Vickers F.B.19

Vickers F.B.19

Role: Single-seat scout
Manufacturer: Vickers
Designed by: G H Challenger
First flight: August 1916
Introduced: 1916
Primary users: Royal Flying Corps Russia/USSR
Number built: 62

The Vickers F.B.19 was a British single-seat scout of the First World War. It was a single-engine, single-bay, unstaggered equal-span biplane.

Development

The F.B.19 was designed by G H Challenger and first flew in August 1916. It was ordered by the War Office for the RFC.

Operational history

Fifty F.B.19s were built and six were sent to France for operational evaluation. They were found to be unsuitable for the fighting conditions then evolving. A number of F.B.19s were sent to Russia. Those which were still crated on the dockside were destroyed by the Royal Navy after the Revolution but some were used by the Bolshevik forces.

Picture - Vickers F.B.19

Twelve examples of the Mk II, with staggered mainplanes and a 110-hp (82-kW) Le Rhx´ne or Clerget engine, were built. Several were sent to the Middle East in a batch of twelve F.B.19s. From June 1917, these operated in Palestine and Macedonia but they were not popular and no squadron was fully equipped with the type.

Variants

F.B.19 Mk I : Single-seat fighter-scout biplane, powered by a 100-hp (75-kW) Gnome Monosoupapa or a 110-hp (82-kW) Le Rhone rotary piston engine.
F.B.19 Mk II : Single-seat fighter-scout biplane, powered by a 110-hp (82-kW) Clerget or a Le Rhone rotary piston engine.

Operators

Soviet Union United Kingdom

Royal Flying Corps
No. 14 Squadron RFC
No. 17 Squadron RAC
No. 30 Squadron RFC
No. 47 Squadron RFC
No. 111 Squadron RFC
No. 141 Squadron RFC

Specifications (F.B.19)

Data from British Aeroplanes 1914-18

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 18 ft 2 in (5.54 m)
Wingspan: 24 ft 0 in (7.32 m)
Height: 8 ft 3 in (2.52 m)
Wing area: 215 ft² (19.98 m²)
Empty weight: 900 lb (409 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 1,485 lb (675 kg)
Powerplant: 1x— Gnome Monosoupape rotary piston engine, 100 hp (75 kW)
Propellers: 2-bladed propeller

Performance

Maximum speed: 102 mph (89 knots, 164 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
Service ceiling: 17,500 ft (5,340 m)
Endurance: 2¾ hours
Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 14 minutes

Armament

Guns: 1 x 0.303-in Vickers machine gun

Anrews, C.F. and E.B. Morgan. Vickers Aircraft since 1908. London:Putnam, 1988. ISBN 085177 815 1.
Bruce, J.M. War Planes Of The First World War: Volume Three Fighters. London: Macdonald, 1969. ISBN 0 356 01490 8.
Bruce, J.M. British Aeroplanes 1914-18. London:Putnam, 1957.

Vickers F.B.19 Pictures

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Source: WikiPedia