With thanks to Pete, Kristof and several others, I was lucky enough to get a rather different view of Zonnebeke at the weekend - from the front seat of a Stampe SV.4 biplane. The Stampe SV.4 is a 1930's design, but most were built in the late 1940's. Although not a WW1 aircraft, it does however have a strong WW1 relevance - just about every First World War aviation film features a Stampe SV.4 - from a German observation aircraft in 'Blue Max', to most of the SE5A's in 'Aces High', and of course Biggles steed in 'Biggles Adventures in Time', the Stampe has provided the basis of a WW1 aircraft.
Although I knew it was somewhere in the area, I didn't expect the flight to take me over Polygon Wood, where the 110th Leicester Brigade fought in the 3rd Battle of Ypres in late 1917. It is here where Lieutenant Colonel Philip Bent, who served with both the 7th and 9th Leicestershire Regiment Battalions, was killed whilst leading a successful counter attack, shouting 'COME ON THE TIGERS!' as a battle cry. He posthumously won the Victoria Cross for his actions.
British New Buttes Cemetery, where seven known men who served with the Leicestershire Regiment are buried
