History of AirplanesThis was the last of the B.E. (Bleriot Experimental, and then British Experimental) series built by the Royal Aircraft Factory. Compared to the B.E.2, it had a more powerful rotary engine, but otherwise was quite similar. It could only carry a 100 lb. (45 kg.) bombload, even less with a two-man crew. A few [...]
While it resembled, both in appearance and in specifications, the D.H.2, J. Kenworth’s F.E.8 was considerably less successful. But problems with the aircraft’s stability and engine development delayed its deployment at the front until August, 1916, and by then the new German Albatros D.I and D.II wholly outclassed the British pusher biplanes like the F.E.8.. [...]
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An effective response and a worthy adversary to the Fokker Eindekkers, the F.E.2b appeared in September, 1915. It was a two-seater, pusher biplane, that was quite speedy and allowed for two machine guns, one firing forward, and one (albeit awkwardly) firing rearward over the upper wing. The ‘pusher’ concept would soon be [...]
THE 1912 B. E. (BRITISH EXPERIMENTAL)
In 1912 the British Government, realizing the importance of the airplane as a war-machine for scouting purposes, established the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farmborough, with Geoffrey de Havilland, one of the early British experimenters, as designer. Machines of his invention have been called D. H.’s. His 1912 airplane, the [...]