Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2

F.E.2b
F.E.2b with "V" type undercarriage
Role	Fighter/Reconnaissance, Night Bomber
Manufacturer	Royal Aircraft Factory
First flight	February 1914
Introduction	September 1915
Retired	1918
Status	Retired
Primary user	Royal Flying Corps
Produced	1914–1918
Number built	1,939
Variants	F.E.1, Vickers VIM

Between 1911 and 1914, the Royal Aircraft Factory used the F.E.2 (Farman Experimental 2) designation for three quite different aircraft that shared only a common "Farman" pusher biplane layout.

The third "F.E.2" type was operated as a day and night bomber and fighter by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Along with the single-seat D.H.2 pusher biplane and the Nieuport 11, the F.E.2 was instrumental in ending the Fokker Scourge that had seen the German Air Service establish a measure of air superiority on the Western Front from the late summer of 1915 to the following spring.

The Farman Experimental 2 designation refers to three quite distinct designs – all pushers based on the general layout employed by the French aircraft designers, the Farman Brothers – but otherwise completely different aircraft. This "re-use" of the F.E.2 designation has caused much confusion.

The first F.E.2 was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland at the Royal Aircraft Factory in 1911. Although it was claimed to be a rebuild of the F.E.1, a pusher biplane designed and built by de Havilland before he joined the Factory's staff, it was in fact an entirely new aircraft, with construction completed before the F.E.1 was wrecked in a crash in August 1911. The new aircraft resembled the final form of the F.E.1, with no front elevator, but seated a crew of two in a wood and canvas nacelle, and was powered by a 50 hp (37 kW) Gnome rotary engine.

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