp, giving a top speed of 350mph. In later versions the power rose to over 2,000hp and the top speed to 460mph (mark 19, a photographic reconnaisance version). Aerodynamic efficiency was ensured by the aesthetically pleasing elliptical wing shape. Spitfires could be armed with a mixture of machine guns and cannon, and could also be fitted with a small bomb load for ground attack missions. More than 20,000 of all versions were built.

The top picture is of a Spitfire mark 1 flying at Bournemouth in August 1984. The lower picture shows a Griffon engined PR19 high altitude photographic reconnaisance version, at Cranfield in July 1988.

The Fairey Firefly was a high performance fighter designed to be operated from aircraft carriers by the Royal Navy. it first flew in December 1941. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon inline engine of up to 2,000 hp, it reached top speeds of 320 mph. It had a crew of two, unusual for a fighter of the period but probably because of the greater difficulty of navigation when trying to find an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. Armament was four 20mm cannon. The large radiators in the inboard wing leading edge can just be seen in this poor picture of a Firefly in flight at Abingdon in August 1985.

The Hawker Sea Fury was the last in the line of punchy Hawker fighters which included the land based Typhoon and Tempest. It was designed to be operated from aircraft carriers as a replacement for the much slower Firefly; the Sea Fury raised the speed to 430 mph, excellent for a piston-engined aircraft. They entered service just too late for the second world war, but served with distinction in the Korean war in the 1950s. By that time, jets were beginning to dominate the fighter scene, but several MiG15s still fell victim to the `old technology' Sea Fury.

This one was seen at Finningley in 1976.