Air Stories — page 83: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Father of the Fighters THE VICKERS F.B. 9, OR “GUN BUS” OF 1916 The Story of a Pioneer Type of British Fighter, with Full Instructions for Building a Scale Model By JAMES HAY STEVENS during the early months of hostili- ties, little attention was paid to defensive armament on aircraft. One or two isolated experiments had been carried out—such as the Short ‘‘ Gun Carrier "’ seaplane—but the only serious effort, so far as the R.F.C. was concerned, was the Vickers ‘‘Gun Bus,’’ which was produced in 1914 before the outbreak of the War. In its original form it was known as the F.B. 5, and after passing through extended military trials with flying colours, it was ordered in quantity by the R.F.C. It was a very good aero- plane for its day, and several examples of it remained in use until as late as March, 1916. A year of war experience with the F.B. 5, however, resulted in the appear- ance, in December, I915, of an improved version, the F.B. 9 ‘‘Gun Bus,’’ and, Basse the Great War, and even although the Constantinesco gun-gear was soon to render the pusher obsolete, ninety-five F.B. 9’s were built for the Royal Flying Corps. The new ‘‘Gun Bus ’’ was very similar to the earlier one. A complicated under- carriage with skids had given place to a plain ‘‘ vee,’’ and wing-tips were rounded instead of square. Raf wire bracing had replaced cables, and an improved form of gun mounting had been evolved. Typical War-time Construction TRUCTURALLY, there was nothing outstanding about the ‘‘ Gun Bus,’’ —it was typical of its day. The wings were spruce-framed and covered with fabric. All interplane struts were of spruce spindled to a streamline section. A point of interest to modellers, which does not show clearly in the G.A. Draw- 175 EO OO ©