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 The Imperial Russian Air Service (russian: Императорскій военно-воздушный флотъ, , Emperor's Military Air Fleet) was an air force founded in 1912 for Imperial Russia."''12 августа 1912 года прик� ...

, which subsequently led to the

Red Air Force 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 ...

adopting it during the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

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 The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

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 A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

, 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 France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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 The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, 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 The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) during the First World War. Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and rug ...

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 The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

, a number of ''Bullit''s found their way into

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

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 The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

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 The ''Monosoupape'' ( French for single-valve), was a rotary engine design first introduced in 1913 by Gnome Engine Company (renamed Gnome et Rhône in 1915). It used a clever arrangement of internal transfer ports and a single pushrod-operated ...

or a

Le Rhône 9J The Le Rhône 9J is a nine-cylinder rotary aircraft engine produced in France by Gnome et Rhône. Also known as the Le Rhône 110 hp in a reference to its nominal power rating, the engine was fitted to a number of military aircraf ...

Rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and i ...

. * F.B.19 Mk II: Single-seat fighter-scout biplane, powered by a

Clerget 9Z Clerget-Blin (full name being ''Société Clerget-Blin et Cie'') was a French precision engineering company formed in 1913 by the engineer and inventor Pierre Clerget and industrialist Eugène Blin. In 1939, the company was absorbed into the ''Gr ...

or a

rotary engine.

Operators

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 The Air Fleet of the UPR was the air force of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1917–1921. Aircraft Fighters *Morane-Saulnier N, Morane-Saulnier Type Nm (3) *Sikorsky S-16 *Nieuport 11, Nieuport 11 C.1 ''Bebe'' *Nieuport 17 (3) *Nieuport 21 ...

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

** 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