Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8

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F.E.8
Darracq-built F.E.8
Type	Pusher biplane fighter
Manufacturer	Royal Aircraft Factory, Darracq Motors, Vickers
Designed by	J. Kenworthy
Maiden flight	September 1915
Introduced	2 August 1916
Primary user	Royal Flying Corps
Number built	295

The Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 was a British single-seat fighter of the First World War designed at the Royal Aircraft Factory.

Contents 1 Design and development 2 Operational history 3 Reproductions 4 Operators 5 Specifications 6 References 7 External links 8 See also

[edit] Design and development

Like the D.H.2, the F.E.8 was designed as a pusher in order to provide a forward firing machine gun mount at a time when no synchronization gear was available to arm a tractor aircraft in the same way. Although a clean and well designed little aeroplane, for a pusher – it could not escape the drag penalty imposed by its tail structure and was no match for the Halberstadt and Albatros fighters of late 1916.

The nacelle was, most unusually for the time, an all-metal structure – being framed in steel tube and covered with duralumin. The prototypes were initially each fitted with a large pointed propeller spinner, while the Lewis gun was fitted on a movable mount within the nose of the nacelle. For production machines the spinner was omitted, and the gun was mounted directly in front of the pilot, in the manner of the D.H.2.

The new fighter was not a great improvement on the D.H.2 – although a little faster it did not handle quite so well. It was nonetheless ordered into production from Darracq motors and Vickers. Neither manufacturer delivered their F.E.8s particularly quickly, so that it ended up reaching the front in numbers six months later than the D.H.2.

[edit] Operational history

Two F.E.8s were issued to No. 29 squadron RFC, a D.H.2 unit, in June 1916, but it was not until August that No. 40 squadron became fully operational on the type. The only other unit to fly the type, No. 41 squadron, arrived in France in October.

After a fairly good start, the F.E.8 units quickly ran into problems with the new German fighters. On the 9th of March 1917 nine F.E.8 of No. 40 squadron had a dogfight with five Albatros D.IIIs of Jagdstaffel 11, led by Manfred von Richthofen himself. Four F.E.8s were shot down, four others badly damaged, and the survivor caught fire when landing. After this disaster No. 40 squadron was re-equipped with Nieuports and No. 41 restricted to ground attack duties. No. 41 actually kept their pushers until July 1917 – becoming the last pusher fighter squadron in France.

Two F.E.8s were sent to Home Defence units in 1917, but the type was not adopted as a home defence fighter.

[edit] Reproductions

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's founder, Cole Palen, built the first flyable reproduction of an F.E.8, which is believed to have first flown in 1970 at Old Rhinebeck with a Le Rhône 80 hp rotary engine. It flew in the weekend air shows at Old Rhinebeck for a number of years, before being retired. It is currently in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum.

The Owl's Head Transportation Museum in Maine has another F.E.8 reproduction in its collection, powered by a modern air-cooled, horizontally opposed engine.

[edit] Operators

 United Kingdom

• Royal Flying Corps
  • No. 5 Squadron RFC
  • No. 29 Squadron RFC
  • No. 40 Squadron RFC
  • No. 41 Squadron RFC

[edit] Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 23ft 8 in (7.21 m)
• Wingspan: 31 ft 6 in (9.6 m)
• Height: 9 ft 2 in (2.8 m)
• Wing area: 218 ft² (20.25 m²)
• Empty weight: 895 lb (406 kg)
• Loaded weight: 1346 lb (610.5 kg)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 97 mph (156 km/h)
• Service ceiling 14,500 ft (4,420 m)
• Rate of climb: 17 min to 10,000 ft (17 min to 3050 m)

Armament

• One Lewis gun
• Light bombs

[edit] References

• Bruce, J.M. Warplanes of the First World War (Volume 2). London: Macdonald, 1968. ISBN 0-356-01473-8.
• Taylor, John W.R. "F.E.8". Combat Aircraft of the World from 1909 to the Present. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. ISBN 0-425-03633-2.

[edit] External links

• Royal Aircraft Factory F.E. Series Fighting Scouts-with an early photo of Cole Palen's reproduction F.E.8
• Owl's Head Transportation Museum's 1916 Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 (reproduction)

[edit] See also

Comparable aircraft Airco D.H.2
Related lists List of aircraft of the RAF -

v • d • e Royal Aircraft Factory designed aircraft Armoured Experimental A.E.1 · A.E.2 · A.E.3 Blériot Experimental B.E.1 · B.E.2 · B.E.3 · B.E.4 · B.E.5 · B.E.6 · B.E.7 · B.E.8 · B.E.9 · B.E.10 · B.E.11 · B.E.12 Blériot Scout B.S.1 · B.S.2 Curtiss Experimental C.E.1 Farman Experimental Fighting Experimental F.E.1 · F.E.2 · F.E.3 · F.E.4 · F.E.6 · F.E.7 · F.E.8 · F.E.9 · F.E.10 · F.E.11 · F.E.12 Night Experimental N.E.1 Reconnaissance Experimental R.E.1 · R.E.2 · R.E.3 · R.E.5 · R.E.7 · R.E.8 · R.E.9 Santos Experimental Scout Experimental S.E.1 · S.E.2 · S.E.3 · S.E.4 · S.E.5 · S.E.6 · S.E.7 Tatin Experimental T.E.1

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