Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8

Royal Aircraft Factory · United Kingdom · first flew 1915 · fighter

The Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 was a British single-seat pusher fighter of the First World War. It could not escape the drag of its tail structure and was no match for the Albatros fighters of late 1916.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Mid-mounted, straight
E — Engines	1 × piston, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	7.01 m fuselage
T — Tail	Twin fin

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Pusher biplane with the engine and propeller behind the pilot in a small nacelle
Tail carried on booms attached to the main spar of the tailplane
Long-span ailerons on the narrow-chord wings, occupying the whole trailing edge outboard of the booms

A short nacelle with a four-bladed pusher propeller, open tail booms and a narrow-chord biplane wing mark the F.E.8.

Specifications

The Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 has a length of 7.01 m (23 ft).
It has a wingspan of 9.6 m (31 ft).
Its maximum speed is 151 km/h (94 mph).
Typical crew: 1.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

It was designed by a team led by John Kenworthy as a single-seat scout, using a pusher layout because no synchronisation gear was then available for a tractor fighter. The first flight was made on 15 October 1915.

Variants

The prototypes had large spinners on the propeller hub, which were soon removed. The machine gun was first on a movable nose mount and in production aircraft was fixed in front of the pilot. A Gnome Monosoupape or a Le Rhone rotary could be fitted.

Where you'll see it

Darracq and Vickers built 295 F.E.8s for the Royal Flying Corps, which flew them from 1916. It was only a little faster than the D.H.2 and rather less manoeuvrable.

Related aircraft

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