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Subject: Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2
Date: 1 Oct 2016 18:04:51 -0700
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_B.E.2
The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was a British single-engine tractor two-seat
biplane in service with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) from 1912 until the end of
World War I. About 3,500 were built. Initially used as front-line reconnaissance
aircraft and light bombers; variants of the type were also used as night
fighters. Like many warplanes since, the B.E.2 was retained in front-line
service long after it had become obsolete, for want of a suitable replacement.
After its belated withdrawal it finally served as a trainer, communications
aircraft and on anti-submarine coastal patrol duties.
While the type was designed and developed by the Royal Aircraft Factory, the
majority of production aircraft were built under contract by private companies,
including well known manufacturers as well as firms that had not previously
built aircraft.
The B.E.2 has always been the subject of a good deal of controversy. While it
proved fundamentally unsuited to air-to-air combat it had a relatively low
accident rate, and its notorious stability actually proved helpful in its
artillery observation and aerial photography duties.
Role
Reconnaissance, light bomber, night fighter, trainer, coastal patrol aircraft
Manufacturer
Royal Aircraft Factory, Vickers, Bristol
Designer
Geoffrey de Havilland, E.T. Busk
First flight
1 February 1912
Introduction
1912
Retired
1919
Primary user
Royal Flying Corps
Number built
~ 3,500
Variants
B.E.9, B.E.12
The early models of the B.E. 2 had already served in the RFC for two years prior
to the outbreak of war, and were among the aircraft that arrived with the
British Expeditionary Force in 1914. Like all service aircraft of this period,
they had been designed at a time when the qualities required by a warplane were
largely a matter for conjecture, in the absence of any actual experience of the
use of aircraft in warfare. Like most other prewar types, they were relegated to
second-line duties as quickly as the supply of more modern replacements
permitted.
As early as 1915, the B.E.2c entered service as a pioneer night fighter, being
used in attempts to intercept and destroy the German airship raiders. The
interceptor version of the B.E.2c was flown as a single-seater with an auxiliary
fuel tank on the centre of gravity, in the position of the observer's seat.
After an initial lack of success while using Ranken darts and small incendiary
bombs to attack airships from above, a Lewis gun was mounted to fire a mixture
the airship from below.
B.E.2c downed the SL 11, the first German airship to be shot down over Britain
after over a year of night raids. This won the pilot, Captain William Leefe
of individuals.
This was not an isolated victory; five more German airships were destroyed by
Home Defence B.E.2c interceptors between October and December 1916. The airship
campaign faltered; this rate of attrition could not be sustained, especially in
combination with considerable non-combat losses.
The performance of the B.E.2 was inadequate to intercept the Gotha bombers of
1917, but the techniques it pioneered were used by the later night fighters.
From 1917 onwards the B.E.2 was generally withdrawn from both the front line and
night fighter use. The surviving examples continued in use for submarine
spotting and as trainers for the rest of the war. In spite of the type's
stability it was capable of comprehensive (if somewhat stately) aerobatics, and
was by no means a bad trainer.
On 19 February 1917 a B.E.2c conducted the British Army's first aeromedical
evacuation when it flew out the sole casualty of the raid on Bir el Hassana in
the Sinai Peninsula. The man had a shattered ankle and the 45-minute flight in
the observer's seat spared him an agonizing multi-day journey by camel.
Specifications (B.E.2c - RAF 1a engine)
General characteristics
Crew: Two, pilot and observer
Length: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Wingspan: 37 ft 0 in (11.28 m)
Empty weight: 1,370 lb (623 kg)
Loaded weight: 2,350 lb (1,068 kg)
Performance
Maximum speed: 72 mph (63 knots, 116 km/h) at 6,500 ft (1,980 m)
Endurance: 3 hr 15 min
Service ceiling: 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
Climb to 3,500 ft (1,070 m): 6 min 30 s
Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 45 min 15 s
Armament
Bombs: 224 lb (100 kg) of bombs
(With full bomb load usually flown as a single-seater, without machine gun)
*
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