A Sample Feature From Aviation News

THE RAF AT 90

The Royal Aircraft Factory

In April 2008 the world’s oldest independent air force will celebrate its 90th birthday. We congratulate the RAF on this historic milestone and celebrate 90 years of outstanding achievement with a series of features, between now and next April, providing background on its origins, its equipment and its status today.

In the first of this series, Gerry Sweet looks at the origins of the government’s first aeroplane factory that did so much to advance the state of manufacturing, providing stimulus for constructors and some of the first aircraft operated by the Royal Flying Corps, predecessor to the RAF.

Above: The F.E.2b epitomises the outstanding work of the Royal Aircraft Factory. It had a flexible mount for a single Lewis gun operated by the observer/gunner in the forward cockpit. A5478 was one of 50 F.E.2b built by Boulton & Paul Ltd at their Norwich factory and is a presentation ‘gift’, one of at least 10 from the Gold Coast. (Photo, Av News).

The origins of the Royal Aircraft Factory can be traced back to 1892, when it was established as the Balloon Factory, moving to South Farnborough in 1905 where it constructed man lifting observation kites, balloons and airships. In 1904, the War Office had sent Col Capper, supervisor of the Balloon Factory, to the United States where he examined the Wright Brothers flying machine. There was a suggestion that he should invite them to England to continue their work here but the Treasury refused to sanction any possible government expenditure on aircraft. Prior to 1910, the government’s attitude to aeroplanes was indifferent and parsimonious, to say the least. In fact, a memorandum dated April 1909, was worded to the effect that official experiments on aeroplanes must cease, because they had already cost the Treasury £2,500! However, privately, Shorts Brothers had built six of the Wright machines and one was actually taken to the Balloon Factory in 1910 - although it never flew.

Above: One of the first outstanding examples of the engineering art of design metamorphosis was the B.E. series, named after the successful Bleriot design company, triggered when the Duke of Westminster donated a collapsed Voisin of dubious provenance to the War Office. The wreck became an excuse for a totally new design from Geoffrey de Havilland at the Royal Aircraft Factory and was designated B.E.1. (Photos, BAE Systems unless stated otherwise).

The official attitude changed slightly when news of the Wright Brothers demonstrations in France filtered through and on April 26, 1911, the Balloon Factory was renamed The Army Aircraft Factory. This decision may well have been prescient, for the expertise developed at Farnborough became vital for the infant aircraft industry, as it geared up for the First World War in 1914. Under the direction of the Superintendent, Mervyn O’Gorman, a series of type classifications was laid down for pursuing aircraft research. In fact, Gorman is now regarded as the founder of Britain’s scientific approach to aeronautics which, before, had been largely hit and miss. In April 1912, when the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was formed, the Factory was again renamed and became the Royal Aircraft Factory. As a government design and experimental establishment for the advancement of aeronautics, the Factory did not, however, have a charter for building aeroplanes. Experimental aircraft designs, if built to fruition, could only represent conversions from existing aircraft – in practice, machines developed in France or England. Otherwise, Treasury auditors would accuse O’Gorman of working outside his terms of reference. Furthermore, in those days, it was considered inappropriate for a government funded facility to manufacture items that were more properly the preserve of industry. This adverse attitude to the Factory persisted throughout its existence and the scientists had to resort to subterfuge to test their ideas.
An important figure in the early days of the Factory was Geoffrey de Havilland who, with some money given to him by his grandfather, had been trying to build his first aeroplane. Following several failed attempts, he produced a successful pusher machine (later designated F.E.1). It was powered by a 45hp Iris engine, which he also designed. Through a chance meeting with Fred Green in 1910, an engine designer who already worked at the Factory, he was offered a job by O’Gorman as aircraft designer.  Following an impressive demonstration in his F.E.1 in January 1911, the aircraft was purchased by the government for £400 and became the basis for one of the Factory’s first fighters. de Havilland moved on in 1914 to join the Airco Company, but not before he had been foremost in developing some of the Factory’s early aircraft.

Below: One of the first outstanding examples of the engineering art of design metamorphosis was the B.E. series, named after the successful Bleriot design company, triggered when the Duke of Westminster donated a collapsed Voisin of dubious provenance to the War Office. The wreck became an excuse for a totally new design from Geoffrey de Havilland at the Royal Aircraft Factory and was designated B.E.1. (Photos, BAE Systems unless stated otherwise).

The B.E. types
The Factory’s first tractor biplane was ostensibly rebuilt from a salvaged, French Voisin, biplane, presented in 1911 by the Duke of Westminster. de Havilland and Green, however, set out to design a new aircraft and in fact, all they used from the Voisin was its 60 hp, V8, water-cooled Wolseley engine. They had the help of a brilliant draughtsman, Henry Folland - another name that was to become famous in the aircraft industry.
Because the original biplane was a tractor configuration, with the propeller at the front, the design was designated B.E.1, or Bleriot Experimental. It thus complied with O’Gorman’s classification and satisfied the civil servants! Aircraft with pusher propellers behind the fuselage were designated F.E, for Farman Experimental, and those with a canard construction, with the elevators at the front, were classed S.E, or Santos Dumont Experimental. This became confusing later when S.E. also denoted Scout Experimental! 

The B.E.1 flew satisfactorily and was eventually used in 1912 by a Royal Engineers officer, flown by de Havilland, for wireless telegraphy work. It was an orthodox, two-seat biplane, fabricated mainly from wood, with welded steel tube for the tail, elevators and rudder. Wing warping - as used by the Wright’s and Blériot - was used for lateral control, rather than ailerons. The next in the series was the B.E.2, which used a 70hp, eight cylinder Renault engine, giving a top speed of 72mph. In June, 1912, Geoffrey de Havilland achieveda height record of 10,500ft in the B.E.2 at Larkhill, near Salisbury Plain. He did this while unofficially demonstrating the type during the military trials of 1912, arranged to select the best aircraft for the Royal Flying Corps. Of the 31 entrants, only five were totally British. The American Samuel Cody officially won the competition, but the performance of the B.E.2 was so far ahead of the others that the War Office decided to put the design out to industry for contract. Even so, suspicions were expressed in the press that the Factory was competing with private companies such as Bristol, Handley Page and Graham White.

Above: The RAF B.E.2, first flown February 1, 1912, is seen here during the military trials of August, 1912, before serial numbers appeared at the beginning of 1913. It appeared quickly after the B.E.1, the latter having made its first flight as recently as December 4, 1911, from Farnborough common, close to the Factory. Below: Geoffrey de Havilland, in the rear cockpit of the B.E.2 he had designed, takes a passenger for a ride. Equipped with floats, a demonstration was conducted from water but with wheels restored it spent most of the summer months of 1912 demonstrating its land based capabilities including, on June 3, the dropping of a bomb when de Havilland loosed off a 112lb change from this aircraft.

Further development produced the B.E.2a (which would be the first type to fly to France in 1914), with an improved fuel system, and then the B.E.2b, with deepened fuselage coaming. However, these initial B.E. designs were relatively unstable longitudinally and by November, 1913, the B.E.2c had emerged, which was now inherently stable or, to quote Geoffrey de Havilland, ’could be flown hands and feet off.’ Credit for the B.E. 2c configuration, however, must go to a young mathematician from Cambridge, Edward Busk, who made several changes to the original designs. He set the lower plane 2ft back from the upper plane, increased the dihedral, switched to conventional ailerons, re set the horizontal tailplane and placed a triangular fin in front of the rudder. With the pilot now at the back, this configuration provided an excellent reconnaissance platform – the primary role of military aircraft at that time. The B.E.2c was, in modern parlance ‘state of the art’ in terms of British aeronautical expertise. Tragically, Busk was killed a year later flying a B.E.2c with a new, Factory designed engine, the 90hp R.1A. This accident inadvertently put back production of the type by a year, as no drawings had been made of the engine, which was completely destroyed. When the machine did eventually appear in the latter part of 1914, it also had a proper V-strut wheeled undercarriage instead of skids. With a contract price of £1,072 10s for the airframe, and £522 10s for the engine, about 2,000 of the type were built during the war and also used by the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS). 

In 1915, a B.E.2d, with dual control and an external gravity feed fuel tank under the port upper wing was introduced, followed by the B.E.2e. This latter variant had unequal span wings to improve aerodynamic performance. In fact, although speed was improved, climb rate was worse. Finally, for large-scale production, two other variants emerged. Namely, B.E.2c and d fuselages fitted with the new wing overhang design, which then became respectively, B.E.2f and B.E2g. A range of other prototypes, designated B.E.3 to B.E.7, was proposed in an effort to produce a two-seat scout plane with a rotary engine. Finally the B.E.8 was put into limited production with an 80hp, Gnome, rotary in a streamlined cowling. This was modified to the B.E.8a by changing to ailerons from the original wing warping, plus a revised tail unit. Nicknamed the ‘Bloater’, about 70 were built but proved largely unsatisfactory in service. Although the B.E type airframe was an immensely stable reconnaissance or bombing platform, its inherent stability gave it very poor manoeuvrability. This made it easy prey for the German Fokker fighters and it had to be escorted by F.E.2 fighters. The heavy casualties that the B.E.2c suffered gave rise to further criticism of the Factory from the Press and from Parliament. Particularly vociferous was the opinionated editor of the Aeroplane Magazine, C. G. Grey, who became an enemy of O’Gorman after being turned away from the Factory gates during an unannounced visit! In an attempt to improve the situation, in 1916 the B.E.12 was introduced – basically a B.E.2c airframe modified to form a single-seat fighter, using the more powerful, 150hp, RAF 4A, in line, V12 engine. It was armed with two Lewis guns mounted on each side of the fuselage, clear of the propeller disc. Although it had a speed of 102mph it failed in its fighter role because of its lack of manoeuvrability, inherited from its progenitor. Nevertheless, approximately 3,200 B.E. variants were built and some types remained in service until 1918.

Above: Every landing is a good one that the pilot walks away from, so goes the cynical adage! In 1912 such statements carried painful truths. Demonstrations of the B.E.2 in the halcyon days of peace before war began in 1914 gave confidence that reconnaissance, gun spotting and bombing were practicable. This is why it was the outstanding winner of the Military Trials competition held at Larkhill in August, 1912.

For the rest of this feature please see the June 2007 issue.