The Vickers E.F.B.1 'Destroyer' was an early British military aircraft prototype. Although not itself a success, the design was considered worth developing, and a series of similar aircraft were produced in prototype form, eventually leading to the Vickers F.B.5 "Gunbus", which saw widespread service during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Design

The Experimental Fighting Biplane No. 1 (E.F.B.1) was designed in response to a

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

requirement for an aircraft intended for an offensive role. As such, it was notable for being the first British aircraft to be specifically designed for a military role. A contract for an experimental prototype was given to Vickers on 19 November 1912. The resulting aircraft was an unequal-span staggered wing, two-bay pusher biplane with the tailplane mounted on booms behind the wings and the crew of two housed in a

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...

above the lower wing, with the engine behind them. The pusher layout was chosen to meet the requirement for a forward-firing gun, since gun synchronisation mechanisms had not been developed at the time. Extensive use of metal was made in its structure, the tail booms and wing spars being made of steel and the nacelle of steel tube with a covering of sheet

duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of '' Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its use as a tra ...

."What There Will Be To See Art Olympia"
''Flight'' 8 February 1913 p149 Lateral control was effected by wing warping, and in order to prevent fatiguing of the structure caused by warping loads the rear wing spar was built in three sections, the outer sections being hinged to the centre section, and the wing ribs were loosely threaded onto the spars. The armament consisted of a single belt-fed 0.303 Vickers-

Maxim machine gun The Maxim gun is a recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first fully automatic machine gun in the world. The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most associated with imperial conquest" by historian ...

mounted at the front of the nacelle on a flexible mounting. It was exhibited at the Aero show at Olympia in February 1913, but crashed soon afterwards, possibly on its first flight. Nevertheless, the design was considered promising enough for work to be started on another aircraft of similar design, the Vickers E.F.B.2, and this line of development would eventually lead to the Vickers F.B.5 Gunbus.

Specifications

Comparable aircraft

Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.3 The Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.3 (also known as the A.E.1 ("Armed Experimental") was a British experimental single-engined pusher biplane built prior to the First World War. It was intended to be fitted with a shell-firing gun, but was quickly ...

Grahame-White Type VI The Grahame-White Type VI was an early British military aircraft manufactured by the Grahame-White Aviation Company. Only one was built but after an abortive flight development was abandoned. Design and development Designed by J.D. North, the ...

Notes

References

* * Mason F.K. ''The British Fighter Since 1912'' London: Putnam, 1992. {{Vickers aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft 1910s British fighter aircraft 1910s British experimental aircraft E.F.B.1 Aircraft first flown in 1913