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Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2

1912 WORLD WAR 1

Royal Aircraft Factory B. E. 2 History

The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was born by establishing the Royal Balloon Factory (RBF), which in turn was established to encourage British research on aircraft. In addition, its staff performed repairs on Royal Flying Corps (RFC) aircraft upon request, but that didn't stop participants from working to build entirely new aircraft designs under the guise of research, an effort that culminated in the development of B.E. 2. It The name "B.

E." is derived from the word "Bleriot Experimental" (RBF modified or repaired many "Bleriot" and "Voison" aircraft of French origin between 1909 and 1913).

Renowned aeronautical engineer Geoffrey de Havilland put his talents to use in the design of the B.E.2. Mr. de Havilland was the chief designer of RBF before starting his own business. During the First World War (1914-1918), he played an important role in the design of many of AirCo's products and eventually founded the legendary de Havilland aircraft company DH in the postwar 1920.

98 "Mosquito" - fast, versatile performer of World War II (1939-1945).

Unarmed and generally slow, the B.E. 2 performed poorly when used close to areas of enemy activity, the series proved to be the machine gun fodder for a new generation of German fighters - the Fokker "Eindecker" of 1915 - monoplanes.

After that, the RFC continued to use B.E.2 on a large scale on the front lines for most of the war. It wasn't until the Allies regained air superiority from the Germans - ending the dreaded "Fokker Scourge" period - that the B.E.2's weaknesses were somewhat masked. The B.E. 2 (B.E. 2c) was produced in 1915 to fulfill the night fighter's role as a single-seat interceptor, providing additional fuel reserves, sloping Lewis machine guns, and hand-delivered ammunition for use over England against German zeppelins.

In this way, the B.E.2 became one of the first airframes to perform a dedicated night combat mission.

At the end of 1917, the B.E.2 series aircraft were replaced by more powerful models in service. Like most outdated systems, the BE 2 continued to serve as a trainer for incoming pilots and a maritime patrol mount against the threat of German submarines.

It wasn't until 1919 that the series was officially phased out, and it barely maintained a meaningful presence until the postwar years. A single B.E.2 accounts for half of Australia's newly formed Quantas - the Australian Flying Fleet (AFC)'s two aircraft inventory. is another war operator for B.E. 2.