Britain - 1916 Vickers F.B.11

Another Failed Experiment

When the British War Office drew up a specification for a multi-seat escort fighter powered by one of the new Rolls-Royce Eagle engines The competing designs were all bizarre. The specification called for a plane to protect formations of bombers from German fighters and attacking enemy airships. The Sopwith L.R.T.Tr. had a nacelle mounted on the upper wing and it was a triplane design. The Armstrong Whitworth F.K.6 was another triplane with twin gunner nacelles mounted between the middle and lower wing. None of these aircraft went beyond the experimental stage. Newer and better designs made them obsolete and the contract was never filled.

Vickers F.B.11 - 1916

The Vickers F.B.11 was a prototype British three-seat escort fighter of the First World War. A large single engined biplane, it carried one gunner in a nacelle mounted on the upper wing to give an all-round field of fire. Only a single example was completed.

In early 1916, the British War Office drew up a specification for a multi-seat escort fighter to be powered by one of the new Rolls-Royce Eagle engines, intended to protect formations of bombers from German fighters such as the Fokker E.I, with an additional role of destroying enemy airships. While the specification did not require high speed, a good field of fire for its guns was essential, while the secondary anti-Zeppelin role demanded an endurance of at least seven hours.

Orders were placed for prototypes from Armstrong Whitworth (the F.K.6), Sopwith (the L.R.T.Tr.) and Vickers. All three designs were driven by the need to provide wide fields of fire in the absence of effective synchronisation gear that would allow safe firing of guns through the propeller disc.

The Vickers response, the F.B.11, designed by R.L. Howard-Flanders, was a large, single-bay, biplane of tractor layout. Pilot and one gunner sat in separate but closely spaced cockpits under the trailing edge of the upper wing, while a second gunner sat in a nacelle, or "fighting top", attached to, and extending forward of the upper wing. The Eagle engine was mounted in a clean cowling, with the radiator fitted behind the engine in the fuselage.

Two prototypes were ordered, with the first flying in September-October 1916, being tested at RNAS Eastchurch in November that year. It proved to have poor lateral control and performance, and was destroyed in a crash. The second prototype was not completed, and as effective synchronising gears were now available (including Vickers own Vickers-Challenger gear), none of the escort fighters were developed further.

References

1. From Wikipedia Vickers F.B.11, "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_F.B.11"
2. Andrews, C.F. and Morgan, E.B. "Vickers Aircraft since 1908". London:Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0 85177 815 1.
3. Bruce, J.M. "British Aeroplanes 1914-18". London:Putnam, 1957.
4. Bruce, J.M. War "Planes of the First World War: Volume Three Fighters". London:Macdonald, 1969. ISBN 0 356 01490 8.
5. Green, William and Swanborough, Gordon. "The Complete Book of Fighters". New York:Smithmark, 1994. ISBN 0-8317-3939-8.
6. Lewis, Peter. "The British Fighter since 1912". London:Putnam, Fourth edition, 1979. ISBN 0 370 10049 2.
7. Mason, Francis K. "The British Fighter since 1912". Annapolis, Maryland, USA:Naval Institute Press, 1992. ISBN 1-55750-082-7

Britain - 1913 Vickers EFB 1-3

Early Evolution of Dedicated Fighters

The British Admiralty began the search for a viable fighter before the start of the Great War. One of the companies approached to design them was the Vickers Ltd Aviation Department. Even though Vickers was unsuccessful in developing a real fighter aircraft at that time, the research lead to the development of the E.F.B.5 and F.B.5 Gunbus which proved to be an effective aircraft for its time.

Vickers Experimental Fighting Biplane 1 - 1913

Vickers E.B.1 - 1913

Vickers received a contract from the Admiralty on November 19, 1912 for an experimental fighting biplane armed with a machine gun. Vickers investigated various configurations before deciding on placing the gunner in the extreme nose of the aircraft, in order to achieve a clear field of fire and avoid the still unsolved problem of firing a machine gun through the propeller's arc. Designated E.F.B. or Experimental Fighting Biplane 1 the aircraft was also known as the "Destroyer". Even though the prototype was unsuccessful; the Vickers E.F.B.1 was, if not the first, then one of the earliest dedicated fighter aircraft ever built.

The design choice required a fuselage nacelle carrying an 80 hp (60 kW) Wolseley Vee-eight-cylinder engine driving a pusher propeller mounted in the rear. The nacelle was built from steel tubing with a duralumin skin. This nacelle was mated with an unequal-span heavily-staggered biplane configuration. Wing warping was employed for lateral control. The airframe of the E.F.B.1 was primarily an all metal construction. The tail surfaces were carried by a pair of vertically disposed booms attached to the upper and lower rear wing spars on each side of the engine. The Vickers E.F.B.1 was armed with a single 7.7mm Maxim machine gun on a mount allowing a 60° range of elevation and lateral traverse.

Prior to its first flight, the E.F.B.1 was displayed at the Aero Show held at Olympia, London, in February 1913. The gun was fitted for the first flight test, made at Joyce Green, but this rendered the aircraft so nose-heavy that it briefly left the ground, then nosed down, struck the ground and turned over.

Vickers Experimental Fighting Biplane 2

Vickers E.B.2 - 1913

Following the loss of the E.F.B.1, Vickers undertook major redesign of its gun carrier while retaining the basic configuration to result in the E.F.B.2, again against an Admiralty contract. The E.F.B.2 eliminated the wing stagger of the previous aircraft and increased the span of the lower wing while retaining warping for lateral control. The fuselage nacelle was redesigned and large celluloid windows were inserted in its sides; the angular horizontal tail surfaces gave place to surfaces of elliptical form and a 100hp Gnome Monosoupape nine-cylinder rotary engine was fitted. The 7.7mm machine gun on a ball-and-socket mounting in the forward cockpit was retained, and the E.F.B.2 entered flight test at Bognor in the autumn of 1913, but crashed there during the course of October.

Vickers Experimental Fighting Biplane 3 - 1913

Vickers E.B.3 - 1913

In December 1913, a third Vickers Experimental Fighting Biplane, the E.F.B.3, made its debut. The slight overhang of the top wing was eliminated to result in an equi-span biplane, the fuselage nacelle underwent further redesign, the celluloid windows being eliminated, and, most important, ailerons on both upper and lower wings supplanted the wing-warping control of its predecessors. The 100hp Gnome Monosoupape rotary was retained as was also the 7.7mm Vickers gun. Displayed at the Aero Show held at Olympia in 1914, the E.F.B.3. was the subject of an order from the Admiralty for six aircraft placed in December 1913. This contract was subsequently taken over by the War Office, the six aircraft embodying a number of modifications - at least one was fitted with an eight-cylinder Vee-type 80hp Wolseley engine - and being referred to as the Vickers No (or Type) 30. These were to lead in turn to the E.F.B.5 and F.B.5 Gunbus.

Britain - 1915 Vickers F.B.5 Gunbus

The World's First Operational Fighter

Purpose built fighters entered production in 1915. Although this type of aircraft was still referred to as light scouts they were intended for air to air combat. Compared to later planes they were slow, fragile, and had their share of faults. However for their day they were state of the art and lethal in combat. The twin gun version of the Fokker Eindecker spelled the end of the Gunbus as a front-line fighter, relegating it to the ranks of training aircraft.

Vickers Fighting Biplane 5 Gun Bus - 1915

The Vickers F.B.5 (Fighting Biplane 5) was the first aircraft specifically designed for air-to-air combat to see service as a fighter for the Royal Flying Corps, making it the world's first operational fighter aircraft. With its engine mounted behind the cockpit, it the first pusher to enter service during World War I. Commonly referred to as the "Gunbus," it was armed with a moveable, forward firing 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun operated by the observer in the front of the nacelle. Vulnerable to attack from the rear, the Gunbus was soon replaced by more advanced single-seat fighter aircraft. Lionel Rees scored more victories with this aircraft than any other ace. In 1915, he and his gunner downed six enemy planes while flying the F.B.5.

Vickers began experimenting with the concept of an armed warplane designed to destroy other aircraft in 1912. The first resulting aircraft was the Type 18 "Destroyer" (Vickers E.F.B.1) which had been demonstrated in 1913. This aircraft was of the "Farman" pusher layout, to avoid the problem of firing through a tractor propeller, and was armed with a single belt-fed Maxim gun. The belt feed proved problematic for a flexible machine gun, and the weapon installed was changed to the lighter, handier, drum-fed 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun. The E.F.B.1 was the first in a line of Vickers' "Experimental Fighting Biplanes", of which the F.B.5 was the most famous - and the first to be built in quantity.

The F.B.5 first flew on 17 July 1914. It was powered by a single 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome Monosoupape 9-cylinder rotary engine driving a two-bladed propeller, and was of simple, clean, and conventional design compared with its predecessors. In total, 224 F.B.5s were produced, 119 in Britain by Vickers, 99 in France and 6 in Denmark.

The first F.B.5 was delivered to No. 6 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) at Netheravon in November 1914. On 25 December 1914, the first use of the F.B.5 in action took place, when a F.B.5 took off from Joyce Green airfield to engage a German Taube monoplane, hitting the Taube (and possibly causing its loss) with incendiary bullets from a carbine after the Lewis gun jammed.

The F.B.5 began to be seen on the Western Front when the first examples reached No.2 Squadron RFC on 5 February 1915. The type served in ones and twos with several other units before No. 11 Squadron RFC became the world's first fighter squadron when, fully equipped with the F.B.5, it deployed to Villers-Bretonneux, France on 25 July 1915. Second Lieutenant G.S.M. Insall of 11 Squadron won the Victoria Cross for an action on 7 November 1915 in which he destroyed a German aircraft while flying a Gunbus. No. 18 Squadron RFC, which deployed to France in November 1915, also operated the F.B.5 exclusively.

The F.B.5's performance proved to be inadequate for its intended role; although its forward-firing machine gun was a great advantage, the fighter did not have the speed or rate of climb to pursue its quarry. By the end of 1915, it was outclassed by the Fokker Eindecker. Some examples of the improved Vickers F.B.9 were sent to France, pending sufficient supplies of the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b, but the active career of the Gunbus was soon over. The remaining examples were mostly used as trainers.

The Vickers company persisted with an active experimental program during the First World War period, including a line of single-seat pusher fighters, but the F.B.5 remained their only significant production aircraft until the Vickers Vimy bomber, which entered service too late to have an impact on the war.

Despite its moderate effectiveness, the Vickers F.B.5 did have a lasting legacy as German pilots continued to refer to British pusher aircraft as "Vickers-types". Many victories over D.H.2 or F.E.2b pushers were reported as destruction of a "Vickers".

References

1. From Wikipedia Vickers F.B.5, "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_F.B.5"
2. Andrews, C.F. and Morgan, "E.B. Vickers Aircraft since 1908". London:Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0 85177 815 1.
3. Bruce, J.M. "Vickers' First Fighters". Air Enthusiast No 12, April -July 1980. pp.54-70. ISSN 0143-5450.
4. Gutmann, Jon and Dempsey, Harry. "Pusher Aces of World War 1". Osprey Pub Co, 2009. ISBN 1846034175, 9781846034176.

Britain - 1916 Vickers F.B.19

The Vickers Company was known for a long string of mediocre fighters and one extremely well designed heavy bomber, the Vickers Vimy. Today I will write about their fighters. Vickers clung to the pusher aircraft well past the point it was obsolete. Their tractor designs were not very impressive either. Despite this fact, Vickers had the political clout to be awarded military contracts throughout the war.

The Unpopular Vickers F.B.19

Vickers F.B.19 - 1916

The Vickers F.B.19 was an aircraft with several design flaws that prevented it from becoming popular, or widely used aircraft. It was relatively slow (98 mph -158 km/h), underpowered, and not at all capable of reaching higher altitudes. Its service ceiling was 16,995 ft (5,180 m).

Fifty F.B.19s were built and six were sent to France for operational evaluation. They were found to be unsuitable for the fighting conditions then evolving. A number of F.B.19s were sent to Russia. Those which were still crated on the dockside were destroyed by the Royal Navy after the Revolution but some were used by the Bolshevik forces.

Twelve examples of the Mk II, with staggered mainplanes and a 110 hp (82 kW) Le Rhône or Clerget engine, were built. Several were sent to the Middle East in a batch of twelve F.B.19s. From June 1917, these operated in Palestine and Macedonia but they were not popular and no squadron was fully equipped with the type.

References

1. From Wikipedia Vickers_FB-19, "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_F.B.19"
2. "Virtual Aircraft Museum". avia.russian.ee. http://avia.russian.ee/air/england/vickers_fb-19.php.
3. Bruce, J.M. "War Planes Of The First World War: Volume Three Fighters". London: Macdonald, 1969. ISBN 0 356 01490 8.