The Vickers E.F.B.8 was a prototype
British twin-engined
fighter of the
First World War. It was abandoned after only one aircraft was built, single-engined fighters being considered to have superior manoeuvrability.
Development and design
In autumn 1915,
Vickers were working on the design of a twin-engined fighter, the E.F.B.8 (Experimental Fighting Biplane No. 8) as well as the large, cannon armed
Vickers E.F.B.7
The Vickers E.F.B.7 was a prototype British fighter aircraft of the First World War. A twin-engined biplane, the E.F.B.7 was unsuccessful, only one being built.
Development and design
In August 1914, following the outbreak of the First World W ...
. This design, which was assigned to
Rex Pierson
Reginald Kirshaw "Rex" Pierson CBE (9 February 1891 – 10 January 1948) was an English aircraft designer and chief designer at Vickers Limited later Vickers-Armstrongs Aircraft Ltd. He was responsible for the Vickers Vimy, a heavy bomber designe ...
was for a smaller,
machine gun armed fighter. With twice the power of Vickers' single-engined
pusher Vickers F.B.5
The Vickers F.B.5 (Fighting Biplane 5) (known as the "Gunbus") was a British two-seat pusher military biplane of the First World War. Armed with a single .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun operated by the observer in the front of the ...
Gunbus, which, while possessing effective armament, was too slow, the E.F.B.8 was hoped to have adequate performance. Like the E.F.B.7, the E.F.B.8 was a two-bay biplane with a steel-tube structure with
plywood
Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...
-and-fabric covering, being powered by two
tractor Gnome Monosoupape rotary engines mounted between the wings. It was, however, much more compact, with a wingspan less and 500 lb (230 kg) lighter. The gunner, armed with a single
Lewis gun was sat in the nose, while the pilot, as in the E.F.B.7, sat under the trailing edge of the wings, remote from the gunner, hindering cooperation between them in battle.
The E.F.B.8 flew in November 1915, demonstrating good performance, being the fastest twin-engined aircraft of 1915, although not as good a performance as expected. It was not considered maneuverable enough for use as a fighter, and with the prospect of better-performing single-engined fighters with synchronised guns, was rejected for production. The experience designing it proved useful to Pierson, however, when two years later, he came to develop the Vickers Vimy bomber, which was much larger but of similar layout.
[Mason 1992, p. 48.]
Specifications
See also
Notes
References
* Andrews, C. F., and Morgan, E. B. ''Vickers Aircraft since 1908''. London: Putnam, Second edition, 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. .
* Mason, Francis K. ''The British Fighter since 1912''. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1992. .
{{Vickers aircraft
1910s British fighter aircraft
E.F.B.8
Military aircraft of World War I
Rotary-engined aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1915