FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1077.PDF
16 April 1954 481 the capital necessary for the development of his invention. Perhaps the most remarkable experiment in which a B.E.2C participated was that conducted at Kingsnorth airship station in an endeavour to provide an anti-Zeppelin aircraft of great en durance. A complete B.E.2C was attached to an S.S.-type air ship envelope, the intention being that the aerostat should sup port the aeroplane until the enemy was sighted, whereupon the airship envelope would be released, and the B.E. would proceed to the attack in the normal way. The inventors of this airship- plane, as the aircraft was called, were Cdr. N. F. Usborne and Lt-Cdr. de Courcy W. P. Ireland. The first trials, in August, 1915, were made by Fit. Cdr. W. C. Hicks, but the controlling gear left a good deal to be desired, and it was not until February 21st, 1916, that the composite craft's first true trial flight was made by Usborne and Ireland. The experiment failed tragically, for at about 4,000 ft the envelope and aeroplane separated prematurely: the B.E. fell away and turned over, throwing out Ireland, then crashed, out of control, in the goods yard of Strood railway station. Usborne was killed in the crash. He had been a close friend of E. T. Busk, the designer of the B.E.2C. For various aerodynamic experiments B.E.2Cs, 2Ds and 2Es were used, and some idea of the variety of these experiments may be gained from the notes on individual machines which are appended. Special mention must be made of 4122, which was used early in 1918 in some of the first experiments with variable-pitch airscrews. Aerofoils of R.A.F.14, 15, 17, and 18 sections were tested exhaustively, and one of the experimental B.E.2Es had wings of 6ft lin chord and 399 sq ft area: the corresponding standard dimensions were 5ft 6in and 360 sq ft. In 1917, a B.E.2E was used by Dr. F. A. Lindemann (now Lord Cherwell) in the first scientific investigations into the behaviour of an aeroplane in a spin, and his courageous researches pro vided much-needed information on a phenomenon which up to that time had not been understood at all. A B.E.2C with pronounced backstagger was still at the R.A.E. in June 1920, doubtless the subject of further experiments. Very few B.E.s came on to the British Civil Register after the war. Only one B.E.2C and eleven B.E.2Es received such regis trations. In Australia, A B.E.2E (C.6986, registered G-AUBF) was one of the first machines used by the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service Co., Ltd., in 1921. As we have shown, the history of the B.E.s was not a happy one; for long they were the objects of acrimonious publicity and bitter debate at home, and of the persistent and unwelcome attentions of enemy fighter pilots in France. It is a tale shot through with unequal combats and dreadful losses, relieved only by the surpassing courage of the men who daily flew to war in the full knowledge that theirs was an aircraft in every vital way inferior to those enemy machines they must encounter. There can be no doubt that the B.E. design will go down in our aircraft history as the supreme and most horrible example of the State-designed aeroplane in all its standardized inferiority. Its shortcomings were summed up with splendid simplicity by Capt. Albert Ball, V.C., D.S.O., M.C., who flew B.E.2Cs and 2Ds for many hours with Nos. 13 and 8 Sqns.: "They were not for fighting," he said. But most pilots of the period would probably be quicker to endorse Ball's far more spontaneously pungent reply to General H. M. Trenchard, when asked for his opinion of a B.E. he had just tested. The feelings of all B.E. pilots were in his exclamation: "It's a bloody awful machine." B.E.2 SERIES DATA Power Plants.—B.E.I: 60 h.p. Wolseley, later 60 h.p. Renault. B.E.2, 2A, 2B: 70 h.p. Renault; 60 h.p. E.N.V. (experimental). B.E.2C: 70 h.p. Renault; 90 h.p. R.A.F.la; 105 h.p. R.A.F.lb; 105 h.p. R.A.F.ld; 90 h.p. Curtiss OX-5; 150 h.p. Hispano-Suiza. B.E.2D: 90 h.p. R.A.F.la. B.E.2E: 90 h.p. R.A.F.la; 105 h.p. R.A.F.lb; 150 h.p. Hispano-Suiza; 75 h.p. Rolls-Royce Hawk. Manufacturers.—The Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, built one B.E.I in 1912, one B.E.2 in 1912, and 5 B.E.2s in 1913. Other Contractors.—B.E.2, 2A, 2B: Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Co., Ltd., Gosforth, Newcastle-on-Tyne; British and Colonial Aeroplane Co., Ltd., Filton, Bristol (built 19 B.E.2As, 6 B.E.2Bs); Coventry Ordnance Works, Ltd., Coventry; Handley Page, Ltd., Crickle- wood, London; Hewlett and Blondeau, Ltd.; Clapham Works; Vickers, Ltd. (Aviation Dept.). B.E.2C, 2D and 2E: Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Co., Ltd.; Austin Motor Co., Ltd., Northfield, Birmingham; Barclay, Curie and Co., Ltd., built B.E.2Cs and 2Es, A.1261-A.1310, and B.E.2Es C.7001-C.7100; Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Co., Ltd., Leeds, built B.E.2Cs 964-975, 1123-1126, 1128-1146, 3999 and 9951-10000: William Beardmore and Co., Ltd., Dalmuir, built B.E.2Cs 1099-1122, 8326- 8337, 8488-8500, 8606-8629 and 8714-8724. British Caudron Co., Ltd., Broadway, Cricklewood, built B.E.2Cs numbered B.6151-B.6200. British and Colonial Aeroplane Co., Ltd., built B.E 2Cs numbered 1652-1697, 1698-1747, 4070-4219 and 4700-4709, B.E.2Ds 5730-5879, B.E.2Ds and 2Es 7058-7257, B.E.2Es A.2733-A.2982, A.8626-A.8725 and B.4401-B.4600. A contract for a further 50 B.E.2Es, numbered C1701-C.1750, was cancelled. Coventry Ordnance Works, Ltd., Daimler Co., Ltd., and William Dennv Bros., Dumbarton, built B.E.2Cs and 2Es A.1361-A.1410, B.E.2Es C.6901-C.7100. Eastbourne Aviation Co., Ltd., Eastbourne, built B.E.2Cs 1183-1188 and 8404-8433; Grahame White Aviation Co., Ltd., Hendon, built B.E.2Cs 1147-1170 and 8293-8304; Handley Page, Ltd., and Hewlett and Blondeau, Ltd., built B.E.2Cs 976-987 and 1189-1194. Martinsvde, Ltd., Brooklands, Weybridge and Woking, built B.E.2Cs 988-999; Napier and Miller, Ltd., Old Kirkpatrick, built B.E.2Cs and 2Es A.1311-A.1360, B.E.2Es C.7101-C.7200.; Ruston, Proctor and Co., Ltd., Lincoln, built B.E.2Cs 2670-2769 and B.E.2Ds 6228-6327; Siddeley-Deasy Motor Car Co., Coventry, and Vickers, Ltd., built B.E.2Cs 952-963 and 1075-1098; Vulcan Motor Co., Southport, built B.E.2Ds and 2Es 6728-6827, B.E.2Cs A.1792-A.1891, and B.E.2Es B.3651-B.3750; G. and J. Weir, Ltd., Glasgow, built B.E.2Cs 4300- 4599. Wolseley Motors, Ltd., Adderley Park, Birmingham, built B.E.2Cs and 2Es 2470-2569, and B.E.2Es A.3049-A.3148. Australia: One or two B.E.2Cs were built at Point Cook. Production and Allocation.—Official statistics do not distinguish the variants, and show only a total of 1,793 aircraft of all four sub-types B.E.2A, 2B, 2C and 2D. No accurate figures for the B.E.2 and B.E.2E are available. TABLE I: DELIVERIES* FROM AUGUST, 1914, ONWARDS Type B.E.2 B.E.2A B.E.2B B.E.2C B.E.2D B.E.2E Training Units 2 7 64 294 54 913 Home Defence _ — 1 136 1 160 Expeditionary Force 30 7 19 487 136 503 Middle East Brigade 1 1 200 — 225 Total 32 15 85 1,117 191 1,801 * To R.F.C. and R.A.F. only; R.N.A.S. not included. On October 31st, 1918, only 474 B.E.2Cs, 2Ds and 2Es remained on charge to the R.A.F. Of these, only one was with the Expeditionary Force in France; 67 were in Egypt and Palestine; 6 were at Salonika; 6 were in Mesopotamia; 58 were on the N.W. Frontier of India; 4 were in the Mediterranean area; and 7 were en route to the Middle East. At home, 3 were at Aeroplane Repair Depots; 10 were in store; 21 were with Home Defence units; 6 were with Coastal Patrol units; 2 were at Aircraft Acceptance Parks; 4 were in Ireland with the 11th Group; and 279 were at schools and various other aerodromes. Costs.—B.E.2C and 2E airframes, less engine, instruments and guns, £1,072 10s; R.A.F.la engine, £522 10s; Renault, £522 10s; Curtiss OX-5, £693 10s. TABLE II: DIMENSIONS Span Length Height Chord Gap Stagger Dihedral Incidence Taiiplane span Wheel track Wing area B.E.2A 38ft 7iin 29ft 6±in — 6ft 4in — Nil — — 12ft 6ft 2in 374 5q ft B.E.2C 37ft 27ft 3in 11ft Hin 5ft 6in 6ft 3.19in 24in 3° 30' 3° 30't — 5ft 9Jin 371 sq ft B.E.2D 36ft 10in 27ft 3in 11ft 5ft 6in — 24in 3° 30' 4° 09' — 5ft 9Jin — B.E.2E 30ft 6in» 27ft 3in 12ft 5ft 6in 6ft 3±in 24in 3° 30' 4" 15' — 5ft 9?in 360 sq ft » Upper wing, 40ft 9in. t For R.A.F. 6; R.A.F. 14, 4" 09'. TABLE III: WEIGHTS AND PERFORMANCE Weight empty Military load ... Fuel and oil Weight loaded Max. speed (m.p.h.) at s.l. at 6,500ft at 10,000ft Climb to 3,000ft to 7,000ft to 10,000ft Service ceiling Endurance B.E.2A 1,274 lb 1,600 1b 70 65 9 min 35 min 10,000ft 3 hours B.E.2C (R.A.F.1a) 1,370 lb 520 lb 252 lb 2,142 lb 95 72 69 45 min 10,000fc 3; hours B.E.2E (R.A.F.la) 1,431 lb 430 1b 229 1b 2,090 lb 97 82 75 53 min 11,000ft 3j hours Additional data.—B.E.1: max. speed 59 m.p.h.; climb to 600ft, 3 min 52 sec. B.E.2; weight loaded 1,6501b. B.E.2C (Renault): max. speed 75 m.p.h. Service Use.—B.E.2, 2A, 2B: R.F.C. Squadrons No. 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12 and 16; No. 3 Wing, R.N.A.S., Dunkirk, Tenedos and Mudros; R.N.A.S. Station, Great Yarmouth; India—Indian Flying School at Sitapur; Australia—Flying School at Point Cook (2 B.E.2As). Training—Various flying schools, including Gosport and Stirling. B.E.2C: Western Front.—R.F.C. Sqadrons No. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 21; R.N.A.S., Dunkirk; No. 1 Wing, R.N.A.S.; 6th Squadron, Belgian Flying Corps, both R.A.F.la and Hispano-Suiza versions. Home Defence—H.D. Detachments of No. 19 Reserve Squadron, consisting of two machines at each of the following aerodromes: Hounslow, Wimbledon Common, Croydon, Farningham, Joyce Green, Hainault Farm, Suttons Farm, Chingford, Hendon and Northolt. These detachments became No. 39 Squadron on April 15th, 1916. Two B.E.2Cs at Brooklands, two at Farnborough, three at Cramlington. Three machines each to training, squadrons at Norwich, Thetford, Doncaster
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
