Royal Aircraft Factory was a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. F904 taking off at an airshow
ROYAL AIRCRAFT FACTORY The Scout Experimental 5 () was designed by , J. Kenworthy and Major Gooden of the Royal Aircraft Factory. The was developed around the Hispano-Suiza 8a engine, which produced 150 hp, and proved to have excellent performance but tended to be unreliable. The first prototype was flown on the 22nd of November 1916 with a second being manufactured to the same specification which tragically proved to have a design fault in the of the prototypes were destroyed in crashes, with Chief test pilot Major Gooden being killed in the first prototype on 28th of January 1917. A third prototype was produced with the wing weakness strengthend which led to the to be a very strong aircraft allowing it to be dived at very high speed. The was extremely stable, manoeverable, relatively easy to fly and could reach a speed of 138 mph making it safer to fly especially for novice pilots. Armed with a synchronised " Vickers machine gun to shoot through the propeller and a " Lewis machine gun 'Foster mounted' on the top wing, the pilot could fire from below an enemy aircraft as well as with two guns firing forward. 'G-EBIA', serial number F-904, never saw service and was purchased new after the war by Major Savage. It was restored for the Shuttleworth Collection at RAE Farnborough and flew again in 1959. The original Hispano-Suiza engine was replaced with a Wolseley Viper engine in 1975. The Royal Aircraft Factory 'G-EBIA' is part of the Shuttleworth Collection, based at Old Warden, where it can be seen today.
Size: 4928px × 3264px
Location: Old Warden, Beds, UK
Photo credit: © Avpics / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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