.. and a clip about Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2 Model B
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4J3B...eature=related
This film comes from No. 23 Squadron and is from October 1916. By that time, the FE2b was a rare thing to see, but we'll get to that shortly. At the time this was taken, 23 Squadron was located at the Somme in France, and they were one of the first squadrons to actually use the FE2b.
Here we see a particularly good recon plane from the early war. It was first introduced in September 1915 for use in the Royal Flying Corps and it first saw action on September 15th of that same year, when a German Taube monoplane strayed close to one (the observers and pilots shot at each other with rifles and pistols back then, just so you know; it was a rare thing to see a plane go down then). The actual airframe is influenced by the early French recon planes of the era, and the Farman Brothers actually had a hand in building the FE2.
It had a very distinguished career at the first half of the war, but when the Germans began introducing fighters such as the Albatros D.I and the Halberstadt D.II, the British knew they couldn't keep these planes up and going for much longer. They built several versions throughout the course of the war, but it really started to lose its appeal by 1916. Still, it was used until November 1918.
Like many early war planes, the FE2 family consisted of "pushers", planes which have the propellar at the back, meaning its pushed along (whereas planes with the propellars facing forward are actually pulling themselves along).
You'll note the Lewis MG mounted on the upper wing and facing back. The British commanders didn't think that a forward-firing machine gun was necessary (saying it would just be a waste of MGs to attach two when one was all that was necessary... big mistake, but anyway). Commanders also had them assigned to bombing missions, and late war variants had bomb racks on the bottom of the fuselage.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Crew: Two (pilot & observer)
Length: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
Wingspan: 47 ft 9 in (14.55 m)
Height: 12 ft 8 in (3.85 m)
Wing area: 494 ft² (45.9 m²)
Empty weight: 2,061 lb (937 kg)
Loaded weight: 3,037 lb (1,380 kg)
Powerplant: 1× Beardmore 6-cylinder inline piston engine, 160 hp (119 kW)
PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 80 knots (91.5 mph, 147 km/h)
Service ceiling: 11,000 ft (3,353 m)
Rate of climb: 39 minutes 44 sec to 10,000 ft (3,048 m)
Wing loading: 6.15 lb/ft² (30.1 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.053 hp/lb (0.086 W/kg)
Endurance: 3 hours
ARMAMENT
1 or 2x .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun for observer
Up to 517 lb (235 kg) of bombs
This video also features a very powerful shot: when the ground crewman is handing the observer a revolver. Pilots on both sides carried pistols for several reasons:
1) Defense. If a plane ran out of ammo in the air, there was really just one way left to fight back. Also, crewmen needed a weapon if they found themselves crashed behind or near enemy lines to fight back. A prime example of this would be when Frank Luke, an American ace, was shot down behind German lines; he drew his Colt 1911 and shot five enemy soldiers before they killed him.
2) Alleviation: Planes at this time had a habit of catching on fire very easily. If the men manning them had an engine fire, they could either shoot themselves or jump to their deaths. In some cases, they simply couldn't get themselves out of their safety straps in time, and so they burned to death.
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