Favourite WW1 airplane

[Trencher]

Apart from the FE2 (which was quite a workhorse methinks...) I love these pusher-kites as well:




 

[McYellowbelly]

Got a soft spot for the DH2, Pfalz D.III looks great, but think my overall favourite has to be the Fokker EV( D.VIII) especially in the Ernst Udet markings

[Traveler Man]

I do like the DH2. It looks so wonderfully gimcrack, yet it worked! 

[Traveler Man]

I read a biography about a DH2 pilot written long after the war. He said the fuel in the airplane's gravity-feed tank in the top wing (visible in the photo) had the alarming habit of sloshing about during aerobatics, resulting in a loss of fuel to the engine. Nice thing to happen in the middle of combat! 

I have a deep respect for the men who flew the WW1 era aircraft.

[General Roos]

I have a deep respect for the men who flew the WW1 era aircraft.

Yes. One have to admire the courage of the WWI pilots, and the madness of those who test flew the prototypes!

[dbsubashi]

Spad thirteens all the way! Death from above!

[Adam]

I really like these bad boys:



The Ilya Muromets was based on the design of the world's first four engined aircraft, becoming the world's first four engined bomber. There were a number of different versions with different cockpits.

Some more pics here:
http://www.wio.ru/ww1a/im.htm

Failing that, I'd agree with Plynkes on the British push props. I've loved them since I first read Biggles when I was a kid.

[Conrad Hawkwood]

From wikepedia

By conrad_hawkwood at 2010-08-21
Austin-Ball A.F.B.1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A.F.B.1
Role    Fighter
Manufacturer    Austin Motor Company
Designed by    C. H. Brooks
First flight    July 1917
Number built    1

The Austin-Ball A.F.B.1 was a British fighter plane of World War I built by car manufacturer Austin with input from Britain's leading fighter ace at the time, Albert Ball. Ball's father, Albert Ball Sr., was on the Board of Directors of Austin, and used his influence on behalf of his son to have the ace's sketches and specifications considered by the company. Young Albert Ball's design ideas were taken from the Nieuport that he was flying at the time. Actual design of the craft was by C. H. Brooks.

It was a biplane of largely conventional configuration with unstaggered, equal-span wings. The top wing was attached to the upper fuselage, granting the pilot excellent visibility on all sides and above. The armament was unusual: the fixed, forward-firing Lewis gun fired through the hollow propeller shaft; but its muzzle was located aft of the powerplant. A second Lewis gun with an upwards firing arc was mounted on the upper wing. This weapon, combined with the excellent topside visibility was well-suited to Ball's favoured method of attack, from below the enemy.
The A.F.B.1 pictured outside Austin's Longbridge works.

Only a single prototype was built. Although the fighter promised excellent performance, the SE.5a was already in production, and the A.F.B.1 would have competed with it for production facilities (Austin was a major SE.5a contractor) and engines (since both fighters used the Hispano-Suiza . Moreover, Ball had already been killed in action by the time the aircraft was ready for its first flight on 1 June 1917.
 
Specifications (A.F.B.1)

General characteristics

    * Crew: 1
    * Length: 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
    * Wingspan: 30 ft (9.14 m)
    * Height: 9 ft 3 in (2.84 m)
    * Wing area: 290 ft² (26.9 m²)
    * Empty weight: 1,525 lb (693 kg)
    * Loaded weight: 2,077 lb (942 kg)
    * Powerplant: 1× Hispano-Suiza 8 V-8, 200 hp (150 kW)

Performance

    * Maximum speed: 138 mph (222 km/h)
    * Endurance: 2 hrs 15 min
    * Service ceiling: 22,000 ft (6,700 m)
    * Rate of climb: 1,120 ft/min (5.7 m/s)

Armament

    * 1 × fixed, forward-firing .303 Lewis gun
    * 1 × hinged upward-firing .303 Lewis gun

[Wirelizard]

These two are modern-built 7/8th scale replicas of the French Nieuport 11, one of the late 1916 fighters that helped end the Fokker Scourge.







There's a few more Nieuport photos, and more photos of a WW2 Corsair, over on one of my Flickr sets. Enjoy!

[Hammers]

...and thus originated from the Austin company the expression "to have the Balls to do something".

From wikepedia

By conrad_hawkwood at 2010-08-21
Austin-Ball A.F.B.1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A.F.B.1
Role    Fighter
Manufacturer    Austin Motor Company
Designed by    C. H. Brooks
First flight    July 1917
Number built    1

The Austin-Ball A.F.B.1 was a British fighter plane of World War I built by car manufacturer Austin with input from Britain's leading fighter ace at the time, Albert Ball. Ball's father, Albert Ball Sr., was on the Board of Directors of Austin, and used his influence on behalf of his son to have the ace's sketches and specifications considered by the company. Young Albert Ball's design ideas were taken from the Nieuport that he was flying at the time. Actual design of the craft was by C. H. Brooks.

It was a biplane of largely conventional configuration with unstaggered, equal-span wings. The top wing was attached to the upper fuselage, granting the pilot excellent visibility on all sides and above. The armament was unusual: the fixed, forward-firing Lewis gun fired through the hollow propeller shaft; but its muzzle was located aft of the powerplant. A second Lewis gun with an upwards firing arc was mounted on the upper wing. This weapon, combined with the excellent topside visibility was well-suited to Ball's favoured method of attack, from below the enemy.
The A.F.B.1 pictured outside Austin's Longbridge works.

Only a single prototype was built. Although the fighter promised excellent performance, the SE.5a was already in production, and the A.F.B.1 would have competed with it for production facilities (Austin was a major SE.5a contractor) and engines (since both fighters used the Hispano-Suiza . Moreover, Ball had already been killed in action by the time the aircraft was ready for its first flight on 1 June 1917.
 
Specifications (A.F.B.1)

General characteristics

    * Crew: 1
    * Length: 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
    * Wingspan: 30 ft (9.14 m)
    * Height: 9 ft 3 in (2.84 m)
    * Wing area: 290 ft² (26.9 m²)
    * Empty weight: 1,525 lb (693 kg)
    * Loaded weight: 2,077 lb (942 kg)
    * Powerplant: 1× Hispano-Suiza 8 V-8, 200 hp (150 kW)

Performance

    * Maximum speed: 138 mph (222 km/h)
    * Endurance: 2 hrs 15 min
    * Service ceiling: 22,000 ft (6,700 m)
    * Rate of climb: 1,120 ft/min (5.7 m/s)

Armament

    * 1 × fixed, forward-firing .303 Lewis gun
    * 1 × hinged upward-firing .303 Lewis gun