Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.8 (replica)

The Royal Aircraft Factory had a unique method of naming aircraft. The F.E.8 was the eighth “Farman Experimental” design created by the company. Farman Experimentals were all the pusher planes the company designed. The name’s origin was Henry Farman designed a popular pusher plane design in 1909. When designing a tractor airplane, the company called them B.E. for “Bleriot Experimental” since Louis Bleriot popularized the design by conquering the English Channel in 1909.

The F.E.8 is an example of aircraft designers adapting the airplane to air-to-air combat. The best place for both machine guns and the engine was in front of the pilot. The problem at the beginning of the war was there was no way to prevent a bullets from striking the propeller blades of a front-mounted engine. The rear-mounted engine was not a great option either. They were considered more dangerous in a crash since the engine could crush the pilot. Until new technology could prevent pilots from shooting off their propellers, the F.E.8’s rear engine was a compromise so pilots could more easily aim at their targets.

By the time the F.E.8 entered combat in July 1916, the Germans had solved synchronizing the machine gun with a front-mounted engine. The benefits of the system was on full display on March 9, 1917 when Jagdstaffel 11 attacked nine F.E.8s. Within a half hour, all nine were either shot down or the forced to land due to damage.

While obsolete for combat, the plane had a key role in learning about aerodynamics. In 1916, numerous pilots crashed their F.E.8 because of uncontrolled spins. Many blamed the F.E.8 design until spin tests on August 23, 1916. Major Frank W. Goodden intentionally spun the plane multiple times and each time he recovered from the spin using the airplane’s controls. His method remained the standard training for spin recovery for decades afterwards.

Jack Gardiner and Robert Sebring built this F.E.8 in California from original factory plans. Construction required 1,000 man-hours over a period of 32 months. In 1980, Gardiner flew from California to Owls Head with only a compass for navigation. Flying across the country at 80mph, the flight took 57 hours. However, the trials and tribulations along the way stretched the trip over 32 days.