The Vickers F.B.19 was a British single-seat fighting scout 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 ...

, developed from the Barnwell Bullet prototype, and sometimes known as the Vickers Bullet. It served with the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

and the Imperial Russian Air Service, which subsequently led to the Red Air Force adopting it during the Russian Civil War.

Design and development

G. H. Challenger designed the F.B.19, which first flew in August 1916. It was a single-engine, single-bay, equal-span

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, slightly smaller than either the Sopwith Camel or

Nieuport 17 The Nieuport 17 C.1 (or Nieuport XVII C.1 in contemporary sources) was a French sesquiplane fighter designed and manufactured by the Nieuport company during World War I. An improvement over the Nieuport 11, it was a little larger than earlier N ...

, with a proportionally large engine fairing and tall fuselage, which gave it a relatively stubby appearance. It was armed with one synchronised 7.7mm Vickers machine gun, mounted unusually on the left-hand side of the fuselage, to facilitate the installation of the Vickers-Challenger synchroniser gear, also a Challenger design. The 100-hp Gnome Monosoupape engine gave a relatively slow speed, and the relatively low cockpit position, placed behind a wide rotary engine and between unstaggered wings, severely limited visibility for the pilot. The clearest view was sometimes said to be upwards, through a transparent section in the upper wing. Modifications were introduced, including a more powerful 110-hp (82-kW) Le Rhône or Clerget engine and staggered mainplanes, culminating in the Mk II design.Andrews, C.F and Morgan, E.B., 1988. Vickers Aircraft since 1908. London: Putnam. . The plane's relative success on the Eastern Front appears to have been due in part to it receiving a more powerful engine in Russia.

Operational history

Around sixty-five F.B.19s were built. Six early production examples were sent to France in late 1916 for operational evaluation, where the RAF found them unsuitable for the fighting conditions then evolving. Twelve Mk IIs went to the Middle East, five to Palestine and seven to Macedonia; no squadron was fully equipped with the type. They were not popular. A few Mk IIs served as trainers and for air defense over London, but the type had effectively been retired before the end of 1917. The F.B.19 found more favour in Russia, where it was known as the ''Vikkers Bullit''. A single example was initially sent for evaluation in 1916. Leading pilots, including the ace

Yevgraph Kruten ''Podpolkovnik'' Yevgraf Nikolaevich Kruten was a World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories. He began World War I as an aerial observer with three years experience in military aviation. After a year's seasoning, he was recommended ...

, regarded it favourably. Russian sources indicate that it was fitted with a more powerful 130-hp Clerget engine that provided a maximum speed of around 200 km/h, making the ''Bullit'' faster than both the SPAD S.VII and the

Sikorsky S-20 The Sikorsky S-20 (named after its designer) or RBVZ S-XX (named after its manufacturer) was a Russian single-bay unequal span two-seat biplane designed by Igor Sikorsky in 1916. Displaying some Nieuport influence, it saw very little service durin ...

. The Russians procured around twenty or thirty planes, and deployed at least four to front-line units, including one in which the ace

Grigoriy Suk ''Praporshik'' Grigoriy Suk (also known as Grigory Suk in English, russian: Григорий Эдуардович Сук) was a flying ace for the Imperial Russian Air Service during World War I. Early life and service Born the Estate near Mosc ...

claimed two of his victories. A number of unarmed planes served as trainers. After the October Revolution, a number of ''Bullit''s found their way into Bolshevik hands. A force of six F.B.19s are said to have been employed in 1918 against the anti-Bolshevik People's Army, and the type remained in service until 1924. All examples of the F.B.19s active in Russian service appear to have been Mk. I planes with unstaggered wings. A number of additional examples are said to have remained in crates on the dockside at

Archangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near i ...

until the British Royal Navy destroyed them during the evacuation of the

allied expeditionary force Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF th ...

in 1919.

Variants

* F.B.19 Mk I: Single-seat fighter-scout biplane, powered by a Gnome Monosoupape or a Le Rhône 9J Rotary engine. * F.B.19 Mk II: Single-seat fighter-scout biplane, powered by a Clerget 9Z or a Le Rhône 9J rotary engine.

Operators

* Imperial Russian Air Service *

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

* Ukrainian People's Republic Air Fleet *

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** No. 14 Squadron RFC ** No. 17 Squadron RAC ** No. 30 Squadron RFC ** No. 47 Squadron RFC ** No. 111 Squadron RFC ** No. 141 Squadron RFC

Specifications (F.B.19)

Citations and references

Citations References *Andrews, C. F., and E. B. Morgan. ''Vickers Aircraft since 1908''. London:Putnam, 1988. . *Bruce, J. M. ''War Planes Of The First World War: Volume Three Fighters''. London: Macdonald, 1969. . *Bruce, J. M. ''British Aeroplanes 1914–18''. London:Putnam, 1957. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers F B 19 1910s British fighter aircraft Biplanes Vickers aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Rotary-engined aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1916