The Great War - Aviation - BE-2

The BE-2 is a bi-plane that was first developed in 1912 and became one of the most popular used aircraft in 1914 by Royal Flying Corps. Compared to todays fighter planes it seems slow but back in 1914 it was the height of aviation, popular because of how stable it was. It role was for reconnaissance and light bombing. It was revised with the outbreak of war to create the BE-2B which was the same except it had better cockpit protection as well as more refined controls.

In 1915, it was revised yet out with the BE-2C which had a modified engine for better stability as well as an added observers machine gun. This was again replaced by the BE-2D which could travel longer distances.

In 1916 BE-2E was the final development of this aircraft, which had the added bonus of being faster than previous versions. This aircraft was used on the front line until the middle of 1917. After this it was used on the home front training new pilots and for defence against Zeppelin raids at home and anti sub missions with the navy.

The final version had a maximum speed of 70 MPH, a maximum height of 10,000 feet. The aircraft could be in the air for up to three hours and could carry a maximum of 100 pounds of bombs at any one time.

The war had meant that we needed specific things from the aircraft we used, which therefore gave opportunity to develop this aircraft faster than it would have happened in peace time.