Vickers F.B.14

__NOTOC__ Infobox Aircraft
name=Vickers F.B.14


caption=
type=Fighter.reconnaissance biplane
national origin=United Kingdom
manufacturer=Vickers
designer=
first flight=1916
introduced=
retired=
status=
primary user=Royal Flying Corps
more users=
produced=
number built=100+
variants with their own articles=The Vickers F.B.14 was a British two-seat fighter/reconnaissance biplane designed and built by Vickers Limited. About 100 were built for the Royal Flying Corps but saw only limited use as it was designed for a larger engine which was not available when production commenced and it did not meet performance expectations.

Design and development

The F.B.14 was a conventional single-bay biplane with two tandem open cockpits and a fixed tailskid landing gear. It was designed to use a new engine, the 230hp (172kW) BHP inline engine (later to become the Siddeley Puma). The steel-tube airframe was completed in mid-1916 but the engine was not ready and it was fitted with a 160hp (119kW) Beardmore engine instead. Andrews and Morgan 1988, p.71.] The aircraft was underpowered with the Beardmore engine and suffered reliability problems and over 50 production aircraft were delivered to the Royal Flying Corps without engines. A more reliable engine was tested, but the 120hp (89kW) Beardmore did not help meet the performance required. Attempts to fit alternate engines resulted in a number of variants with the most successful being a Rolls-Royce Eagle IV Vee engine. The aircraft performance was inferior to the contempary Bristol F.2B, however, and further development of the F.B.14 was abandoned.

The F.B.14 saw limited operational use, with some being sent to Mesopotamia, with seven being used in home defence Squadrons. The Rolls-Royce powered F.B.14D, while being used for testing of an experimental gunsight at Orfordness in July 1917, engaged a German air raid and claimed an unconfirmed shoot-down of a Gotha bomber off Zeebrugge.

Variants

;F.B.14:Production aircraft powered by a 160 hp (119 kW) Beardmore engine, 104 built by Vickers at Weybridge.;F.B.14A:Re-engined with a 150 hp (112 kW) Lorraine-Dietrich Vee engine, one built.;F.B.14D:Re-engined with a 250hp (186kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle IV engine and fitted with increased span two-bay wings. Andrews and Morgan p.72.] ;F.B.14F:Re-engined with a 150hp (112kW) RAF 4a air cooled V-12 engine.

Operators

;UK
*Royal Flying Corps

pecifications (F.B.14)

aerospecs
ref= [http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/aircraftpage.php?ID=896]
met or eng?= eng
crew=2
capacity=
length m=8.66
length ft=28
length in=5
span m=12.04
span ft=39
span in=6
swept m=
swept ft=
swept in=
rot number=
rot dia m=
rot dia ft=
rot dia in=
dia m=
dia ft=
dia in=
width m=
width ft=
width in=
height m=3.05
height ft=10
height in=0
wing area sqm=39.7
wing area sqft=427
swept area sqm=
swept area sqft=
rot area sqm=
rot area sqft=
volume m3=
volume ft3=
aspect ratio=
empty weight kg=755
empty weight lb=1662
gross weight kg=1183
gross weight lb=2603
lift kg=
lift lb=
eng1 number=1
eng1 type=Beardmore engine
eng1 kw= 119
eng1 hp= 160
eng1 kn=
eng1 lbf=
eng1 kn-ab=
eng1 lbf-ab=
eng2 number=
eng2 type=
eng2 kw=
eng2 hp=
eng2 kn=
eng2 lbf=
eng2 kn-ab=
eng2 lbf-ab=
max speed kmh=
max speed mph=99.5
max speed mach=
cruise speed kmh=
cruise speed mph=
range km=
range miles=
endurance h= 3
endurance min= 45
ceiling m=3,050
ceiling ft=10,000
glide ratio=
climb rate ms=
climb rate ftmin=
sink rate ms=
sink rate ftmin=
armament1=1 x forward firing .303 Vickers machine gun
armament2=1 x .303 Lewis machine gun fitted on a Scarff ring in rear cockpit
armament3=
armament4=
armament5=
armament6=

ee also

aircontent
see also=
related=
similar aircraft=
sequence=
lists=
*List of aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps

References

*
*
*cite book |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985)|year= |publisher= Orbis Publishing|location= |issn=|pages=

External links

* [http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/aircraftpage.php?ID=896 British Aircraft Directory]