The Vickers F.B.11 was a prototype
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
three-seat escort fighter of the
First World War
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 ...
. A large single-engined
biplane, it carried one gunner in a nacelle mounted on the upper wing to give an allround field of fire. Only a single example was completed.
Development and design
In early 1916, the British
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
drew up a specification for a multi-seat escort fighter to be powered by one of the new
Rolls-Royce Eagle
The Rolls-Royce Eagle was the first aircraft engine to be developed by Rolls-Royce Limited. Introduced in 1915 to meet British military requirements during World War I, it was used to power the Handley Page Type O bombers and a number of oth ...
engines, intended to protect formations of bombers from German fighters such as the
Fokker E.I, with an additional role of destroying enemy
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
s.
[Bruce 1957, p. 25.] While the specification did not require high speed, a good field of fire for its guns was essential,
[Mason 1992, p. 67.] while the secondary anti-Zeppelin role demanded an endurance of at least seven hours.
[
Orders were placed for prototypes from ]Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and ...
(the F.K.6), Sopwith (the L.R.T.Tr.) and Vickers
Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public i ...
. All three designs were driven by the need to provide wide fields of fire in the absence of an 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. The 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
Royal Air Force Eastchurch or more simply RAF Eastchurch (formerly RNAS Eastchurch) is a former Royal Air Force station near Eastchurch village, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England. The history of aviation at Eastchurch stretches back to the fi ...
in November that year. It proved to have poor lateral control and performance, and was destroyed in a crash.[Bruce 1969, p. 100.] 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.[Lewis 1979, p. 99.]
Specifications
See also
Notes
References
* Andrews, C. F., and Morgan, E. B. ''Vickers Aircraft since 1908''. London: Putnam, 1988. .
*Bruce, J. M. ''British Aeroplanes 1914-18''. London: Putnam, 1957.
*Bruce, J. M. ''War Planes of the First World War: Volume Three Fighters''. London: Macdonald, 1969. .
*Green, William, and Swanborough, Gordon. ''The Complete Book of Fighters''. New York: Smithmark, 1994. .
*Lewis, Peter. ''The British Fighter since 1912''. London: Putnam, Fourth edition, 1979. .
*Mason, Francis K. ''The British Fighter since 1912''. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1992.
{{Vickers aircraft
1910s British fighter aircraft
F.B.11
Military aircraft of World War I
Aircraft first flown in 1916