Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Two-seat fighting scout

Power Plant:

One 119 kw (160 hp) Beardmore six-cylinder in-line liquid-cooled engine

Specifications:

Armament:

One 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Lewis machine gun in front cockpit

History:

Built by the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, the FE.2 (Fighter Experimental 2) first appeared in 1911, entering production in August 1913 as a fighting scout aircraft.  The first FE.2a flew on 16 January 1915 with a 75 kw (100 hp) Green six-cylinder engine and this was found to be under-powered. Beardmore engines ranging from 90 kw (120 hp) to 119 kw (160 hp) were subsequently installed.  Eventually in FE.2b form it was quite successful on the Western Front and 1,939 were built.  It was also used for night bombing and ground attack duties. Only two examples of the FE.2c model were produced; but in the FE.2d model (251 built) it was fitted with a 186 kw (250 hp) Rolls Royce engine.

A total of nine examples of the FE.2b and FE.2d was presented to the Australian Flying Corps.  In May 1918 the Australian Government set up an Aeroplane Construction Committee to investigate the possible construction of aircraft for future civil and military use. One aeroplane considered was the FE.2b. Working drawings were obtained from the UK but the project was shelved at the end of World War I.

A number of aircraft during World War I were purchased by benefactors and companies in Australia to help in the war effort.  An FE.2b (C4627) was operated by No 1 Squadron, AFC in 1918. This aircraft was purchased and gifted to the Squadron by Mrs H Bickford of Mt Lofty, SA.  A further FE.2b (7027) was purchased by Sidney Kidman of Kapunda, SA;  serial 7686 by H E A and V White of Scone, NSW; and B1148 by J C White and family of Muswellbrook, NSW.

Two FE.2bs were imported to Australia and these made a number of significant flights. The FE.2b is important in early aviation history in this region. In 1916 Mr A M Simpson of Young House, Parkside, SA, purchased a battle plane for the Central Flying School at Point Cook, VIC for ₤3,175 ($6,350) plus ₤175 ($350) for freight and other charges, an FE.2b being obtained with a Beardmore engine, this having a Lewis machine gun, bomb racks and a camera, being erected in 1917.  This aircraft (serial CFS-14 / A.778) had painted on the nacelle ”presented by Alfred Muller Simpson, Parkville, Adelaide.”

During the 1917 winter the German raider SMS Wolf was operating in Australian waters laying mines, and the FE.2b was to perform reconnaissance off the Victorian coast, on this occasion being flown by Capt F H McNamara VC, Officer Commanding, Air Reconnaissance, South Gippsland.  However, it suffered engine problems, and was damaged in a landing accident at Yarram, VIC and was returned to Point Cook for repairs.  However, some reconnaissance flights were performed in the aircraft.  It seems that up to this stage it had a 119 kw (160 hp) Beardmore engine and this was replaced with a 90 kw (120 hp) unit.  This was the first aircraft to fly on war operations in Australia.

In July 1920 the Department of Defence offered a number of obsolete aeroplanes for sale, including the FE.2b.  The latter was eventually sold to Aviation Ltd of Glenroy, VIC.  On 12 November 1920 Major G A C Cowper of Aviation Ltd landed at Ararat racecourse with a view to commencing passenger flights but the next day it was found the machine had been damaged by an uncontrolled bull and repairs had to be effected.  Later the machine was provided to Lt R J P Parer for a flight to King Island on 23 November, returning on 29 November. On 2 December it was flown to Adelaide, SA where it was operated by employees of Aviation Ltd, along with a Sopwith Dove.

The Herald Newspaper chartered a number of aircraft to deliver newspapers to holiday makers on Phillip Island, the Mornington Peninsula, and the Bellarine Peninsula, commencing on 26 December 1920, the FE.2b being flown by Capt H A Rigby on the Mordiallic to Frankston service.  This machine won The Herald Cup in the Aerial Derby (handicap section) at the Epsom Racecourse, Melbourne on 27 December 1920.  The ultimate fate of the machine is not known but it is known when Aviation Ltd ceased trading in 1921 its assets included the debris of an FE.2b minus engine.

A further FE.2b was imported by Mr H Yule of Mildura, VIC he having previously owned a Boulton & Paul P.9.  This was entered in the Aerial Derby at Epson on 27 December 1920 but broke an axle landing at Glenroy, the crew entered in the derby being Mrs Yule with F X Huxley as pilot.  On 4 January 1921 the aircraft flew to King Island; and on 25 January it flew to Stanley and Hobart.  This machine had a 119 kw (160 hp) Beardmore engine. At 4 am on 26 January it was torn from its moorings by high winds and badly damaged.  Spare parts were obtained from Melbourne and repairs effected.  On 26 March the machine nose dived into the ground during an attempted test flight and the three persons on board were injured.  It was again repaired and on 22 April 1921 it was flown over Hobart, and on the 25th to Launceston, TAS.

On 28 June 1921 this aircraft was registered as G-AUCX to F H Huxley.  It was registered to Raymond J Parer on 2 August 1921, he proposing to use it on an around-Australia flight, hoping to raise finance to buy an aircraft to attempt a trans-Pacific flight.  The flight commenced on 3 August and with Parer were A P Kane (cinematograph operator and mechanic), and Mark Parer. The party reached Kalgoorlie Racecourse on 9 January and on the 12th operations were moved to Boulder Racecourse, WA where passenger flights were made. A total of 487 passengers was carried and a total distance of 13,162 km (8,179 miles) was flown since leaving Melbourne. However, on 7 February 1922, when taking off from the Boulder Racecourse, a wing struck a telegraph pole, the propeller became entangled in the wires and the machine crashed upside down. As the wreckage was blocking the street, it was taken away and dumped.

In the United Kingdom a replica of an FE.2 has been completed and placed on display at the RAF Museum at Hendon.  In New Zealand The Vintage Aviator Limited [TVAL] at Wellington has constructed two examples of the FE.2b. The first became ZK-FEE (c/n 758 – serial 6341) and is fitted with an original Beardmore engine; the second being an FE.2b-1 which became ZK-FEB (c/n 759 – serial A5650) registered to TVAL on 20 September 2012 and fitted with a replica Beardmore engine.  Initially work commenced at TVAL on four FE.2bs but after two had been completed the other two partly-built aircraft were placed in storage pending completion of work on other aircraft.

These aircraft are described as reproductions, built right down to the complicated brackets, intricate oleo undercarriage, laminated mahogany veneer nose section, formed plywood cockpit sections and the laminated spruce outriggers.  Every individual part has been manufactured, using the same materials such as the Irish linen, ash and spruce timbers, and a number of original parts such as the interplane struts, radiator shutter control, oil and tanks have been installed.

The first aircraft was completed in the markings of aircraft serial 6341 of No 25 Squadron RFC flown by Capt Douglas Grinnell Milne and Observer Corp D MacMaster, being one of four presentation machines gifted to the Squadron by the Government of Zanzibar, having ”Zanzibar No 1 / Scotch Express” on the side of the fuselage, the original aircraft having been forced down and captured on 16 May 1916 by Ltn Gontermann of Jasta 5.

The FE.2 was used to some extent in South America.  In Uruguay the engine for ZK-FEE was located in storage, obtained, and taken to Wellington where it was overhauled (and copied) for this and other aircraft.  Although rated at 119 kw (160 hp), the engine on this aircraft when tested produced 127 kw (170 hp) at 1,200 rpm and about 149 kw (200 hp) at 1,500 rpm.