Vickers F.B.14
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{more footnotes|date=February 2015}}
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| {{Infobox aircraft begin
|name=Vickers F.B.14 |image=Vickers F.B.14.jpg |caption= }}{{Infobox aircraft type |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= }} |
File:Vickers F.B.14 front quarter view.jpg
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 230 hp (170 kW) 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 160 hp (120 kW) 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 120 hp (90 kW) 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 contemporary 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 on 22 July 1917, engaged in a German air raid and claimed an unconfirmed shoot-down of a Gotha bomber off Zeebrugge.{{#tag:ref|While one Gotha was shot down just off Ostend on 22 July, it is likely that this was due to a Bristol F.2B Fighter of No. 48 Squadron RFC.Cole 1984, pp. 272–276.|group=nb}}
Variants
;F.B.14
:Production aircraft powered by a 160 hp (120 kW) Beardmore engine, 104 built by Vickers at Weybridge.
;F.B.14A
:Re-engined with a 150 hp (110 kW) Lorraine-Dietrich Vee engine, one built.
;F.B.14D
:Re-engined with a 250 hp (190 kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle IV engine and fitted with increased span two-bay wings.Andrews and Morgan 1988, p.72.
;F.B.14F
:Re-engined with a 150 hp (112 kW) RAF 4a air-cooled V-12 engine.
Operators
;{{UK}}
Specifications (F.B.14)
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Vickers Aircraft since 1908 Andrews and Morgan p.75.
|prime units?=imp
|crew=2
|capacity=
|length m=
|length ft=28
|length in=5
|span m=
|upper span ft=39
|upper span in=6
|lower span ft=33
|lower span in=0
|height m=
|height ft=10
|height in=0
|wing area sqm=
|wing area sqft=427
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=
|empty weight lb=1662
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=
|gross weight lb=2603
|gross weight note=
|fuel capacity=
|more general=
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Beardmore 160 hp
|eng1 type=water-cooled straight-six engine
|eng1 kw=
|prop blade number=
|prop name=
|prop dia m=
|prop dia ft=
|prop dia in=
|prop note=
|max speed kmh=
|max speed mph=99.5
|max speed kts=
|max speed note=at sea level
|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed mph=
|cruise speed kts=
|range km=
|range miles=
|range nmi=
|endurance=3 hr 45 min
|ceiling m=
|ceiling ft=10000
|ceiling note=; Absolute ceiling {{convert|10600|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=
|time to altitude=40 min 45 s to {{convert|10000|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|more performance=
|guns=
- 1 × forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun
- 1 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun fitted on a Scarff ring in rear cockpit
|bombs=
|rockets=
}}
See also
{{aircontent
|see also=
|related=
|similar aircraft=
|sequence=
|lists=
}}
References
{{reflist|group=nb}}
{{reflist}}
- {{cite book |last= Andrews|first=C.F.|author2=Morgan, E.B. |title= Vickers Aircraft since 1908|year=1988|edition=Second |publisher= Putnam|location= London|isbn= 0-85177-815-1}}
- {{cite book|last1=Cole|first1=Christopher|last2=Cheesman|first2=E.F.|title=The Air Defence of Great Britain 1914–1918|publisher=Putnam|location=London|year=1984|isbn=0-370-30538-8}}
- {{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1989 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London }}
- {{cite book |title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985)|publisher= Orbis Publishing}}
External links
{{commons category|Vickers F.B.14}}
{{Vickers aircraft}}
Category:1910s British fighter aircraft
Category:Aircraft first flown in 1916