The non-profit UK based group known as the Great War Aviation Society publishes A new magazine, Contact!, is now available in both print and digital download. The first two issues of Contact! Are available for a free digital download on their website. Their journal, Cross & Cockade International, is also published four times a year. Issues are available in English as printed [Softbound, A4 (8.27” x 11.69”), 72 pages [Including Covers] as well as digital copies (or both). The Society also provides a free newsletter (sign up on their website) and occasionally publish WWI themed books like the Sopwith Dolphin monograph I reviewed earlier for IPMS USA. This Journal is the sister of the US Journal, Over The Front. The Great War Aviation Society also hosts a lecture series available through Zoom. If interested, you will need to register early as the call is limited in attendance. The Great War Aviation Society also is on Facebook and X [Twitter].

The Spring 2026 of Contact! [Volume 3, Issue 1] features a color illustration by Howard Gerrard of Captain Claude Alward Ridley taking off from Stow Maries. The cover is related to several articles, including Leefe Robinson and the Zeppelin Raids on Britain: The First Blitz by David Marks, and Modeling: Airfix 1:72 BE2c by Haris Ali. Captain Ridley was awarded the Military Cross for downing a German airship in 1916. There are six pages of Great War advertising, including the inside front and rear covers and the rear cover. I counted 80 color photographs / illustrations and 84 black and white photographs / illustrations.

Great War modeling was a standard feature in the Journal that has now moved to Contact!, taking full advantage of color photographs. Haris Ali presents a build review of the Airfix 1/72 RAF BE2c kit, part of which can be seen on Page 16. Key to this build were converting this kit to a single seat BE2c as flown by William Leefe Robinson that downed the Schütte-Lanz SL 11 dirigible. Ali clearly explains his preparation of the cover for the front seat using masking to form a template for the cover made from self-adhesive foil. SL 11 was launched on August 1, 1916, and was the first German airship to be shot down while bombing England on September 3, 1916. A modified Strange gun mount was added for the Lewis gun and a folding windscreen was created from acetate and paper. The modified Strange mount was fixed for vertical firing at balloons.

Mick Davis chimes in with Seaton Carew II / Tees: A Marine Operations Station for Seaplanes. Originally this anti-submarine base was located at Tees on the north shore of the river. The first aircraft, a Sopwith Baby seaplane [N1423] arrived on September 15, 1917. The Sopwith Baby carried a 65-pound bomb, and several were dropped on German submarines, but the small bomb was largely ineffective. The Sopwith Baby was an upgraded Sopwith Schneider with a 110-hp Clerget engine replacing the 100-hp Gbine rotary engine. Sopwith Baby N2107 can be spotted on Page 24 after it crashed into a seaplane shed on July 27, 1918, after suffering engine failure on its return to base. Short 184 seaplanes were eventually brought in with the capability of a heavier payload and longer endurance. The Short 184 saw it’s strength grow to 24 seaplanes but had no luck in locating any German submarines, let alone launching an attack.

Women became important in British aircraft manufacturing in World War I to free men up to fight at the front. Four women can be spotted stringing the fabric to the wing ribs of a FE8 fighter on Page 38. The introduction of civilians to replace soldiers was led by the selection of gold-beater’s skin in 1883 to make balloon envelopes. These skins were from ox intestinal outer membranes which showed an amazing resilience and were prized for their strength and uniformity. Originally a family secret on the joining of gold-beater’s skins, the demand became so great that the family was forced to train the military. Women were only employed under strict rules from the Trade Unions with the guarantee that when the men came back from the war, they got their original jobs back. Interestingly, women were found to be quite adept at acetylene welding and instrument work. Not everyone appreciated women contributing to the war effort as it had a huge effect on the availability of women to meet the need for nannies for the rich.

Andrew Ferry introduces the restoration activities of the volunteer at the Royal Military Museum in Brussels. This four-page feature focuses on four of the current projects that are all moving slowly if at all due to a lack of funds. These four projects include an LVG C.VI that is one of only three survivors in the world out of over 1,000 manufactured. The others are at the Royal Air Force Museum Midlands at Cosford and at the Musée de l'air et de l'espace. A development of the LVG C.V, it was primarily operated as a reconnaissance and observation platform. Several were modified with an enclosed passenger cabin and provided civil service for transport and mail services. A second project is the two-seat pusher French Voisin III LAS reconnaissance and light bomber that saw more than 1,350 built of all variants. The LAS were Voisin’s designation for both Voisin III and V variations where the 150-hp Salmson P9 engine was raised [soulevé] or slightly turned upwards to improve performance and ground clearance. The third project is a Farman HF.20 with the four color photographs at the top of Page 52 showing its current state. The HF.20 was an improved version of the Farman MF.11 “Shorthorn” powered by an 80-hp Gnome Lambda seven-cylinder rotary engine but was still woefully underpowered. The Belgium Army employed the HF.20 with Escadrille 1 and 2. The fourth project is the only original Halberstadt C.V left [s/n 3471/18] with a color photograph of it at the bottom of Page 52. This aircraft was ‘given’ to Belgium as part of post-war reparations. An improvement of the Halberstadt C.III, it featured a more powerful [220-hp] Benz Bz.IVü engine.

Peter Dye follows up with a four-page article on RFC & FNAS Bombs & Bombing 1912-1918. The black and white photograph at the top of Page 64 depicts a RNAS observer aiming a hand launched 16-lb bomb towards a German submarine. Noticeable is the arming vane on the tail and the writing on the fins and main body of the HE RL [High Explosive Royal Laboratory] light case bomb that was filled with TNT. An associated article by Haris Ali reviews eight different sets of 3D printed British bombs in 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32 from Aero Rarities.

The contents of this issue include:

Topics:

• Editor’s Letter
• The Briefing Room
• The Signals Office
• 450 Miles in 13 Days: 2 Squadron’s Move to Montrose, Scotland by Paul Hare
• Modeling: Airfix 1:72 BE2c by Haris Ali [Page 16]
• Modeling: GWAS Trophy Winner: Hansa-Brandenburg W29 by George Kent
• Seaton Carew II / Tees: A Marine Operations Station for Seaplanes by Mick Davis [Page 24]
• Leefe Robinson and the Zeppelin Raids on Britain: The First Blitz by David Marks
• Aircraft Manufacturing Along London’s Edgware Road by Mark Amies
• Women Workers at the RAF by Paul Hare [Page 38]
• Flying Without A Rulebook: British Military Air Accidents, 1881-1914 by Simon Hepworth
• Modeling: How 3D Technology is Reshaping WWI Modeling by Paul Fisher and Eric Fisher
• Modeling: Testing the Aero Rarities Victory Pack by Haris Ali
• Battling Headwinds: WWI Aircraft Restoration at the Royal Military Museum, Brussels by Andrew Ferry [Page 52]
• The Treasures of the Aviation Hall by Andrew Ferry
• Straight Six by Graham Mottram
• To Take Up Arms Part 7 by Paul Hare
• RFC & FNAS Bombs & Bombing 1912-1918 by Peter Dye [Page 64]
• ‘Honour to a Brave Enemy’ by Michael Terry

Contact! Emphasizes more color than is common in the Cross & Cockade International journal that features period photographs. The articles are also more numerous and shorter than seen in the journal, but no less enjoyable. I was really impressed with the six=page article by David Marks on Leefe Robinson and his attempts tp shoot down SL 11. Shooting from below the dirigible, he emptied two drums of explosive ammo into the SL 11 with no results. Robinson grabbed a third drum and continued to chase SL 11 which had now risen another 1,000 feet and above the maximum altitude Robinson’s BE2c could fly. This time the newly designed bullets opened up large holes in SL 11’s hydrogen bags, igniting the hydrogen. This article dovetails into Haris Ali’s build of Robinson’s modified BE2c. The overall goal of adding Contact! To the Great War Aviation Society appears to be grabbing some of the younger crowd with a digital product and more color. I certainly hope this works for the younger crowd, but there is material here for all ages. If you are into early / WWI aviation, this magazine is for you!

My thanks to The Great War Aviation Society and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great issue.

Highly recommended!