В.Кондратьев Самолеты первой мировой войны

Де Хэвилленд (Эйрко) DH.2 / De Havilland (Airco) DH.2

   Первый английский аэроплан, созданный специально для воздушного боя. DH.2 фактически представлял собой уменьшенную в размерах одноместную модификацию DH.1, полностью повторяя его конструкцию и аэродинамическую схему. Силовая установка - девятицилиндровый ротативный мотор "Гном моносупап" с четырехлопастным толкающим винтом. Самолет спроектирован
Джеффри Де Хэвиллендом и построен в начале лета 1915 г. Первый полет прототипа состоялся в июле. В том же месяце его отправили на фронтовые испытания во Францию, а 9 августа он был сбит.
   Тем не менее, осенью началось серийное производство машины, а в январе 1916-го 12 штук DH.2 поступили на вооружение 24-го дивизиона RFC. Этот дивизион стал первым британским истребительным подразделением. В следующем месяце он вступил в боевые действия, а 2 апреля его пилоты сбили первый немецкий аэроплан.
   По отзывам летчиков, DH.2 отличался хорошей горизонтальной маневренностью и отличным обзором, но при этом был плох на вертикалях, с трудом набирал высоту, был сложен в пилотировании, обладал малым диапазоном скоростей и имел тенденцию к сваливанию в штопор. Тем не менее, в руках опытного пилота он считался опасным противником для ранних истребителей Фоккера.
   Вначале самолет был вооружен пулеметом "Льюис" на подвижной шкворневой установке, смонтированной в передней части гондолы. Но в ходе воздушных боев летчики быстро поняли, что подвижный пулемет одноместному истребителю не нужен, и что проще осуществлять наводку оружия маневрами всего самолета. В дальнейшем пулемет стали жестко фиксировать в курсовом положении.
   В течение 1916 года DH.2 оставался единственным британским одноместным истребителем собственного производства. Всего построено 450 экземпляров, часть из которых была оснащена 110-сильными моторами "Рон" с двухлопастным винтом. Более 400 машин поступили во фронтовые истребительные дивизионы. Свыше 350 из них воевали во Франции, остальные - в Македонии и Палестине и в частях ПВО.
   Между тем, появление осенью 1916-го на французском фронте новых немецких истребителей "Альбатрос" сразу перевело DH.2 в разряд устаревших. Но отсутствие полноценной замены вынуждало англичан, несмотря на потери , применять этот самолет в частях первой линии до весны 1917 года.
   В марте авиачасти Западного фронта, оснащенные "ДеХэвиллендами", начали перевооружать на новую технику, а DH.2 - переводить в учебные подразделения. Этот процесс завершился в июле. В летных школах и на второстепенных фронтах многие DH.2 прослужили еще
более года.


ЛЕТНО-ТЕХНИЧЕСКИЕ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКИ
  
   Размах, м 8,61
   Длина, м, 7,68
   Высота, м 2,29
   Площадь крыла, кв.м 23,13
   Сухой вес, кг 428
   Взлетный вес, кг 654
   Двигатель "Гном"
   мощность, л. с. 110
   Скорость максимальная, км/ч 148
   Скорость подъема на высоту
   2000 м, мин.сек 13,00
   Дальность полета, км 250
   Продолжительность полета, ч 2,75
   Потолок, м 4420
   Экипаж, чел. 1

А.Шепс Самолеты Первой мировой войны. Страны Антанты

Де Хевилленд D.H.2 1916 г.

   Появление на фронте в конце 1915 года истребителей "Фоккер" с синхронными пулеметами поставило английскую авиацию в тяжелое положение. Резко возросли потери в дивизионах разведчиков и бомбардировщиков.
   Для борьбы с вражескими самолетами и прикрытия своих машин возникла острая необходимость в истребителях. Частично эту проблему командование Royal Flying Corps решило закупкой французских машин, оборудованных пулеметом с отсекателями на лопастях винта. Но этого было недостаточно, и заказ на проектирование и строительство нового истребителя получила фирма "Де Хевилленд Лимитед" известного английского конструктора Джэфри де Хевилленда.
   Уже в середине 1916 года на фронте появились истребители D.H.2. Для обеспечения свободного обстрела в передней сфере машина была выполнена по схеме двухстоечного ферменного биплана с толкающим винтом. Каркас фермы и гондолы пилота изготовлялся из деревянных профилированных брусков с растяжками из стального троса или ленты. Гондола обшивалась фанерой и алюминиевыми листами. В ее передней части располагалась кабина пилота с органами управления и 7,62-мм пулеметом "Льюис", за ней размещались топливный бак и двигатель. Крылья и стойки бипланной коробки деревянные. Крыло двухлонжеронное, с нервюрами из бруса и фанеры, обтянуто полотном и оборудовано элеронами. Растяжки из стальной профилированной ленты.
   Горизонтальное оперение обычной схемы монтировалось над фермой и крепилось растяжками. Руль поворота довольно большой площади; над стабилизатором - небольшой киль. Оперение цельнодеревянное, обтянутое полотном. Шасси обычной конструкции с резиновой амортизацией. Каркас шасси - стальные трубы с деревянными обтекателями. Костыль поворотный, что улучшило маневренность машины на земле. Управление машины тросовое, от ручки управления и педалей, обычной конструкции.
   Двигатель 7-цилиндровый, воздушного охлаждения, звездообразный, ротативный "ГномМоносупап" (100 л. с.) с двухлопастным толкающим винтом.
   Однако самолетов D.Н.2 было построено не так уж много по двум причинам. Во-первых, появление синхронизаторов позволило создать самолеты более выгодных аэродинамических схем с более мощным вооружением, во-вторых, у немцев появились истребители "Альбатрос DI", против которых D.H.2 оказался слишком слабым. Оставшиеся машины были переданы в разведывательные дивизионы.

A.Jackson De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam)

De Havilland D.H.2

   As First World War military authorities were slow to realise its importance, no British interruptor gear had been developed to permit the use of a machine gun firing forward through the airscrew of a tractor aeroplane. The D.H.2 single seat fighter was consequently a pusher and resembled a scaled down D.H.1, its main components being similar but smaller versions of those of the earlier type. It was an unstaggered two bay biplane of orthodox fabric covered wooden construction, powered by a 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape rotary aircooled engine, using tubular steel instead of wooden tail booms and employing a steerable tail skid. The prototype D.H.2, first flown by Geoffrey de Havilland on June 1,1915, proved to be tail heavy but next day, with 30 lb. of ballast in the nose, he reached 3,500 ft. in 5 minutes - a truly remarkable rate of climb for those days. On June 3rd it went back into the works for the nacelle to be moved 4 inches forward and the gun and a larger rudder fitted, after which large scale production for the Royal Flying Corps was wholly undertaken in the Airco factory at Hendon and four hundred D.H.2s were ultimately delivered. These carried a single Lewis gun on a flexible mounting in front of the pilot, necessitating a slightly reshaped nacelle, and a few were fitted with the 110 h.p. Le Rhone rotary in place of the Gnome. R.F.C. pilots were quick to learn the technique of aiming the whole aeroplane at their targets and thereafter used the Lewis gun as a fixed weapon. Sensitivity of control, a limited speed range, and the inexperience of pilots, resulted in a number of early accidents through spinning, while others were caused by structural damage following the disintegration of the rotary engines in flight. In time however, its many lurid soubriquets gave way to an appreciation of its immensely strong structure and delightful handling qualities, so that it became a fully aerobatic fighting machine of great merit. The first squadron to use the D.H.2 operationally was No. 24, commanded by Major Lanoe G. Hawker who led his twelve machines from Hounslow to St. Omer on February 7, 1916. Within three months No. 29 and No. 32 Squadrons had also been re-equipped and sent to France and their D.H.2s, together with those of No. 24 Squadron, took part in the Battle of the Somme and fought continuously against the Fokker monoplane and other enemy fighters until the early part of 1917. A total of 266 served with the British Expeditionary Force in France, where they formed part of the equipment of Nos. 5, 11, 16 and 18 Squadrons and contributed handsomely to the establishment of Allied air supremacy.
   Among the many epic events in the fighting life of this historic aircraft, three were of outstanding importance, the first on July 1, 1916 when Major L. W. B. Rees, Commanding Officer of No. 32 Squadron, won the Victoria Cross for a single-handed attack on a formation of ten German two seaters which lost two of their number. Later that year, on October 28th, a D.H.2 of No. 24 Squadron was the unwitting cause of the death of the leading German fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke. While diving to attack the D.H.2, Boelcke's Albatros was struck by the undercarriage of another of his flight and dived into the ground when the mainplanes came off. A few weeks afterwards, on November 23rd, another well-known German pilot, Manfred von Richtofen, shot down Major Lanoe G. Hawker in his D.H.2 after one of the longest single combats of the war. In 774 combats, the D.H.2s of No. 24 Squadron destroyed 44 enemy aircraft.
   Two D.H.2s were issued to Home Defence squadrons and on June 17, 1917, a machine from the Orfordness Experimental Station, flown by Capt. R. H. M. S. Saundby, took part in an attack on the Zeppelin L.48. When ousted from the Western Front by the D.H.5 and other tractor fighters, thirty-two D.H.2s were despatched to the Near East where they saw service in Palestine with No. 17 and No. 111 Squadrons and in Macedonia with No. 47 Squadron and the R.F.C. R.N.A.S. Composite Fighting Squadron. At home, one hundred D.H.2s were issued to training units including No. 10 Reserve Squadron at Joyce Green, but by the autumn of 1918 all D.H.2s had been struck from R.A.F. charge.

SPECIFICATION AND DATA
   Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9.
   Power Plants:
   One 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape
   One 110 h.p. Le Rhone
   Dimensions:
   Span 28 ft. 3 in. Length 25 ft. 2 1/2 in.
   Height 9 ft. 6 1/2 in. Wing area 249 sq. ft.

Weights and Performances:
   Gnome Le Rhone
Tare weight 943 lb. 1.004 lb.
All-up weight 1,441 lb.* 1,547 lb.
Maximum speed 93 m.p.h. 92 m.p.h.
Climb
   to 6,500 ft. 12 mins. 12mins.
Service ceiling 14,000 ft. -
Endurance 2 3/4 hours 3 hours
* Prototype 1,310 lb.

   Production: R.F.C. serials 4732 (prototype), 5916 to 6015. 7842 t o 7941,8725, A2533 to 42652, A4764 to A4813, A4988 to A5087. Not all delivered.

P.Lewis The British Fighter since 1912 (Putnam)

While aerial activity over the Western Front steadily increased during the first half of 1915, in the Airco design office Geoffrey de Havilland was committing to the drawing-boards his concept of a single-seat armed scout of pusher layout, destined to be basically a smaller version of the D.H.1. Designated D.H.2 the machine was one of the cleanest and among the best-looking of pusher designs. The two-bay wing formula was adhered to, with the pilot seated well forward in the nacelle to command an excellent view in every direction. The 100 h.p. Monosoupape Gnome was chosen to power the D.H.2 which made its first flight in July, 1915.
   The sole object of designing the new pusher was to produce an effective fighting scout, the armament of which was a single Lewis gun pivoting on a mounting at the side of the cockpit. The intention was that the pilot should aim the gun by hand as needed, but production D.H.2s had the gun fixed in a central trough in the upper coaming of the nacelle, a location which assisted the clearance of possible stoppages. Construction was of wood throughout with the exception of the steel-tubing booms carrying the tail unit.
   In keeping with the machine’s intended role as a fighter, the performance was brisk and the generous control surfaces gave the D.H.2 great sensitivity, a quality which was extremely useful but which required careful handling and constant attention by the pilot. Among the hazards to be guarded against were unexpected spins and the catastrophic possibility of the rotary’s cylinders parting company with the crankcase and cutting through the tailbooms.
   The D.H.2’s great distinction is that it formed the equipment of the R.F.C.’s first single-seat fighter squadron, No. 24, a unit which arrived in France on 7th February, 1916, to be followed shortly by Nos. 29 and 32. The new fighter proved to be exceedingly useful and successful, doing great work in action for the two years following its introduction. Of four hundred D.H.2s produced, most used the standard engine but the 110 h.p. le Rhone also was employed as an alternative power plant.

F.Mason The British Fighter since 1912 (Putnam)

Airco D.H.2

   The steadily-increasing tempo of air combat during the early months of 1915, particularly over the Western Front, progressing from the use of hand-held small arms to the inclusion of synchronized automatic weapons fixed to the aircraft to fire forward through the tractor propellers of purpose-built fighters - with the appearance of the German E-series monoplanes - concentrated the attention of British designers on the need to develop a reliable gun interruptor mechanism.
   Until, however, such equipment arrived, recourse was made to the established ‘gun bus’ formula that had been pursued with some success by such manufacturers as the Royal Aircraft Factory, Vickers, Sopwith, and by Geoffrey de Havilland himself with his two-seat D.H.l and 1A. Realising that in many respects these aircraft were too large and cumbersome to engage in nimble dogfighting, he set about designing a single-seat derivative, much reduced in size and weight. His D.H.2 has come to be recognised as the first British fighter aircraft to be designed specifically with the aerial dogfight as its raison d’etre.
   With a span of only 28ft 3in (compared to the D.H.1’s 41 feet), the 100hp Gnome monosoupape rotary-powered D.H.2 prototype completed its initial flight trials in July 1915. When the aircraft was first flown the idea of fixing the gun in the nose to fire forward along the aircraft’s line of flight had not been accepted by the War Office; instead, two flexible brackets were provided on either side of the cockpit, and the pilot was required to transfer his gun from bracket to bracket - and control his aircraft in combat at the same time. This was despite the fact that a French pilot, Roland Garros in a Morane Type L scout, had already demonstrated in combat the superiority of a fixed centreline gun. In due course a single central gun mounting was provided for the D.H.2
   Be that as it may, it was not until 7 February 1916 that the first RFC Squadron, No 24 commanded by Major Lanoe George Hawker vc, arrived in France, followed by Nos 29 and 32 some weeks later. The first German aircraft fell to the guns of a No 24 Squadron D.H.2 on 2 April.
   A total of 400 D.H.2s was produced by Airco, of which 266 were sent to France during 1916, 32 to the Middle East and 100 equipped training units in Britain; the other two flew with Home Defence units.
   The D.H.2 was to a large extent responsible for the final eclipse of the ‘Fokker scourge’ and was heavily engaged during the Battle of the Somme. No 24 Squadron alone fought no fewer than 774 combats, in the course of which its pilots destroyed 44 enemy machines. Major Hawker himself was shot down and killed after a marathon combat with the legendary Manfred von Richthofen on 23 November 1916. No 32 Squadron’s commanding officer, Maj L W B Rees, had won the Victoria Cross for single-handedly attacking an enemy formation of ten enemy two-seaters on 1 July.
   At first regarded by its pilots as a tricky aeroplane to fly, mainly on account of its very sensitive controls and the difficulty of spin recovery, the D.H.2 soon came to be greatly appreciated for its tough structure and manoeuvrability, and as experience and training improved. Once the central gun mounting had been adopted, pilots could concentrate on flying their fighters directly at their targets. Nevertheless, when the gun interruptor gear had been developed successfully, conventional tractor scouts quickly replaced the old pusher biplanes, and the D.H.2 gradually disappeared from front line service early in 1917.


   Type: Single-engine, single-seat fighting scout biplane with pusher engine.
   Manufacturer: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co Ltd., Hendon, London
   Powerplant: One 100hp Gnome monosoupape air-cooled rotary engine; a few aircraft with 110hp Le Rhone rotary engine; two blade propellers.
   Structure: Fabric-covered wooden construction with two-bay, two-spar wings; steel tubular booms supporting tail unit.
   Dimensions: Span, 28ft 3in; length, 25ft 2 1/2 in; height, 9ft 6 1/2 in; wing area, 249 sq ft.
   Weights (Gnome): Tare, 943lb; all-up, 1,441lb.
   Performance (Gnome): Max speed, 93 mph at sea level; climb to 5,000ft, 8 min 25 sec; service ceiling, 14,000ft; endurance, 2 3/4 hr.
   Armament: One 0.303in Lewis machine gun on offset pillar mounts on either side of the nose, or a single central mounting. Prototype: One, 4732 (first flown by Geoffrey de Havilland, probably in July 1915).
   Production: Total of 451 ordered, but only 400 delivered (from 5916-6015, 7842-7941, 8725, A2533-A2632, A4764-A4813, A4988-A5087).
   Summary of Service: Served with Nos 24, 29 and 32 Sqns, Western Front; Nos 5, 11 and 18 Sqns, Palestine; No 111 Sqn. and ‘X’ Flt, Macedonia; ‘A’ Flt, No 47 Sqn.; RNAS Composite Fighting Sqn.; No 10 Reserve Squadron, Joyce Green.

W.Green, G.Swanborough The Complete Book of Fighters

AIRCO D.H.2 UK

   Designed by Geoffrey de Havilland of the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Airco), the D.H.2 single-seat fighter was an unstaggered two-bay biplane of fabric-covered wooden construction with tubular steel booms carrying the tail surfaces. The prototype was first flown on 1 June 1915, but, having been sent to France for evaluation under operational conditions, fell into German hands substantially intact on 15 August. A few series D.H.2s were to be fitted with the 100 hp Le Rhone nine-cylinder rotary, but the standard engine was the 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape rotary mounted as a pusher. Armament comprised a free-mounted 0.303-in (7,7-mm) Lewis machine gun, and the D.H.2 proved an extremely sturdy aircraft and fully aerobatic with delightful handling qualities. A total of 266 served with the British Expeditionary Force in France from 400 delivered. The following data relate to the Gnome-engined version.

Max speed, 93 mph (150 km/h) at sea level, 77 mph (124 km/h) at 10.000 ft (3 050 m).
Time to 5,0 ft (1 525 m), 8.45 min.
Empty weight, 943 lb (428 kg).
Loaded weight, 1,441 lb (654 kg).
Span, 28 ft 3 in (8,61 m).
Length, 25 ft 2 1/2 in (7,68 m).
Height, 9 ft 6 1/2 in (2,91 m).
Wing area, 249 sq ft (23,13 m3).

J.Bruce British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 (Putnam)

de Havilland 2

  THE second de Havilland design which was built by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. was a small single-seat fighting scout in which the designer’s first concern had been to give the pilot effective forward-firing armament. This, in the days before machine-gun interrupter gears, almost automatically meant a pusher aircraft; and as such the D.H.2 looked very much like a scaled-down D.H.1.
  Some histories seem to imply that the D.H.2 was deliberately designed and produced as a counter-weapon to the Fokker Monoplane, which, with its synchronised machine-gun, wrought great havoc among the Allied two-seaters in late 1915 and early 1916. In point of fact, the design of the D.H.2 was neither demanded nor prompted by the Fokker menace any more than was that of its companion Fokker-beater, the Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b: it simply so happened that these aeroplanes proved to be effective counter-weapons. The prototype D.H.2 completed its flight trials in July, 1915, at the time when the Fokker Monoplane was only beginning to be encountered; the first contract for quantity production was awarded during the following month, and the first production machine arrived in France in December, 1915.
  When the D.H.2 was designed, the technique of using a fixed gun and aiming the whole aeroplane at the target was not at first accepted by Britain, although it had been successfully demonstrated by French pilots. The prototype D.H.2 did not have a fixed machine-gun, nor even a central mounting for a semi-free weapon: instead, a movable bracket was fitted on each side of the cockpit in line with the windscreen, and from these the pilot was expected to aim his Lewis gun while flying his aircraft in the manoeuvres of combat. As a result, the nacelle of the prototype had a rather different appearance from that of the production D.H.2.
  For a pusher, the D.H.2 was remarkably neat and compact, and was of great structural strength. It was a two-bay biplane, and the tail-booms formed a V in plan; the tail-unit was obviously inherited from the D.H.1. The undercarriage was of the vee type, and the steerable tail-skid was mounted on an extension of the rudder post. The standard engine was the 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape rotary, but a version also existed with the 110 h.p. Le Rhone.
  The first R.F.C. squadron to be completely equipped with the D.H.2 was No. 24, which was commanded by Major Lanoe George Hawker, V.C. This unit had been formed at Hounslow on September 1 st, 1915, and received its D.H.2s at the end of the year. No. 24 Squadron had the distinction of being the first single-seat fighter squadron to go to any battle front when it flew its twelve D.H.2S from Hounslow to St Omer on February 7th, 1916. Two other D.H.2 squadrons followed: No. 29 on March 25th, and No. 32 on May 28th, 1916. Lieutenant Tidmarsh opened the scoring for No. 24 Squadron on April 2nd, 1916, when he shot down an enemy machine near Bapaume; and from that date onwards “Hawker’s Squadron” did much successful fighting.
  Although the D.H.2 eventually proved to be more pleasant to fly than any other contemporary pusher scout, operational or experimental, it was not at first popular with the pilots. It was extremely sensitive on the controls, a characteristic of great value in combat but, in an aeroplane with a small speed range, likely to cause the machine to spin easily. Until the D.H.2 pilots came to understand their mounts, several casualties were caused by spinning, for the phenomenon was not then understood. In one such accident the D.H.2 had caught fire while spinning, and the type was thereafter known by the unjustly grim soubriquet of “The Spinning Incinerator”. Second Lieutenant S. E. Cowan, M.C., of No. 24 Squadron did much to inspire the confidence of pilots in the aircraft by his skilful handling of his D.H.2, and he was the first pilot to stunt the type. The D.H.2 was capable of executing all normal aerobatics.
  Other dangers attended the flying of rotary-powered pushers, however. The historian of No. 24 Squadron recorded:
  “Two splendid pilots - Lieutenant Glew and Captain Wilson - were killed by cylinders blowing out and severing the tail-booms of their machines, and several other pilots, notably Captain Hughes Chamberlain and Lieutenant Sibley, had the narrowest of narrow escapes.”
  The gun-mounting on the production machines still had a certain amount of flexibility, but pilots soon adopted the technique of aiming the whole aeroplane at the target, and the gun’s flexibility was seldom used in combat.
  That the D.H.2 proved its worth soon after the arrival of the squadrons in France is borne out in the report written on May 23rd, 1916, by Sir Henry Rawlinson, General Officer commanding the Fourth Army:
  “... and the de Havilland machine has unquestionably proved itself superior to the Fokker in speed, manoeuvre, climbing, and general fighting efficiency.”
  The D.H.2 showed its mettle in many combats during the Battle of the Somme and on into 1917, but never better than on the evening of July 20th, 1916, when four of No. 24 Squadron’s machines, led by Captain R. E. A. W. Hughes-Chamberlain, fought eleven enemy aircraft over Flers and destroyed three of them.
  One of the earliest outstanding individual combats against great odds was that fought on July 1st, 1916, by Major L. W. B. Rees, the officer commanding No. 32 Squadron. Major Rees was flying a D.H.2, and was awarded the V.C. for his action. From a distance he saw a formation of ten enemy bombers, but at first he mistook them for British machines returning from a raid and flew over to join them, unaware that the formation had just shot down and killed one of his own pilots, Second Lieutenant J. C. Simpson, who had gallantly attacked single-handed. As soon as Rees recognised the nationality of the bombers he attacked them, forced two down, broke up the enemy formation and caused them to abandon the raid. Although wounded in the thigh, Major Rees fought until his ammunition was exhausted: only then did he break off the fight.
  Captain L. P. Aizlewood of No. 32 Squadron owed his life to the sturdy construction of the D.H.2. On September 9th, 1916, he was flying one of three D.H.2S which engaged five enemy machines over Thiepval. He dived on one of the German biplanes and closed to twenty yards before opening fire; but he was so intent on his target that his D.H.2 struck the tail of the enemy machine. Aizlewood’s propeller was smashed and his undercarriage wrecked, and the tail-booms were damaged, yet he brought his D.H.2 down near the British lines without being injured. His opponent crashed near Miraumont.
  No. 24 Squadron went far towards establishing a tradition of fighting against great odds. On September 15th, 1916, three D.H.2S attacked seventeen enemy aircraft near Morval, shot down two and scattered the remainder. On October 26th, five D.H.2s of the squadron fought twenty enemy single-seat fighters near Bapaume. Most of the German machines were Halberstadts, faster than the D.H.2s and able to outclimb their British adversaries; but the little pushers did not lose height when turning as the Halberstadts did, and so outfought the enemy.
  By this time, however, the D.H.2 had begun to be outclassed by the new Albatros and Halberstadt scouts, but replacement did not begin until March, 1917, During the winter of 1916-17 the type fought on gallantly and not without loss. But before the D.H.2’s star began to wane, it was indirectly responsible for the death of one of the early German fighting pilots of the first rank.
  On October 28th, 1916, Oswald Boelcke, victor in forty aerial combats, led his flight of six Albatros D.Is to attack two D.H.2s of “C” Flight of No. 24 Squadron; the British machines were flown by Lieutenant A. G. Knight and Second Lieutenant A. E. McKay. Boelcke dived to attack Knight at the same time as one of his pilots, Erwin Bohme, selected the same D.H.2 as his objective. Bohme’s undercarriage struck Boelcke’s upper wing, and the German leader dropped away from the fight with his Albatros apparently under control; but the wings later broke away and Boelcke went down to his death.
  One of the German pilots of Boelcke’s flight on that day was Manfred von Richthofen, who succeeded to the command of Jagdstaffel 2, and who, in less than a month, was to avenge his former leader’s death by depriving No. 24 Squadron of their Commanding Officer. On November 23rd, 1916, the D.H.2 of Major Lanoe George Hawker fell to Richthofen’s guns after one of the longest individual air combats of the war.
  Shortly before Hawker’s death, one who was to prove a worthy successor began his fighting career flying a D.H.2. This was Flight Sergeant (later Major) J. T. B. McCudden, who was a member of No. 29 Squadron. From a combat on 9th November, 1916, he brought his D.H.2 back with twenty-four bullet-holes in it - a greater number of hits than he sustained in any of his subsequent fights.
  No. 29 Squadron was the first D.H.2 squadron to be re-equipped. In March, 1917, it exchanged its pushers for Nieuport Scouts. Squadrons Nos. 24 and 32 received D.H.2s, but their re-equipment was not completed until June.
  The D.H.2 was not supplied in quantity to Home Defence squadrons, but in the early hours of the morning of June 17th, 1917, Captain R. H. M. S. Saundby attacked the Zeppelin L.48 over Theberton. He was flying a D.H.2 of the Orfordness Experimental Station, and attacked at the same moment as Lieutenant L. P. Watkins of No. 37 Squadron, who delivered the coup de grace to the enemy airship.
  A few D.H.2s were used in Palestine: No. 111 Squadron had three on its strength on October 27th, 1917; and the detachment of No. 14 Squadron, known as “X” Flight, which had begun its work of cooperating with the Arabs equipped with three B.E.12s, received one D.H.2 in October, 1917. In Macedonia, “A” Flight of No. 47 Squadron was equipped with D.H.2s, and continued to use them until the autumn of 1917, long after they were outclassed even in that secondary theatre of war. Two of No. 47’s D.H.2s were supplied to Lieutenant-General G. F. Milne at the end of March, 1917, as part of the R.F.C.’s contribution towards the creation of a composite fighter squadron. The rest of this mixed unit consisted of four of the R.F.C.’s B.E.12s, together with the R.N.A.S. contribution of four Sopwith 1 1/2-Strutters and a Sopwith Triplane.
  Official statistics record that one D.H.2 was sent to the B.E.F. in France in 1918, but by the autumn of that year none were left on charge of the R.A.F. The D.H.2 was essentially an aeroplane of the early period of the war in the air, but in its day it was nevertheless one of the most effective aerial weapons of the first World War.


SPECIFICATION
  Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.
  Power: 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape; 110 h.p. Le Rhone.
  Dimensions: Span: 28 ft 3 in. Length: 25 ft 2 1/2 in. Height: 9 ft 6 1/2 in. Chord: 4 ft 9 in. Gap: 4 ft 9 in. Stagger: nil. Dihedral: 4°. Incidence: 3°. Span of tail: 10 ft 3 in. Wheel track: 5 ft 9 3/4 in. Airscrew diameter: Gnome 8 ft 0 1/4 in., Le Rhone 8 ft 2 1/2 in.
Areas: Wings: upper 128 sq ft, lower 121 sq ft, total 249 sq ft. Ailerons: each 14 sq ft, total 56 sq ft. Tailplane: 20-6 sq ft. Elevators: 13-5 sq ft. Fin: 2-7 sq ft. Rudder: 11 sq ft.

Weights (lb) and Performance:
Monosoupape Le Rhone
Empty 943 1,004
Military load 80 80
Pilot 180 180
Fuel and oil 238 283
Weight loaded 1,441 1,547
Maximum speed (m.p.h.) at
ground level 93 92
5,000 ft 90 85
6,500 ft 86 -
7,000 ft 85 85
9,000 ft 78 82-5
10,000 ft 77 -
I 1,000 ft 73-5 72

m. s. m. s.
Climb to
1,000 ft 1 10 - -
2,000 ft 2 30 - -
3,000 ft 4 30 4 35
4,000 ft 6 10 - -
5,000 ft 8 25 - -
6,000 ft 11 00 12 00
6,500 ft 12 00 - -
7,000 ft 14 00 - -
8,000 ft 17 00 - -
9,000 ft 20 30 23 30
10,000 ft 24 45 31 00
10,700 ft - - 46 00
I 1,000 ft 31 30 - -
11,700 ft 45 00 - -
Service ceiling (feet) 14,000 -
Endurance (hours) 2 3/4 3
Tankage (gallons):
Petrol: main tank 20-8 -
gravity tank 5-5 -
Total 26-3 33
Oil 5-1 5

  Armament: One Lewis machine-gun on flexible mounting in front of pilot, normally fixed to fire forward. Drums of ammunition were carried in racks outside the cockpit.
  Service Use: Western Front: R.F.C. Squadrons Nos. 24, 29 and 32. Some D.H.2s on strength of Squadrons Nos. 5, 11 and 18. Palestine: No. m Squadron and “X” Flight. Macedonia: “A” Flight of No. 47 Squadron; R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. Composite Fighting Squadron. Training: used at various training units, including No. 10 Reserve Squadron at Joyce Green.
  Production and Allocation: A total of 400 D.H.2s were delivered to the R.F.C., of which 266 went to the B.E.F. in France, thirty-two to the Middle East, two to Home Defence units, and 100 to training units.
  Serial Numbers: Between and about 5923 and 6008; 7842-7941; 8725 (renumbered ex-R.F.C. D.H.2 transferred to Admiralty as sample). A.2533-A.2632; A.4764-A.4813; A.4988-A.5087.
  Notes on Individual Machines: Used by No. 24 Squadron: 5925, 5964, 5989, 5991, 5998, 6007, 6008, 7884, 7909, 7918, 7930, A.2541, A.2544, A.2549, A.2563, A.2564, A.2581, A.2592, A.2606, A.5007, A.5018. Other machines: 5985: No. 29 Squadron. 7887: shot down September, 1916. A.2559 and A.4798: both of No. 10 Reserve Squadron.

H.King Armament of British Aircraft (Putnam)

D.H.2. The 1915 prototype of this single-seat pusher lighter had a bracket-mounted Lewis gun on the port side of the nacelle, the swivelling bracket being attached to a vertical pillar which was faired throughout its length. Ahead of this mounting the port side of the nacelle was cut away to accommodate the gun. The mounting, or its successor, was designed by Capt de Havilland and was once described as having 'an upright pillar slidably adjusted, without turning, in a tubular socket fixed to the nacelle'. This pillar was said to have carried at its upper end 'a rotatably adjustable arm' which in turn carried at its outer end a mounting for the gun, adapted to permit of 'swinging movements in any direction'. A steel or rubber spring was provided to take up the weight of the pillar, arm and gun to facilitate height adjustment in the socket.
   Production D.H.2s had a modified nacelle, and the gun was centrally positioned on a revised mounting. In its lowest position the gun rested in the specially cut-away nacelle nose. The windscreen moved with the gun, which had open sights and was sometimes stripped of its cooling jacket. So narrow was the nacelle that the spare ammunition drums had to be stowed in open-topped boxes flanking the cockpit. These were at first of the standard 47-round land-service type, but a form of 'double' drum is said to have been developed by Maj Lanoe Hawker and Air Mechanic W. L. French of No.24 Squadron. A drum of this type has also been ascribed to No.18 Squadron. There were several variant installations of the gun, and single and twin fixed guns were certainly fitted, for pilots had an aversion to what was described as a 'wobbly' mounting. They disliked also having to handle an aeroplane and a gun simultaneously, and the gun when elevated fouled the control column. Maj Hawker at first tried clamping down the muzzle of the gun to fire straight forwards, but this scheme was officially forbidden. He then made a spring clip with a catch lo hold the muzzle down but enabling it to be freed if necessary, and, though the gun was not clamped rigidly, the scheme was described as 'the best compromise possible with red tape'.
   It is hoped to give considerably more information on the D.H.2 mounting in British Aircraft Weapons.
   A point of interest concerning the D.H.2 on which no comment appears to have been made hitherto is the 'blister' under the nacelle, which on some machines was very prominent. This does not appear to have been associated with the base of the gun mounting and may have had the function of channelling or collecting the spent cartridge cases.

Журнал Flight

Flight, January 9, 1919.

"MILESTONES"

THE DE HAVILLAND, OR "AIRCO," MACHINES

The D.H. 2

After the D.H. 1A came a little machine which startled everybody by what was in those days considered a very fine turn of speed, and, especially, an excellent climb. This was D.H. 2, a little single-seater pusher scout with 100 h.p. Gnome monosoupape engine. In general appearance it had a strong family resemblance to the previous machines, and the same clean design which had characterised these was noticeable in the scout. When D.H. 2 came to be turned out in quantities it soon became a favourite for certain classes of work, and was used with great success on the Western front in the days before synchronised machine guns became the fashion. When this happened, the raison d'etre for the pusher disappeared, and as this type could not be got to do the performance of tractors with the same power, it gradually ceased to be used. For comfort in flying, however, it is doubtful whether this type can be surpassed. There is no slip stream, and placed as he is in the extreme nose, the pilot can be seated low down and well protected from the wind, which, as a matter of fact, is only felt on a turn. The theory held at one time that this type is dangerous on account of the engine being behind the pilot is not, we think, borne out by experience, and we are not by any means certain that for pleasure flying the now rather despised pusher should be regarded as a thing of the past. As far as the Airco. is concerned, the D.H. 2 was their last single-engine pusher.