Allied Planes Of WWI

[GermansRGeniuses]

im kinda new to this topic and area of time, but i do know this: the Re.5 or whatever its called (its british and one of the best fighters of WWI if that helps anyone remember) could fire its gun vertically! this was done by putting the gun in reloading position and as long as you had ammo in the clip you could shoot it vertically!

[the lancaster kicks ass]

lots of WWI planes could do that, they tried to counter the problem of firing a gun forward without hitting the prop., so they just mounted a gun on the top wing. it was hard to aim accuratly though....................

[kiwimac]

Germans R Geniuses,

You are thinking of the SE5A



Source http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/royal-ai...ctory-se5a.htm

Kiwimac

[bronzewhaler82]

Originally Posted by the lancaster kicks ass

lots of WWI planes could do that, they tried to counter the problem of firing a gun forward without hitting the prop., so they just mounted a gun on the top wing. it was hard to aim accuratly though....................

My fav plane of WW1 was the Airco DH.2

It was a single seat bi-plane fighter with the propellar situated at the back of the plane rather than the front hence the name 'pusher' because the engine pushed the plane along rather than pulling it - this gave the pilot a clearer vision from the cockpit and allowed his guns to fire more effectively rather than firing through the Prop (which i'm convinced attributed to so many guns jamming in aircraft during WW1 - i know they were poorly made but i still think that the device that allowed them to fire through the propellar hampered the machine guns effectiveness)

The DH.2 was equipped to No24 squadron on the 8th Feb 1916 under the command of Major Lanoe Hawker (mentioned on another of my WW1 threads) it was powered by a 100hp Monosoupape engine and was armed with a single Lewis gun which was (at first) mounted on a swivelling pivot but after complaints from some pilots about this guns mounting being 'wobbly' it was abandoned in favour of the gun being fixed in a forward firing position. The DH.2 was fast, manouvorable and rugged and it achived more success against Fokker aircraft than ANY OTHER type during the entire war

In June 1916 alone No24 squadron's pilots destroyed 17 Fokker aircraft in total followed by 23 in July, 15 in August, 15 in Sept and 15 again in Nov until on November 23rd Major Lanoe Hawker (who himself was an Ace with 7 kills accredited to him) was killed in a very long dogfight against the up-and-coming German pilot Manfred Von Richthofen whom we all know as the 'Red Baron'


Here are the DH.2s stats

Type: Scouting Biplane
Crew: 1
Max Speed: 93mph
Ceiling: 4,265ft
Endurance: 2hrs 45mins
Wingspan: 28ft 3in
Length: 25ft 2in
Height: 9ft 6in
Weight: 1421lbs (loaded)
Armament: One forward firing Lewis Gun (.303)

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aircraft...airco_dh2.html

http://www.geocities.com/ww1fighters...aircodh2_3.gif

[kiwimac]

DH2

[bronzewhaler82]

Go for it I think they are just as interesting (sometimes more so) than WW2 planes...planes during WW1 were more evenly matched in the air so it REALLY came down to pilot skill.....not so in WW2 really

Did you know that the Tri-plane was originally designed by the British with the Sopwith company? and when the Germans saw the Sopwith Triplane on the battlefield for the first time and how it could easily out-turn their best biplane fighters of the time they designed a 3-wing fighter based on our design...the result was the Fokker Triplane which was a fav of the Red Baron himself (in fact it was the plane he was flying when he was killed)

The only reason he got killed was because he was being cocky...he chased a British pilot straight into Allied territory and flew low enough for an Australian sniper to pick him off....not very wise

[bronzewhaler82]

In fact if he hadn't been so arrogant (A typical German attribute ) he probably would've survived the war...

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i wouldn't say they were more interesting.................

[bronzewhaler82]

I would say they were sometimes...alot of planes during WW2 were just made follwoing designs that were proven in field test etc to be the best they could come up with but alot of the WW1 planes designs (though obviously tested as well) were inovative in aircraft design as planes from that era were still very basic - they were more evenly matched as well so in those days it was mostly down to pilot skill who won a dogfight (unlike WW2) which in IMO makes for more interesting history

and the planes from WW1 had more character if you ask me

[kiwimac]

A lot of the planes of WW1 were made to be as muti-functional as possible. The manufacturers were not thinking solely in terms of 'fighters' or 'bombers' (though there were plenty of each).

Indeed, until the advent of the Sopwith Salamander the allies did not have a plane specifically designed for ground-attack. What I like about WW1 is the sheer speed of development from Farnams and Taubes to SE5A's, Camels & Fokkers.

Kiwimac

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i do like the foker..................

[plan_D]

There is much debate to how the Red Baron died, saying the one of many stories of the Austrialian sniper is just jumping the gun.
For a start, the Red Baron had been shot up previous, and had a serious head injury which caused him to black out, one story is that he pulled too much G and passed out, causing him to crash after losing control.

There are many stories on how he was taken down. Not just the Austrialian sniper one. Even some pilots reckon they got the kill.

It's one of the mysteries which is better left unsolved, all the more interesting that way.

[Horus]

Hi folks!
I'm new here and I just wanted to introduce myself and say hello.
I have a big interest in WW1 aircraft.
My favourite WW1 planes?
The Ilya Mourymettz four engine bomber.

[plan_D]

Welcome to the site.
That's good for 1915. It'll be interesting to see what you have to say about WW1 aviation.

[Horus]

I think the blokes who went up in those things must have had a lot of courage. No parachute, radio or modern navigational aids, and sometimes the engines fell off!
Some of the planes were fairly colourful too.