Used throughout the war, the innovative Breguet Br.14 was a highly successful biplane used by the French, Belgian and American air services. Designed by Louis Breguet in 1916, it was one of the first aircraft constructed with duralumin in the airframe.
Rugged and versatile, it was mass produced in several variations, including a seaplane model. Before the end of the war, the Br.14 saw service as a reconnaissance aircraft, a day/night bomber and an air ambulance. This was one of the best bombers the French used. It was produced up until 1926.
The Caudron G.4 was a French biplane with twin engines, widely used during World War I as a bomber aircraft. It was designed by René and Gaston Caudron as an improvement over their Caudron G.3. The aircraft was no delight for the eye with its massive, open construction. The aircraft employed wing warping for banking. The first G.4 was manufactured in 1915, both in France, England and in Italy.
The Caudron G.4 was used as a reconnaissance bomber into the heart of Germany. Later, when Germany developed a fighter force, the aircraft had to be used for night bombings.
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Following several production delays, the Caudron G.4 entered service with the French Aviation militarie in 1915 and was soon in use by the British, Russian and Italian air services. In 1916 and early 1917, the G.4 was extensively used by the Royal Flying Corps to bomb the German seaplane and Zeppelin bases in Belgium. Despite its lack of defensive armament, the twin-engine biplane quickly established a reputation as a reliable performer with a good rate of climb.
While the Caudron G.3 was a reliable reconnaissance aircraft, it could not carry a useful bombload, and owing to its design, was difficult to fit with useful defensive armament. In order to solve these problems, the Caudron G4 was designed as a twin engined development of the G.3, first flying in March 1915. While the G.4 had a similar pod and boom layout to the G.3, it has two Le Rhône rotary or Anzani 10 radial engines mounted on struts between the wings instead of a single similar engine at the front of the crew nacelle, while wingspan was increased and the tailplane had four rudders instead of two. This allowed an observer/gunner position to be fitted in the nose of the nacelle, while the additional power allowed it to carry a bombload of 100 kg.
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The Caudron R.11 was first used as a bomber and then used as an escort at the end of the war. This was the last bomber the French built during the war.
The R.11 was originally intended to fulfill the French Corps d'Armee reconnaissance category. Its design was similar to the Caudron R.4, but with a more pointed nose, two bracing bays outboard the engines rather than three, no nose-wheel, and a much larger tail. The engines were housed in streamlined nacelles just above the lower wing.
The French army ordered 1000 R.11s. Production began in 1917, with the first aircraft completed late in that year. In February 1918 the first Escadrille (squadron) R.26 was equipped. The last escadrille to form before the Armistice (and production ended abruptly) was R.246, at which point 370 planes had been completed.
The Caproni three-engined bomber appeared in 1914, powered by three Gnome rotary engines. The production version, equipped with three 100 hp fixed in-line Fiat A 10 engines entered service in the summer of 1915, and it was the most effective bomber of any air force, except for the Russian Sikorsky.Ilya Mourometz.
The Caproni Ca.3 was an Italian heavy bomber of World War I and the post-war era. It was the definitive version of the series of aircraft that began with the Caproni Ca.1 in 1914.
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The development of the Ca.1 to the Ca.2 suggested the benefits of increasing amounts of power to the very sound airframe. The Ca.3 was a development of Ca.2, by replacing the two engines mounted on the booms with the same Isotta-Fraschini engine that had been used as the central, pusher engine on that design.
The prototype flew in late 1916 and was soon put into production. Known to Caproni at the time as the Caproni 450 hp, the Italian Army designated it the Ca.3. In Caproni's post-war redesignation, it became the Ca.33. Somewhere between 250 and 300 of these aircraft were built, supplying the Italian Army and Navy (the latter using the type as a torpedo bomber), and the French Army. Late in the war, Robert Esnault-Pelterie built the type under licence in France, building an additional 83 (some sources say only 19) aircraft.
Note: there is some variation in published sources over early Caproni designations. The confusion stems, in part, from three separate schemes used to designate these aircraft - Caproni's in-house designations of the time, those used by the Italian Army, and designations created after the war by Caproni to refer to past designs.
DescriptionThe Ca.3 was a three-engined biplane of wooden construction, with a fabric-covered frame. The of four was plaved in an open central nacelle (front gunner, two pilots and rear gunner-mechanic). The rear gunner manned upper machine guns, standing upon the central engine in a protective "cage", just in front of a propeller. Tricycle landing gear.
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Caproni Ca.4 Series was patterned along the lines of the Caproni Ca.3 series of biplane bombers, the larger triplanes of the Ca.4 series were designed to be more effective in combat. Sometimes armed with up to eight machine guns, these cumbersome bombers were capable of accurately delivering large payloads of bombs to distant enemy targets. Although mainly used at night, they took part in daylight raids towards the end of the war. Of thirty-two Ca.42s manufactured in 1918, six of them were used by the Royal Naval Air Service.
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After designing the successful Ca.3, Gianni Caproni of the Caproni works designed a much bigger aircraft. It shared the unusual layout of the Caproni Ca.3, being a twin-boom aircraft with one pusher engine at the rear of a central nacelle and two tractor engines in front of twin booms, making a push-pull configuration. The twin booms carried a single elevator and three fins. The main landing gear was fixed and consisted of two sets of four wheels each. The most distinguishing feature of the new plane was, that it was built in a rare triplane layout, instead of the more common biplane.
The huge new bomber was accepted the Italian Army under a military designation Ca.4, but it was produced in several variants, differing in factory designations.
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Sikorsky's Ilya Mourometz was the world's first four-engine bomber. Construction started in August, 1913 and first flight was in January, 1914. The cockpit had space for several persons. Openings on both sides of the fuselage permitted mechanics to climb out on the wings to service the engines during flight. A hatch on the left side provided an exit to the front bridge. Behind the cockpit was a large passenger cabin. In the rear was a stairway to the upper bridge and a washroom. Further back was a private cabin including a berth, small table and cabinet. During World War I over 75 ILia Mourometz were deployed in a special squadron at the front for bombing and reconnaissance missions.
The Ilya Muromets (Sikorsky S-22) was designed and constructed by Igor Sikorsky at the Russo-Baltic Carriage Factory (RBVZ) in Riga in 1913. It was based on his earlier S-21 Russky Vityaz or Le Grand which had played an important role in the development of Russian aviation and the multi-engine aircraft industries of the world.
Russia had a chance to become the birthplace of the first multi-passenger and multi-engine airliner. The Ilya Muromets was first conceived and built as a luxurious aircraft. For the first time in aviation history, it had an insulated passenger saloon, comfortable wicker chairs, a bedroom, a lounge and even the first airborne toilet. The aircraft also had heating and electrical lighting.
On 10 December 1913, the Ilya Muromets was tested in the air for the first time, and on 25 February 1914, took off for its first demonstration flight with 16 passengers aboard. From 21 to 23 June (one source gives 30 June - 12 July interval), it set a world record by making a trip from St Petersburg to Kiev, a distance of some 1200 km, and back. The first leg took 14 hours and 38 minutes with one landing for fuel - at Orsha, and the return one, with a fuel stop at Novosokolniki, took even less time, some 13 hours. If it had not been for World War I, the Ilya Muromets would probably have started passenger flights that same year.
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With the beginning of World War I, Sikorsky decided to change the design of the aircraft to become the world's first purpose-designed bomber. Internal racks carried up to 800 kg of bombs, and positions for up to nine machine guns were added for self-defense in various locations, including the extreme tail. The engines were protected with 5 mm-thick armor.
In August 1914, the Ilya Muromets was adopted by the Imperial Russian Air Force. On 10 December 1914, the Russians formed their first ten-bomber squadron, slowly increasing the number to 20 by the summer of 1916. During World War I, the Germans often refused to attack Ilya Muromets in the air due to their defensive firepower. On 12 September 1916, the Russians lost their first Ilya Muromets in a fight with four German Albatroses, three of which it managed to shoot down. This was also the only loss to enemy action during the war, while three others were damaged in combat, but managed to return to base to be repaired.
The heavy bombers of other participants appeared in 1916, all resembling the Russian pioneer to a certain degree. The Russian government and Sikorsky himself sold the design and production license to the British and the French. The Germans tried to copy its design, using the fragments of the example they had shot down over their territory in September 1916.
By the end of 1916, the design was generally believed to have exhausted itself. The ensuing modifications, such as additional armor, made the aircraft too heavy and not worthy of upgrading. Even though the English, French and German bombers were faster, Sikorsky decided to switch to a new type of aircraft he would call the Alexander Nevsky.
The Russians built 73 Ilya Muromets bombers between 1913 and 1918. During this period, the Russians were the first in aviation history to perform bombing from heavy bombers, bomber group raids on enemy targets, night bombing and photographic bomb damage assessment. They were also the first to develop defensive tactics for a single bomber engaged in an air combat with a number of enemy fighters. Due to systematic weapon upgrades, the effectiveness of bomb-dropping reached 90%. The Ilya Muromets performed more than 400 sorties and dropped 65 tons of bombs during the war.
The last flight of an Ilya Muromets bomber took place in 1922 at the Air Shooting and Bomb-dropping School in Serpukhov.
The S-22 cockpit had sufficient space allowing several persons to observe the pilot. Openings on both sides of the fuselage permitted mechanics to climb out onto the wings to service the engines during flight. Hatch on the left side provided an exit to the front bridge. Behind the cockpit was a large passenger cabin with four large windows on each side. Placed at the rear was a stairway to the upper bridge and a washroom. Further back was a private cabin which included a berth, small table and a cabinet. Lighting was provided by a wind driven generator and heating was supplied by two long engine exhaust pipes which passed through the corners of the cabin.
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Designed in 1916 by Geoffrey de Havilland, the D.H.4 was the only British design manufactured by the Americans. It was easily identified by its rectangular fuselage and deep frontal radiator. Versatile, heavily armed and equipped with a powerful twelve cylinder engine, this biplane daylight bomber was fast.
Sometimes called the "Flaming Coffin," its huge fuel tank was dangerously positioned between the pilot and observer, hindering communication. Produced in vast numbers, 6295, of which 4846 were built in the United States, many D.H.4s were modified for civilian air service after the war.
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The Airco DH.9 (from de Havilland 9) - also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 - was a British bomber used in the First World War. A single-engined biplane, it was a development of Airco's earlier, highly successful DH.4 and was ordered in very large numbers for Britain's Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force.
Its engine was unreliable, and failed to provide the expected power, giving the DH.9 poorer performance than the aircraft it was meant to replace, and resulting in heavy losses, particularly over the Western Front. The subsequently-developed DH.9A had a more powerful and reliable American Liberty L-12 engine.
The DH.9 was designed by de Havilland for the Aircraft Manufacturing Company in 1916 as a successor to the DH.4. It used the wings and tail unit of the DH.4 but had a new fuselage. This enabled the pilot to sit closer to the gunner/observer and away from the engine and fuel tank. The other major change from the DH.4 was the choice of the promising new BHP/Galloway Adriatic engine, which was predicted to produce 300 hp (224 kW) and so give the new aircraft an adequate performance to match enemy fighters.
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By this time, as a result of attacks by German bombers on London, the decision was made to almost double the size of the Royal Flying Corps, with most of the new squadrons planned to be equipped with bombers.[1] Based on the performance estimates for the DH.9 (which were expected to surpass those of the DH.4), and the similarity to the DH.4, which meant that it would be easy to convert production over to the new aircraft, massive orders (4,630 aircraft) were placed.
The prototype (a converted DH.4) first flew at Hendon in July 1917.[2] Unfortunately, the BHP engine proved unable to reliably deliver its expected power, with the engine being de-rated to 230 hp (186 kW) in order to improve reliability. This had a drastic effect on the aircraft's performance, especially at high altitude, with it being inferior to that of the DH.4 it was supposed to replace. This meant that the DH.9 would have to fight its way through enemy fighters, which could easily catch the DH.9 where the DH.4 could avoid many of these attacks.
While attempts were made to provide the DH.9 with an adequate engine, with aircraft being fitted with the Siddeley Puma, a lightened and supposedly more powerful version of the BHP, with the Fiat A12 engine and with a 430 hp (321 kW) Napier Lion engine, these were generally unsuccessful (although the Lion engined aircraft did set a World Altitude Record of 30,500 ft (13,900 m) on 2 January 1919[3]) and it required redesign into the DH.9A to transform the aircraft.
The first deliveries were made in November 1917 to 108 Squadron RFC and first went into combat over France in March 1918 with 6 Squadron, and by July 1918, nine squadrons operational over the Western Front were using the type.
The DH.9's performance in action over the Western Front was a disaster, with heavy losses incurred, both due to its low performance, and engine failures (despite the prior de-rating of its engine). For example, between May and November 1918, two squadrons on the Western Front (Nos. 99 and 104) lost 54 shot down, and another 94 written off in accidents.[4] The DH.9 was however more successful against the Turkish forces in the Middle East, where they faced less opposition, and it was also used extensively for coastal patrols, to try and deter the operations of U-boats.
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The Blackburn R.T.1 Kangaroo was a British twin-engine reconnaissance torpedo biplane built by Blackburn Aircraft of the First World War.
In 1916, the Blackburn Aircraft Company designed and built two prototypes of an anti-submarine floatplane designated the Blackburn G.P. or Blackburn General Purpose. It was not ordered but Blackburn developed a landplane version as the Blackburn R.T.1 Kangaroo (Reconnaissance Torpedo Type 1). The first aircraft was delivered to Martlesham Heath in January 1918. Test results were disappointing, with the rear fuselage being prone to twisting and the aircraft suffering control problems, which lead to the existing order for 50 aircraft being cut back to 20, most of which were already part built.
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From the sixth aircraft onwards, they were powered by the more powerful Rolls-Royce Falcon III engine replacing the 250 hp (120 kW) Rolls-Royce Falcon II.
The Kangaroo entered service later that year with No. 246 Squadron RAF based at Seaton Carew, County Durham which had six months of wartime operations and they sank one U-Boat, UC-70, which was spotted lying submerged on the sea bottom near Runswick Bay on 28 August 1918 by a Kangaroo flown by Lt E. F. Waring, the U-boat being badly damaged by a near miss by a 520 lb (240 kg) bomb and finished off by the destroyer HMS Ouse, and damaged four others. Aircraft were sold on the civil market at the end of the war. They saw considerable service as converted for commercial use they could carry eight passengers.Aircraft registered G-EAOW was one of four types competing to win the Australian government prize of £ 10,000 for the first flight from England to Australia. The aircraft had to make an emergency landing at Suda Bay, Crete with a suspected sabotaged engine, the aircraft and the race were abandoned.
After the war the RAF used three aircraft (named Pip, Squeak and Wilfred after popular cartoon characters) under contract as dual-control trainers for refresher training but by 1929 the last Kangaroo had been withdrawn from service and scrapped.
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The Handley Page Type O was an early biplane bomber used by Britain during the First World War. At the time, it was the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and one of the largest in the world. It was built in two major versions, the Handley Page O/100 (H.P.11) and Handley Page O/400 (H.P.12).
As early as December 1914 during the First World War the Royal Navy's Director of the Air Department, Captain Murray Sueter requested “a bloody paralyser” of an aircraft from Frederick Handley Page for long-range bombing. The phrase had originated from a Commander Samson who had returned from the front
Handley Page responded to the Navy's requirements with a biplane with a wingspan of 100 ft/30 m (the original source of the O/100 designation). The first prototype flew on 7 December 1915 and featured a glazed cockpit and armor sufficient to protect from rifle fire around the crew compartment and engines. The aircraft proved somewhat underpowered, so the glazing and armor were deleted on the second prototype that flew the following April and formed the basis for series production of the machine. A total of 46 of the O/100s were built.
The Handley Page V/1500 was a British night-flying heavy bomber built by Handley Page towards the end of the First World War. It was a large four-engined biplane, which resembled a larger version of Handley Page's earlier O/100 and O/400 bombers, intended to bomb Berlin from East Anglian airfields. The end of the war stopped the V/1500 being used against Germany, but a single aircraft was used to carry out the first flight from England to India, and later carried out a bombing raid on Kabul during the Third Anglo-Afghan War. It was colloquially known within the fledgling Royal Air Force as the “Super Handley”.
While the V/1500 had a similar fuselage to that of the O/100, it had longer-span, four-bay biplane wings and was powered by four 375 hp (280 kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines mounted in two nacelles, so two engines were pulling in the conventional manner and two pushing, rather than the two Eagles of the smaller bomber. Construction was of wood and fabric materials. A relatively novel design feature was the gunner's position at the extreme rear of the fuselage, between the four fins.
The Short Bomber was a British two-seat long-range reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying aircraft designed by Short Brothers as a land-based development of the very successful Short Type 184 (of which more than 900 were built and many exported).
The Bomber was a three-bay biplane of wooden structure with fabric covering, originally developed from the Short 184 seaplane's fuselage combined with wings developed from those on the Short Admiralty Type 166 seaplane. The fuselage was of box section with curved upper decking mounted on the lower wing. The tailplane included a split elevator with a single fin and rudder. The undercarriage consisted of a four-wheeled assembly under the nose and a skid under the tail.
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The crew of two sat in tandem open cockpits behind the wing; initially the observer/gunner sat in the forward cockpit so that he could stand up to operate the machine-gun mounted on the upper wing. This somewhat precarious activity was rendered unnecessary by the invention of the gun-ring mounting; in production aircraft the pilot occupied the forward cockpit with the gunner behind him in the rear cockpit, which was fitted with dual controls.
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The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft of the First World War and post-First World War era. By October 1918, only three aircraft had been delivered to the Royal Air Force, one of which had been deployed to France for use by the Independent Air Force. The war ended, however, before it could be used on operations.
Reginald Kirshaw "Rex" Pierson, chief designer of Vickers Limited Aviation Department designed a twin-engine biplane bomber, the Vickers F.B.27 to meet a requirement for a night bomber capable of attacking targets in Germany, a contract being placed for three prototypes on August 14, 1917. Design and production of the prototypes was extremely rapid, with the first flying on November 30, 1917, powered by two 200 hp (150 kW) Hispano Suiza engines. It was named after the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
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Owing to engine supply difficulties, the prototype Vimys were tested with a number of different engine types, including Sunbeam Maoris, Salmson 9Zm water cooled radials, and Fiat A.12bis engines, before production orders were placed for aircraft powered by the 230 hp (170 kW) BHP Puma, 400 hp (300 kW) Fiat, 400 hp (300 kW) Liberty L-12 and the 360 hp (270 kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines, with a total of 776 ordered before the end of the First World War. Of these, only aircraft powered by the Eagle engine, known as the Vimy IV, were delivered to the RAF.
It achieved success as both a military and civil aircraft, setting several notable records in long-distance flights in the interwar period, the most celebrated of which was the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by Alcock and Brown in June 1919.
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