Airco DH.2
| Airco De Havilland DH.2 | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Fighter aircraft , reconnaissance aircraft |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
June 1, 1915 |
| Commissioning: |
1916-1917 |
| Production time: |
1915-1916 |
| Number of pieces: |
401 |
The Airco DH.2 was a biplane - airplane of the British manufacturer Airco and the second construction of Geoffrey de Havilland for this company. It is considered to be the first successful British fighter aircraft of the First World War .
development
This machine was designed as a single-seat fighter reconnaissance aircraft and a scaled-down version of its predecessor DH.1 , a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft. With smaller dimensions, like the DH.1, it was a two-legged biplane with unstaggered, fabric-covered wooden wings of the same size, with all surfaces being equipped with ailerons. The fuselage consisted of an unclad wooden frame construction. Four braced steel tubes carried the rudder and tail unit. A Lewis MG with a drum magazine with 47 rounds was mounted in the nacelle, offset to the left, and brackets for four reserve magazines were attached in the nacelle.
Due to the smaller dimensions in connection with various changes to the aerodynamics, this aircraft was more aerodynamic than the DH.1, and the DH.2 was structurally reinforced in relation to the DH.1 and had a more powerful engine - a 9-cylinder Gnôme Monosoupape rotary engine with 74 kW (100 PS) - which, like its predecessor, had a pusher propeller .
commitment
The first flight of the prototype DH.2 (4732) took place on June 1, 1915. It was handed over to Squadron 5 of the RFC in France on July 26, 1915 for operational testing. However, the aircraft did not return from an enemy flight on August 9, shortly afterwards a German aircraft dropped the report that its pilot, Captain R. Maxwell-Pike, had been captured wounded and then died of serious injuries in the hospital. Although the machine rolled over during the emergency landing, it was recovered slightly damaged and gave the German side the opportunity to examine its technology in detail; the previously unknown type was erroneously identified as the " Vickers type " due to the lattice hull construction .
Nevertheless, series production was started with minor changes - a movable machine-gun suspension in the front of the nacelle and modified fuel supply and additional tank on the upper wing - the first aircraft reached the front in France at the end of December. On January 10, 1916, the first aircraft went to Squadron 24, which had been set up on September 1, 1915 under the command of Major Lanoe Hawker and had previously had a mixed fleet of aircraft. The squadron was now to be converted to DH.2 uniformly and on February 7th moved with twelve machines to the front line to France, where they moved to the Bertangles airfield in the Somme section on February 10th .
So it was not until March 19 that the first combat mission took place; The machine proved to be a first-class fighter due to the excellent visibility of the pilot, its stability, maneuverability and climbing ability, which was able to curve and surmount the previously feared Fokker E.III monoplane on the German side. This was the first time the RFC was able to counter the German air supremacy over the Western Front (see Fokker-Plage ): On April 2, 1916, the first enemy aircraft was shot down over Bapaume . When the squadron rushed to the aid of a formation of BE two-seater troops pressed by several Fokkers on April 25, a Fokker monoplane was even shot down. Meanwhile, Squadrons 29 and 32 were also equipped with DH2, further machines went to Squadrons 5, 11 and 18. Hawker gave his pilots the motto: “Attack everything!” And so more heavy aerial battles followed; The Squadron's diary recorded 774 combat missions and 44 kills between April 8, 1916 and May 25, 1917. In March the 32nd and in May the 29th Squadron with DH.2 intervened in the fighting. The leader of Squadron 32 Major LWB Rees caused a special sensation, who on July 1st attacked a formation of ten enemy bombers with his DH.2 alone, shot down an enemy plane and then blew up the formation through persistent attacks, which earned him the award Victoria Cross brought in. Even James McCudden - later with 57 victories the most successful fighter pilot of the war - won the first victories on a DH.2. The DH.2 thus contributed significantly to the fact that the Allies were able to achieve air superiority in July 1916 at the beginning of the Somme Battle . The plane had a flight time of up to two and three quarters of an hour. It took 25 minutes to climb to an altitude of 3,000 meters, the service ceiling was 4,300 meters.
weaknesses
The pilots first had to learn to master the DH.2; Due to the unfavorable position of the center of gravity and the twist of the rotary motor, it threatened to get out of control in the event of control errors and to coast down. The engine was not considered particularly reliable; The pilots mockingly referred to its chronic breakdown susceptibility as “cylindricitis”. Aiming with the original movable machine gun suspension , in which the pilot had to bring the machine gun into position and control the machine at the same time, was bypassed by the pilots by a central locking mechanism for the machine gun; they aimed the plane directly at the target. In addition, the cumbersome magazine change caused problems in combat, so some pilots installed two machine guns in the fuselage in order to be ready to fire after the first 47 rounds had been fired. Hawker therefore assembled two ammunition drums with his mechanic WL French to speed up reloading until the larger 97-round magazines were later delivered. The Royal Naval Air Service rejected the machine in favor of the Sopwith Pup , which was already under development.
Airco DH.2 in a performance comparison
| Surname | Motor power | Max. speed | Takeoff weight | MG | Summit height |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fokker E.III | 100 hp | 140 km / h | 610 kg | 1 | 3600 m |
| Airco DH.2 | 100 hp | 150 km / h | 654 kg | 1 | 4,265 m |
| Nieuport 11 | 80 hp | 156 km / h | 480 kg | 1 | 4,700 m |
| Albatros DI (from September 1916) | 160 hp | 175 km / h | 898 kg | 2 | 6000 m |
When the newly established German Jastas ( fighter squadrons ) with their powerful Albatros DI , D-II and Halberstadt fighter planes intervened on the front in the fall of 1916 , the slower and inferior British pressure wrenches (DH .2, FE2b , FE8 ) as out of date. Significant for this turning point in the war was the famous aerial combat in which one of the most successful British fighter pilots at the time, Major LG Hawker (DH.2 / 5964), was killed on November 23, 1916: after a long battle in curves, he was tried to escape in a bite-sized flight, shot down by Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen on the much faster Albatros D II.
Transition to training units
The installation of a more powerful Le Rhône engine 9J with 110 hp didn't help either: From March 1917, the DH.2 at Squadron 29 was replaced by Nieuport 17 , in May the Squadron received 24 new Airco DH.5s , and at the end of June eventually all DH.2 withdrew from the Western Front. Only with the 111th Squadron in Palestine , with the Squadron 47 in Macedonia and in the home defense did the DH.2 remain in combat operation for some time until its "lattice hulls" were handed over to training units.
By autumn 1918, the DH.2 were finally retired from the RAF .
Military use
Task forces
- 5th Squadron RFC (Western Front)
- 11th Squadron RFC (Western Front)
- 18th Squadron RFC (Western Front)
- 24th Squadron RFC (Western Front)
- 29th Squadron RFC (Western Front)
- 32nd Squadron RFC (Western Front)
- 47th Squadron RFC, 'A'-Flight (Macedonia)
- mixed squadron RFC / RNAS (Macedonia)
- 111th Squadron RFC (Palestine)
- Wing 5/14. Squadron RFC (Palestine)
- X-Flight Akaba
- 6th Reserve Squadron (England)
- 10th Reserve Squadron (England)
- 15th Reserve Squadron (England)
- 22nd Training Squadron (Egypt)
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| length | 7.68 m |
| height | 2.91 m |
| Wingspan | 8.61 m |
| Wing area | 23.18 m² |
| drive | 1 × Gnôme Monosoupape rotary motor with 74 kW (100 PS) some examples of the last series: Le Rhône with 81 kW (110 PS) |
| Top speed | 150 km / h |
| Climb performance | approx. 11 min at 1830 m |
| Service ceiling | 4265 m |
| Range | 2:45 h |
| crew | 1 pilot |
| Empty mass | 428 kg |
| Max. Takeoff mass | 654 kg |
| Armament | 1 × Lewis MG 0.303 inch (7.7 mm) |
Brand new DH.2
DH.2 with flags of a squadron leader on approach for landing
DH.2 of Squadron No. 24
See also
literature
- Enzo Angelucci, Paolo Matricardi: The planes. From the beginning to the First World War. Falken-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1976, ISBN 3-8068-0391-9 , ( Falken manual in color ).
- JM Bruce: The De Havilland DH.2. Profile No. 91, Profile Publications Ltd., Leatherhead, Surrey, England 1966.
- James F. Miller: "DH 2 vs Albatros DI / D II - Western Front 1916 (Osprey Duel; 42)." Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK 2012, ISBN 978-1-84908-704-9
- Kenneth Munson: Warplanes, fighters and training aircraft 1914-1919. Füssli, Zurich 1968 ( Planes of the World ).
Web links
- Description / photo , accessed January 3, 2013
- Description / color profile , accessed on - January 4, 2013
- German description , accessed on January 3, 2013
- Color Profiles , accessed January 5, 2013
- Description , accessed January 1, 2013
- DH.2 launch preparation , accessed January 3, 2013
- DH.2 flight demonstration , accessed January 3, 2013
Individual evidence
- ↑ 401 copies were made by Airco; the total number of DH.2s produced, however, is difficult to determine, Kenneth Munson ( combat aircraft, fighters and training aircraft 1914-1919. Füssli, Zurich 1968, p. 98 et seq.) put 450, 266 copies in total, including other producers according to deployed on the western front .
- ↑ Peter L. Gray: The Albatros DI – D.III. Profile No. 127, Profile Publications Ltd., Leatherhead, Surrey, England 1966, p. 3.
- ↑ Peter L. Gray: The Albatros DI – D.III. Profile No. 127, Profile Publications Ltd., Leatherhead, Surrey, England 1966.