A Royal Flying Corps BE2c on the tail of a German Fokker DR1 at Shoreham Airshow flown by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden
The Royal Aircraft Factory (rear aircraft) was a British single-engine tractor two-seat biplane which was in service with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) from 1912 until the end of World War I. About 3,500 were built. Initially used as front-line reconnaissance aircraft and light bombers; variants of the type were also used as night fighters. Like many warplanes since, the was retained in front line service after it had become obsolete, for want of a suitable replacement. After its belated withdrawal it finally served as a trainer, communications aircraft and on anti-submarine coastal patrol the type was designed and developed by the Royal Aircraft Factory, the majority of production aircraft were built under contract by private companies, including well known manufacturers as well as firms that had not previously built aircraft. The has always been the subject of a good deal of controversy. While it proved fundamentally unsuited to air-to-air combat it had a relatively low accident rate, and its notorious stability actually proved helpful in its artillery observation and aerial photography duties. The Fokker Dreidecker (triplane) (front) was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became renowned as the aircraft in which Manfred von Richthofen gained his last 19 victories, and in which he was killed on 21 April 1918. Richthofen first flew 102/17 on 1 September 1917 and shot down two enemy aircraft in the next two days. He reported to the Kogenluft (Kommandierender General der Luftstreitkräfte) that the was superior to the Sopwith recommended that fighter squadrons be reequipped with the new aircraft as soon as combat evaluation came to an abrupt conclusion when Oberleutnant Kurt Wolff, Staffelführer of Jasta 11, was shot down in 102/17 on 15 September. These replicas are flown by the Great War Display Team in the UK
Size: 5350px × 3544px
Location: Shoreham, West Sussex, UK
Photo credit: © Avpics / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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