B.E.2c 1748 из 6-й эскадрильи, июнь-июль 1915г. Среди прочих пилотов, на нем, возможно, летал и капитан Хокер. Опознавательные знаки только на хвостовом оперении.

После вывода с Западного фронта многие B.E.2c продолжили нести службу в Королевском летном корпусе в качестве ночных истребителей и обороняли Великобританию

B.E.2c 2673 на котором в сентябре-ноябре 1915г. летал 2-й лейтенант Гарольд Медликотт, 2-я эскадрилья, аэродром Эдиньель. Окраска относится к августу-сентябрю 1915г., когда машина только попала на фронт.

После Первой мировой войны B.E.2 эксплуатировались в авиакорпусе Армии Норвегии (на рисунке). Другими эксплуатантами были Австралия, Бельгия, Греция и Американский экспедиционный корпус.

"...the early style of cockpit soon gave place to the shoulder-high type, and small windscreens had to be fitted". The S.E.5A provides a good illustration of this evolution, when compared with the B.E.2C, a replica of which is shown below.

Историческая демонстрация воздушного боя

"Ливерпуль" (B.E.2c 1748) вскоре после постройки.

BE.2c 1754, landed on Dutch soil on March 10,1915, and subsequently went to the LVA as LA-24.

Two views of B.E.2c 2502 of “C” Flight 1916. As a 2nd Lt the author flew this aircraft on several occasions.

By the spring of 1915 B.E.2cs had become standard equipment for first-line Royal Flying Corps squadrons on the Western Front. These Daimler-built 90 h.p. Royal Aircraft Factory 1a-engined B.E.2cs were photographed in France in 1915 while serving with No 16 Sqn, which had received its first examples in February of that year.

Поздний BE.2c постройки "Ruston-Proctor", под крылом подвешены 9-кг бомбы. Однотонная светлая окраска типична для BE.2.

Снимок этого BE.2c сделан в марте 1917 года. На фотографии заметны изменения, внесенные на протяжении войны в конструкцию самолета, - вертикальное оперение треугольной формы и элероны.

This machine was designed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment. The B.E.2C was an automatically stable tractor biplane with 90 h.p. R.A.F. engine.

Aircraft design is, almost without exception, a compromise. By changing the CG position and making slight modifications to the tail surfaces, the unstable BE2A was transformed into the stable BE2C (seen here). However, improvements in its flying characteristics reduced its manoeuvrability, rendering it unsuitable as a fighting machine.

Lts Page and Rattray beside their BE.2c after the collision with a German machine on April 3, 1917. Note the wingtip is missing.

One of a number of photographs taken by Capt Henry C. Brocklehurst of No 26 Sqn while in East Africa. Although it was rapidly becoming obsolete by 1916, the B.E.2c proved to be a reliable workhorse for 26 Sqn, its inherent stability making it a steady platform for its photographic reconnaissance role.

A pair of B.E.2cs of 26 Sqn at Njombe, now part of Tanzania. One of the unit’s observers was Leo Walmsley, who went on to become a well-known writer, and who wrote of his experiences of First World War East Africa in his 1944 memoir So Many Loves (Collins).

The Imperial War Museum's BE2C was moved from London to Duxford for complete restoration in 1980. It has recently emerged from Duxford looking immaculate. The aircraft is Duxford's oldest aeroplane, being built by Ruston, Proctor and Company of Lincoln in 1916.

Самым известным вариантом B.E.2, прослужившим дольше всех, оказался B.E.2c. Вначале он использовался как бомбардировщик, хотя быстро стал уязвимым от атак современных немецких истребителей. Данная машина вооружена двумя пулеметами Lewis.

B.E.2c 2699 and R.E.8 F3556 are Duxford’s oldest aircraft exhibits.

BE.2cs at Shaikh Saad being readied for the last Kut food drop, April 29, 1916.

This "home-made" armoured single-seat B.E.2c was a local modification made in the Middle East, possibly by No 14 Squadron. Protection appeared to be confined to the cockpit area.

Lieutenant Leefe Robinson poses in the cockpit of B.E.2c 2693, in which he shot down SL 11; the airmen beside the starboard wing are holding the upper wing’s original centre-section, which was probably damaged when Leefe Robinson shot away the wire guard that prevented the Lewis gunfire from hitting the aircraft’s structure.

A B.E.2c, named Tasman, photographed in 1915.

A pair of Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2cs flank a Deperdussin Monoplane, both types flown by Buss during his wartime flying career, at Felixstowe in 1915. The 100 h.p. Gnome-engined Deperdussin saw RNAS service in small numbers.

DH.9 of 144 Squadron with a Bristol F.2b and BE.2 at Azrak landing ground.

No. 144 Squadron DH.9 at Azrak with a pair of F.2bs from 1 Squadron, AFC.

The rudimentary conditions in which 26 Sqn had to operate in East Africa is evident in this photograph of a B.E.2c at the ready beside a tent on an unidentified airfield. The unit moved regularly, operating from more than 15 bases between January 1916 and January 1918.

Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c Punjab 40 Lahore 3. This inscription was later carried by B.E.2e A3060.

SOME AIRCRAFT FACTORY PRODUCTS: THE B.E.2C WAS FAMOUS FOR ITS STABILITY, AND WAS BUILT IN LARGE NUMBERS DURING THE WAR.

Lt J R McCrindle in the cockpit of 30 Squadron BE.2c 4362, 1916. McCrindle made 16 food dropping flights and several escort sorties to Kut during the siege. Note the grain sack on the lower wing.

FLYING FORTRESS, CIRCA, 1916: Three “field service” Lewis guns formed the armament of this war-time BE.2C of No. 4 Squadron. The barrel casings with their internal finning were retained, no doubt, because the machine could not attain a sufficiently high speed to cool the naked barrels. Other points to note are the external aerial drum and the camera held by the pilot.

A Davis six-pounder fitted to a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c is tested at the RFC’s Machine Gun School at Hythe in November 1916. The gun fired upwards at an angle of 45°, the muzzle being level with the top wing to place the breech within easy reach of the pilot.

One of the RFC's armoured B.E.2Cs.

One of the armoured B.E.2Cs, No 2028. The photograph is dated 20 April 1916; this aircraft was issued to No 6 Squadron from No 2 Aircraft Depot on 9 September 1916 and was finally flown back to England on 10 July 1917. Thereafter it served with No 19 Reserve Squadron as a training aircraft, doubtless without its armour.

AT THE R.A.F. PAGEANT: The B.E.2xyz, the last word (thank goodness) in early aeroplane design, which patrolled the skies and kept the flies off the flyers.

The BE2xyz at the following year’s pageant in 1921, complete with funnel and backward stagger.

After being formed at Netheravon in October 1915, No 26 Sqn (badge at RIGHT) was sent to East Africa with a complement of Farman F.27s and Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2cs, examples of both of which are seen here serving with No 31 Sqn at Risalpur, India.

One of the RNAS aerodromes on Imbros is pictured, showing a Bessoneau hangar and bell tents typical of the period. On the left of the photograph is a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c bearing red, white and blue stripes on both fin and rudder. Two Voisin LAs and a Short 830 landplane may just be seen in the background.

SS.40, the Black Ship, seen on its return to Kingsnorth from the 3rd Brigade RFC after the Battle of the Somme, November 1916.

SS.13 landing at Polegate on September 15, 1916.

SS.40 landing at Pembroke in 1917 with the handling crew running after it.

The three airships seen at Kingsnorth in January 1917 are the SS.14, in the foreground, SSP.1 in the centre with Coastal C 2 just visible above it, and SS.40 in the background. This picture reportedly depicts an airship race, won by SS.40.

SS.42a being hauled down at Pembroke in 1917. The arrangement of the car was very similar to that of SS.40.

Another view of SS.42a, flown by Flt Lt Monk. Note torpedo-shaped fuel tanks under envelope and the bomb carried behind the landing gear.

При всех своих достоинствах самолеты B.E.2 всех модификаций имели один существенный недостаток: компоновка машины не предусматривала ведения "огневого" боя с противником. Англичане пытались улучшить положение простым увеличением "стволов", но так и не догадались поменять местами кабины экипажа.

"You're wanted on the 'phone, sir!"

This B.E.2c was evidently a “bitsa”: note the P.C.10 doped centre-section, and part of an apparently white ring - probably from a training unit marking - on the replaced port upper aileron. The wings and nacelle in the background are those of an early Maurice Farman Shorthorn; we may be looking at the result of a taxying collision. Shorthorns were widely used for training in Egypt, and in Mesopotamia they were employed on land survey work in preparation for the Battle of Ctesiphon. Their slow-flying ability and excellent field of view made them ideal for the purpose.

British & Colonial built B.E.2C 4152 after an unscheduled arrival in the desert, being sized up for removal to ‘X’ Aircraft Depot. The camel lying in the foreground is either very tired or very dead.

B.E.2c 1734 из состава 12-й эскадрильи, сбитый немецким асом Освальдом Бельке (Oswald Boelcke) 5 января 1916г.

Probably B.E.2c 4349, in which Capt Brocklehurst suffered engine failure at 600ft (180m) and had to make a forced landing in thick bush 3 1/2 miles from base on September 5, 1917.

An anonymous B.E.2c crash at Scampton, Lincs, in 1918.