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Concept
Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2
Summary
Between 1911 and 1914, the Royal Aircraft Factory used the F.E.2 ("Farman Experimental 2") designation for three quite different aircraft that shared only a common "Farman" pusher biplane layout.
The third "F.E.2" type was operated as a day and night bomber and fighter by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Along with the single-seat D.H.2 pusher biplane and the Nieuport 11, the F.E.2 was instrumental in ending the Fokker Scourge that had seen the German Air Service establish a measure of air superiority on the Western Front from the late summer of 1915 to the following spring.
The Farman Experimental 2 designation refers to three quite distinct designs – all pushers based on the general layout employed by the French aircraft designers, the Farman Brothers – but otherwise completely different aircraft. This "re-use" of the F.E.2 designation has caused much confusion.
The first F.E.2 was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland at the Royal Aircraft Factory in 1911. Although it was claimed to be a rebuild of the F.E.1, a pusher biplane designed and built by de Havilland before he joined the Factory's staff, it was in fact an entirely new aircraft, with construction completed before the F.E.1 was wrecked in a crash in August 1911. The new aircraft resembled the final form of the F.E.1, with no front elevator, but seated a crew of two in a wood and canvas nacelle, and was powered by a 50 hp (37 kW) Gnome rotary engine.
It made its maiden flight on 18 August 1911, flown by de Havilland. It was fitted with floats in April 1912, first flying in this form on 12 April 1912, but was underpowered and its engine was therefore replaced by a 70 hp (52 kW) Gnome, this allowed it to take off carrying a passenger while fitted with floats. Later in the year the F.E.2, refitted with a landplane undercarriage, was modified to carry a Maxim machine gun on a flexible mount in the nose.
The second F.E.2 was officially a rebuild of the first F.E.2, and may indeed have included some components from the earlier aircraft.
Official source
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