From early 1917 the aircraft settled to a steady career as a reconnaissance aircraft and light bomber on the Western Front and in Palestine and Italy, remaining active until the Armistice, when they were in service with 15 RAF squadrons.
Designed as a replacement for the BE2c in the reconnaissance and light bomber roles, the prototype RE8 was first flown on 17 June 1916.
It was a single-bay biplane with two-spar wooden wings and wooden fuselage. The entire airframe was fabric covered. Conventional control surfaces with ailerons on all four wings. There was an adjustable incidence tailplane.
The RE8 was not a very manoeuvrable machine but it made up for this with two or three machine gun armament. Various engines were fitted in place of the original 150hp RAF 4A, including a 200hp Hispano-Suiza.
1918 Daimler Motor Co built RE.8 F3556
During the course of the latter half of World War I, 4,077 R.E.8 were built for the RFC/RAF and a few for Belgium. R.E.8s for British service standardised on the 112kW RAF 4a engine with a variable-pitch airscrew and were known as the ‘Harry Tate’. During a brief spell on the Western Front in late 1916 several were lost through accidents, resulting in their temporary withdrawal. The tendency to spin was reduced by fitting a ventral fin at the base of the tail. This further reduced what little agility the RE.8 had.
The RE.8 reconnaissance machine performed well as the equipment of the Australian 3 AFC, and one crew brought down the Albatros DVa on display in the Australian War Memorial.
RE8 ‘K’ of 3 AFC
Despite it faults and the loss of an entire flight of six R.E,8’s of No.59 Squadron to von Richthofen’s circus in April 1917, the R.E.8 served until the end of the war. After the war RE8s served with the RAF overseas and equipped Nos 6, 30 and 208 Squadrons until the end of 1919.
RE.8 Engine: 1 x R.A.F.4a, 150 hp / 112kW Span: 42ft 7in upper Span: 32 ft 7.5in lower Length: 8.5 m / 28 ft 11 in Height: 3.47 m / 11 ft 5 in Wing area: 35.07 sq.m / 377.49 sq ft Max take off weight: 1300 kg / 2866 lb Empty weight: 717 kg / 1581 lb Speed: 98 mph Endurance: 4 hr 30 min ROC: 340 fpm to 6500ft Ceiling: 4115 m / 13500 ft Armament: 1 x Vickers mg, 2 x 7.7mm Lewis machine-guns Bombload: 100kg Seats: 2
Conceived in 1916 as a replacement for the F.E.2b in the fighter-reconnaissance role, the F.E.9 was of similar pusher configuration and therefore already obsolescent by the time it appeared in 1917. Emphasis was placed in the design upon providing the gunner with a good field of fire and the pilot a good all-round view. To this end, the nacelle was located close beneath the upper wing and was carried on struts above the shorter-span lower wing. The large overhang of the upper wing brought the F.E.9 almost into the sesquiplane category, and called for bracing wires from triangular kingposts above the interplane struts of the single-bay cellule. A cruciform tail unit was carried on four slender booms, as on the F.E.2, and the Vee-strutted undercarriage incorporated oleo legs. Construction was largely of wood, but pairs of steel tube N-struts linked the nacelle to the upper and lower wings. Power was provided by a 200hp Hispano-Suiza eight-cylinder V-type water-cooled engine and the planned armament comprised two 7.7mm Lewis guns on pillar mounts, ahead of and behind the front cockpit, and both fired by the observer – the latter rearwards over the pilot’s head and the top wing. Installation of a third gun, on the side of the fuselage for use by the pilot, was planned.
Authority was given by the War Office for construction of three prototypes and a production batch of 24 in October 1916, and testing began in April 1917. Difficulties with control in flight and various modifications made in attempts to eradicate them delayed production, and in the event only three F.E.9s were built.
Testing of the prototypes continued, in the course of which two-bay wings were tried on the second aircraft, which was also flown for a time by No 78 Home Defence Squadron, RFC.
FE.9 Engine: 1 x 200-h.p. Hispano-Suiza Span: 11.5 m (37 ft 9.5in) Length: 8.6 m (28 ft 3 in) Height: 2.97 m / 10 ft 9 in Wing area: 33.91 sq.m / 365.00 sq ft Gross weight: 1125 kg (2480 lb) Maximum speed: 169 kph (105 mph) Ceiling: 4725 m / 15500 ft Seats: 2
Evolved at Farnborough during 1915 as a marriage of the B.E.2c airframe with the then-new R.A.F.4 air-cooled 12-cylinder Vee-type engine of 140hp, the B.E.12 prototype began test flying at the end of July that year. Although flown from the start as a single-seater, it was at first unarmed and was intended for such roles as bombing and photography rather than as a fighter.
The prototype was tested in France in September 1915 and its generally satisfactory performance encouraged the War Office to order production of the B.E.12 in that same month. Delivered from March 1916 onwards, production aircraft had the R.A.F.4a engine (with increased stroke), twin upright exhaust stacks, an auxiliary gravity fuel tank under the port upper wing and, after the first few, an enlarged rudder with curved leading edge. At first serving with RFC squadrons in France for general duties, the B.E.12 was fitted with a 7.7mm Lewis machine gun on an oblique mounting on the fuselage side, or over the wing centre section, but several other experimental installations were tried at Farnborough before the decision to adopt the newly-available Vickers-Challenger interrupter gear, using a Vickers gun firing through the propeller disc. Difficulties with the gear, combined with the excessive stability of the B.E.12 (to overcome which the B.E.2e-type tailplane and elevators were used on some B.E.12s), made the type ineffectual as a fighter, however, and it was soon withdrawn from France, having served with only two squadrons. B.E.12s remained in service with Home Defence squadrons through 1917, many alternative armament installations being tried, including a quartet of Lewis guns, and sets of Le Prieur rockets on the interplane struts. One Zeppelin was shot down by a B.E.12, in June 1917. At Farnborough, one was tested with a Davis six-pounder recoilless gun, firing upwards at 45° for anti-Zeppelin use, but this was not adopted for production. Contracts were placed with two companies for B.E.12 production, Daimler building 200 and Standard Motor Co, 50, against the original orders placed in 1915, and Daimler receiving a contract for 200 more in August 1917. Many of the latter, however, were completed as B.E.12b’s.
With the B.E.12 established in production in 1916, based on the B.E.2c airframe with its equi-span two-bay wing and massive horizontal tail surfaces, a further marriage was arranged to combine the R. A.F.4a engine with the newer B.E.2e airframe. This introduced the single-bay cellule with overhanging upper wing and a smaller tailplane/elevator combination, together with the larger, rounded fin of the B.E.12. Designated B.E.12a in this form, the type was ordered from Coventry Ordnance Works and Daimler, each of which received contracts for 50 during 1916 (some of the Daimler batch being completed as B.E.12s). The B.E.12a’s served briefly with Home Defence units and more extensively in Palestine, with the Australian-manned No 67 Squadron. Used as escort scout by 1 AFC, the only recorded victory by the BE.12a was scored by Lt L.T.E. Taplin in 1918.
In an attempt to improve the performance of the B.E.12, primarily for the benefit of Home Defence squadrons, a 200hp Hispano-Suiza water-cooled eight-cylinder Veetype engine was substituted for the 150hp R.A.F.4a. The first such installation was completed in September 1917 by the Southern Aircraft Repair Depot at Farnborough and demonstrated a dramatic improvement in speed and climb performance. Consequently, it was decided that 150 of the 200 B.E.12s ordered from Daimler in August 1917 should be completed with the Hispano engines as B.E.12b’s. Airframes built by Daimler were fitted with these engines at the Northern Aircraft Repair Depot at Aston, near Sheffield, and deliveries began late in 1917. As Zeppelin raids on the UK had by this time virtually come to an end, many B.E.12b’s went straight into store, their urgently-needed engines being removed for use in other aircraft types, such as the S.E.5a. It is believed that production of B.E.12b’s ended some 12-20 short of the intended total. The standard armament of the B.E.12b comprised a 7.7mm Lewis gun above the centre section, firing over the propeller disc. Dimensions similar to those of the B.E.12.
BE.12 Engine: 1 x 150-h.p. R.A.F.4a Wingspan: 11.3 m / 37 ft 1 in Length: 8.31 m / 27 ft 3 in Height: 3.39 m / 11 ft 1 in Wing area: 34.47 sq.m / 371.03 sq ft Max take-off weight: 1067 kg / 2352 lb Empty weight: 742 kg / 1636 lb Max. speed: 164 km/h / 102 mph Ceiling: 3810 m / 12500 ft Seats: 1
BE.12 Engine: 1 x 150-h.p. R.A.F.4a Wingspan: 37 ft 0 in Length: 27 ft 3 in Max take-off weight: 2352 lb Max. speed: 169 km/h / 105 mph Ceiling: 12,500 ft Armament: 1-2 Lewis machine guns Bombload: 2 x 20 lb Seats: 1
BE.12A Engine: Renault, 70 hp Maximum speed: 73 mph
BE.12a Engine: 1 x 150-h.p. R.A.F.4a Wingspan: 12.19 m / 40 ft 0 in Length: 8.30 m / 27 ft 3 in Height: 3.66 m / 12 ft 0 in Wing area: 33.44 sq.m / 359.94 sq ft Max take-off: weight: 1056 kg / 2328 lb Empty weight: 730 kg / 1609 lb Max. speed: 169 km/h / 105 mph Seats: 1
Used mainly by the RFC during 1916, the R.E.7 was a two-seat (later occasionally three-seat) bombing biplane powered by a 112kW RAF 4a engine. Other engines were also fitted.
Two hundred and fifty were completed. Maximum level speed was 137km/h.
Engine: 1 x. R.A.F.4a, 150-h.p / 112kW Wingspan: 17.37 m / 57 ft 0 in Length: 9.72 m / 32 ft 11 in Height: 3.84 m / 13 ft 7 in Wing area: 50.91 sq.m / 547.99 sq ft Max take-off weight: 1565 kg / 3450 lb Empty weight: 1036 kg / 2284 lb Max. speed: 135 km/h / 84 mph Ceiling: 1980 m / 6500 ft Bombload: 150kg Seats: 2
The next fighter after the F.E.2 in the F.E. line was the F.E.8 of 1915. Resembling the D.H.2, but designed before the de Havilland fighter, the F.E.8 was another two bay pusher biplane. Designed under the direction of John Kenworthy, the F.E.8 was the first single-seat fighter evolved at Farnborough.
Of pusher configuration to allow an uninterrupted forward field of fire for the 7.7mm Lewis gun, the F.E.8 was a two-bay equi-span biplane with a short fuselage nacelle to accommodate the gun, the pilot and a 100hp Gnome Monosoupape nine-cylinder rotary engine, and four slender booms to carry the cruciform tail unit. Construction of the nacelle was of welded steel-tube with aluminium sheet covering; the wings and tail unit used conventional wooden spars and ribs with fabric covering.
The prototype F.E.8 had a 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape engine and was armed with a remote¬ controlled Lewis firing through the nose of the all metal nacelle. This installation proved troublesome, however, and production of F.E.8s had the gun mounted at eye level. The first of two prototypes was flown on 15 October 1915 at Farnborough.
The prototype’s service trials, beginning in December 1915, were successful, but produc¬tion F.E.8s did not appear until May 1916. Trials with the second prototype in France in late 1915 led to a change in the gun installation, which was mounted within the nacelle nose and could be moved through a limited range by means of a control in the cockpit. Production F.E.8s, which began to appear in May and June 1916 from the factories of Darracq Motor Engineering at Fulham and Vickers at Weybridge, had a more practical gun mounting on the nose immediately ahead of the cockpit.
Production totalled 220 by Darracq and 50 by Vickers.
147 were sent to France from August 1916 and only two RFC squadrons, 40 and 41, were fully equip¬ped with F.E.8s. The second of these did not arrive in France until October 1916, by which time, in spite of some early successes, the type was completely outclassed by contem¬porary German fighters: the first production F.E.8 was shot down within a week of its arrival on June 22.
Trial installations of the 110hp Le Rhone and 110hp Clerget engines were made, but the Monosoupape remained the standard fit.
On March 9, 1917, nine F.E.8s of 40 Squadron were attacked by Manfred von Richthofen’s Jasta 11. Four were shot down, another four forced to land, and the pilot of the ninth was wounded and crash landed. In spite of this disaster, the last F.E.8s were not withdrawn until July 1917, one of their final operational uses being in ground strafing during the battle of Messines in June of that year.
Engine: 1 x 100-h.p. Gnome Mono Span: 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in) Length: 7.21 m / 24 ft 8 in Height: 2.79 m / 9 ft 2 in Wing area: 20.25 sq.m / 217.97 sq ft Gross weight: 610.5 kg (1346 lb) Empty weight: 406 kg / 895 lb Maximum speed: 151 kph (94 mph) Ceiling: 4636 m / 15200 ft
1914 Scout. At the Royal Aircraft Factory H. P. Folland’s S.E.4 scout set up an unofficial world speed record of 131 m.p.h. with a 160-h.p. Gnome. Its engine was fan-cooled; the variable camber wings could be used as landing flaps; and it had a celluloid cockpit cover, an N.A.C.A. cowling, single I type wing struts, streamlined bracing wires, and fairings on its axle and wheels and over the aileron, elevator and rudder gaps. Other engines were also fitted.
Designed at Farnborough by H P Folland at the end of 1914, the S.E.4a was one of a series of “Scouting Experimentals” used to study the interplay of stability and manoeuvrability. Unrelated, except in configuration and design authorship, to the high performance S.E.4 of mid-1914, the S.E.4a was a sturdy little single-bay biplane with equi-span wings incorporating 3.5 degrees of dihedral and having no centre section. The square-section fuselage was of conventional spruce construction with steel tubes to accept the loads from the lower wings, and, like the wooden wings and tail unit, was fabric-covered. Full-span ailerons were fitted to both sets of wings, and power was provided by an 80hp Gnome seven-cylinder rotary in a fully circular shortchord cowling.
The first of four S.E.4a’s built at the RAF flew there on 25 June 1915, and differed from its successors in having faired fuselage sides and an outsize spinner. The fourth and last S.E.4a flew on 13 August that year. The third, flown on 27 July, was at first fitted with an 80hp Le Rhone engine, the Gnome being substiprovided with an 80hp Clerget. In the hands of the RFC, at least one of the S.E.4a’s was armed with a 7.7mm Lewis gun mounted on the centre line above the upper wing to clear the propeller disc.
All Aero 