R.A.F. F.E.8

Before the invention and use of synchronizers, one of the best way of providing a stable, forward-firing machine gun was to mount it on a pusher. The R.A.F. F.E.8 was a single-seat pusher fighter in the same school as the Airco D.H.2. Though the prototype was complete in October 1915, it was not until August 1916 that the first F.E.8-equipped squadron arrived in France. The FE.8 might have been a good match for the Fokker Eindeckers and early German biplane fighters, but by the autumn of 1916 it was to face the Albatros D.I and D.II, for which it was no match. Of the four squadrons using the F.E.8, most switched to other planes fairly quickly, but No.41 Squadron kept its F.E.8s until July 1917.

Card Links

 * 40 Sqn - Hay
 * 40 Sqn - Hay
 * 40 Sqn - Mapplebeck

1:144 Scale

 * Shapeways: Columbia Aerodrome, CA (racks), Decapod, Kampfflieger

1:285/6mm/1:288 Scale

 * Shapeways: Decapod

1:350 Scale

 * Shapeways: Decapod