Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2

History

The FE 2 series of aircraft are manufactured by the Royal Aircraft Factory and originated from the FE 1 designed by the French Falmain brothers in 1910. Geoffrey de Havilland joined the Royal Aircraft Factory with an updated design in FE 2 form. The FE 2 series features a "propeller" type engine layout with the pilot in the rear and the observer/gunner in the front cockpit.

The type, which served from 1914 until the end of the war, played a vital role in turning the tide of the Fokker disaster of 1915-1916, and was later relegated to home defense and night bombing operations until the end of its useful life, its design Be eliminated. In total, more than 2,300 F.E.2s were produced.

The first FE 2 appeared in 1911, based in part on the design of the FE 1, followed by the further development of the FE 2 in 1913 - which ultimately lost in a fatal crash. The F.E.2a soon appeared in the form of an entirely new aircraft and was designed from the outset as a purely combat platform. The system uses a propulsion engine layout, where engine power "pushes" the aircraft forward rather than the engine "pulls" the frame.

This layout arose because the technology that allowed the machine gun to fire through the spinning propeller blades was still on the Allied drawing boards (the Germans had an early and successful solution to this problem with Anthony Fokker's circuit breaker device). Either the engine is mounted at the rear, or the gun must be located somewhere above or below the rotating propeller blades, with the engine mounted at the front. The former method was chosen, requiring the observer/gunner to use the machine gun located in the front of the fuselage and the pilot to use the aircraft's main controls located in the rear of the fuselage.

To improve the pilot's visibility, his seat was tiered above the observer's position.

This brings clear benefits and dangers. The gunner had a good view of the oncoming action. Due to his high position, the pilot also has good visibility around his plane (the prop and wireframe of the plane certainly helps in that department). The problem is the open-air nature of the layout.

In particular, it could prove fatal if the propeller were exposed to anything that could fly out of the cockpit. Thus, the rotating propeller blades provide a certain deflection to enemy bullets coming from the rear. If an emergency landing is imminent, the crew needs to consider the weight of the engine behind them and the associated combustible fuel.

As history later showed us, the push propellers also never achieved the performance of their pull siblings, leaving the F.E.2 series at a technical disadvantage from the start.

The primary weapon of the Observer is a 7.7mm Lewis machine gun placed on a trainable stand. With its wide field of view and firing angle, the observer can handle almost any target in front of the aircraft.

Interestingly, a second Lewis machine gun was added later, facing rearward and surface mounted on the upper wing assembly, requiring the observer to fire while standing in his cockpit. In theory this provides some protection for the F.E.2 against attackers approaching from behind, but in practice this creates a very dangerous situation for the observer considering that any action by the pilot could cause the observer to fall overboard .

The F.E. 2a model appears in a limited production batch of about 12 samples. It was followed by the more powerful FE 2b, which replaced the previous Green-branded engine with a 120 hp Beardmore type (later increased to 160 hp). The FE 2b became the main production model, followed by the FE 2c and FE 2d models. The former was an experimental platform for testing as a night fighter/bomber, in contrast to the F.E.2b layout, with the pilot and observer positions reversed.

The latter is a more powerful type with a Rolls-Royce Eagle engine that puts out around 250 horsepower and a slight increase in power and overall performance. With the increase in pilot-operated forward-facing machine guns, so did defensive armament.

Overall, the F.E.2 family had a long and distinguished career as a fighter and bomber. Although the aircraft excelled in later models on both sides, it retained an operational role for some time.

F.E.2 proved to be a key factor in the crucial months of Fokker Scourge's campaign alongside Bristol Scouts and others. Her apparent limitations as a daytime actress eventually led to her successful use as a night bomber and night fighter (against slower German threats like airships and bombers).

By the end of the war, the F.E.2 proved to be a formidable adversary, responsible for shooting down German ace Max Immelmann (though this caused controversy among the Germans, as he explained his loss to "friendly fire").

Specification

Basic

Production

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Performance

Performance

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Changes