The early history of this striking yellow painted aircraft is obscure, as it has no authenticated history before 1936, when it was acquired from crated storage at Le Havre in France for preservation by vintage vehicle and aircraft collector Richard Nash for his International Horseless Carriage Corporation. When discovered, the oil tank was still half-full.

Although for many years the aircraft was claimed to be the 1911 Gordon Bennett Cup racer, this is not the case. That machine was earlier and differed considerably in appearance. This example may actually have been built by Louis Blériot, famous for making the first cross-Channel flight, during his summer holidays circa September 1911.

Originally built as a single-seat racing aircraft, it was unofficially timed at 130kph (81mph) and could be the Bleriot shown at the Paris Aero Show in December 1911. By the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 it was in store at Le Havre until discovered by Nash, who quickly restored it, only to crash it at Brooklands in June 1936. He rebuilt the aircraft again between 1938 and 1939 and then, in 1953, sold it to the Royal Aeronautical Society along with other aircraft now in the RAF Museum collection, such as the Caudron G3, Fokker DVII, Sopwith Camel and Blériot XI. All these aircraft were formally purchased by the Ministry of Defence from the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1992 following many years on loan and are now on display at Hendon.

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The BE2b evolved from earlier aircraft after a great deal of experimental work by the government-owned Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough and proved to be one of the first practical aircraft supplied to the Royal Flying Corps.

The BE2b was the outcome of further design work by the Royal Aircraft Factory on the earlier BE2a version. It was produced by outside contractors from 1914. It had an improved fuselage giving the crew a little more ‘comfort’ and the arrangement of the elevators and rudder controls was revised. Wing warping was retained for lateral control and the 70hp Renault engine was kept as standard. Development continued and eventually wing warping was replaced by ailerons.

In August 1914 three squadrons equipped with this reconnaissance and light bomber were immediately sent to France on the outbreak of World War One. The early BE2a and 2b aircraft remained in operational service into 1915. When withdrawn from squadron service they were transferred to flying training establishments.

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First introduced as a two-seat fighter on the Western Front in late 1915 the Beardmore-engined Royal Aircraft Factory F.E. 2b and its successor the similar Rolls-Royce engined F.E. 2d were later used extensively in the night bomber role in Europe which is the variant represented by the RAF Museum’s aircraft at Hendon.

When the RAF was formed on 1 April 1918 there were seven squadrons of F.E.2s serving as night bombers and a further four squadrons of the type used for night flying training. The last of the type in front-line service served with occupation forces in Germany until March 1919. The pilot occupied the rear cockpit and the gunner the front giving his one or two Lewis machine guns an unobstructed field of fire of over 180 degrees. Used in offensive patrols over enemy lines to escort unarmed reconnaissance aircraft with a 160hp Beardmore engine giving a maximum speed at sea level of 147km/h/91.5 mph the F.E.2s were generally outperformed by German fighter aircraft by late 1916 which led to their night-time rather than daytime use. The F.E.2b was specifically designed for large-scale wartime production by companies inexperienced in aircraft production.

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The Camel designed by Thomas Sopwith was the highest scoring fighter of World War One. This single-seat fighter took its name from the hump over the breeches of the two front machine guns; the nickname given it by one of the squadrons was rapidly adopted as the types’ name.

The first prototype flew in December 1916 and two main versions were produced by a variety of contractors, the F1 and the 2F1 shipboard variant, both powered by no fewer than six different rotary engines at various stages.

Its handling characteristics were a gift to the skilful pilot but could kill the slow or unwary. This made the Camel ideal for daylight combat but versatile enough to allow it to be used as a night fighter and ground attack aircraft. The shipboard 2F1 Camel also saw some success operating against German airships and seaplanes over the North Sea.

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The SE5a was considered by many pilots to be the best British single-seat fighter of World War One. Designed at the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, the first production aircraft had the 150hp Hispano-Suiza fitted and were designated SE5. The later SE5a had the 200 or 220hp Hispani-Suiza or 200hp Wolseley Viper engine.

It was used by twenty-four squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force in France, Palestine, Macedonia, Mesopotamia and the United Kingdom, and equipped one squadron of the Australian Flying Corps and two of the United States Air Service on the Western Front.

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The true fighter squadron was born on the 14 February 1915 when No.11 Squadron was formed at Netheravon. Completely equipped with Vickers FB5 aircraft this was the first unit established purely with the intention of destroying other aircraft.

The Vickers FB5 was designed before the outbreak of World War One with the specific purpose of carrying a machine gun. The layout, which placed the engine behind the pilot, was chosen to give a clear field of fire to the gunner in the front cockpit.

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With its distinctive plywood-skinned oval section streamlined fuselage, the Albatros D.V entered service in May 1917, but from October 1917 was supplemented in large-scale production by the strengthened Albatros D.Va with different upper wing and aileron control system. One D.V, D2859, was flown by ‘The Red Baron’, Manfred von Richthofen.

At its operational peak in May 1918, over 1,000 often brightly-coloured Albatross D.V/D.Va fighter aircraft were serving on the Western Front as well as in Italy and Palestine. This was an attempt to overcome the Allies by quantity rather than capability, since the outclassed Albatross Jagdstaffel units suffered heavy losses in combat in the German’s Spring offensive of 1918 and as a result of structural failure of the lower wing, leading in 1918 to a prohibition of prolonged diving in the type. Despite this, the type remained in production until the November 1918 Armistice, with over 3,000 produced, of which only two survive, in the U.S.A and Australia.

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The Fokker D.VII was the equal of, if not better than, the British SE5s, Camels and French SPADs and is considered to be one of the outstanding fighters of the First World War. It was so successful that it was the only aircraft to be singled out by the Allied Powers in the Armistice Agreement section which detailed war material to be handed over.

Late in 1917 design work began on an aircraft which could win back for the Germans dominance over Allied fighters on the Western Front. The prototype was sent to Berlin’s Adlershof airfield for trials in January 1918 together with thirty competing aircraft. The D.VII won and was put into mass production at three different factories including two belonging to Fokker’s great rival Albatros.

The success of the D.VII lay in its handling characteristics. Unlike the British Camel it was fairly easy to fly and was said to turn a mediocre pilot into a good one. Forty-five German fighter units received these agile machines during 1918 but it is doubtful that all were completely re-equipped. Most of the late First World War German aces flew the type.

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