RE 8 "Extension"

[patrickmallahan]

Hello All,

I recently saw an account stating that an RE 8 pilot, in combat, was diving on a Halberstadt when the aircraft's "extension" fell off. The pilot was able to land without serious injury to himself. The event occurred in Mespot in Sepember, 1917.
The term "extension is new to me. Will someone kindly explain it and offer an opinion as to how difficult it was for the pilot to get the a/c on the ground without himself landing in his helmet?
Patrick

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Patrick:
The upper wing of an R.E.8 has from the Center Section, right and left upper main panel, out board of the interplane struts was an extension of the upper main panel. The aileron was in two parts, roughly half of the the main panel extending beyond the interplane struts. If the extention came of outboard of the aileron divide they would maintain control of the ailerons, if the loss was inboard of the inner half of the aileron, the loss would include the loss of the aileron control. I really can't imagine this occurance. How are you Patrick? If youare ever down this way, please stop by.
Blue skies,
Dan

[Old Man]

First appeared on the "e" variant of the earlier B.E. 2, in service from late 1916. It seems to have provided a somewhat improved aileron response, though hardly enough to render the machine adequate in manouverability.

R.F.C. pilots from the start regarded the structure with suspicion, fearing it to be weak and dangerous at speed or in manouver. Most accounts I have read, though, dismiss this fear as unfounded, and the incident you relate is the first I have heard of of any such failure actually occuring. Several long accounts I have read from fliers serving on 2e and R.E. 8 types for extended periods make no mention of even fearing such an incident. Perhaps there was some flaw in the construction or maintainance of that particular machine; the conditions in Mesopotamia were decidedly unkind to wooden structures.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Old Man

.... fearing it to be weak and dangerous at speed or in manouver. ...

Almost a contradiction in terms, that.

[Old Man]

But just to the eye, I suppose the stress of high speed and the stress of full aileron action might have been both expected to strain the structure, though in different ways. And it may not have been a wholly rational view: I imagine everyone was pretty tired of B.E. machines by the time the "e" was provided, and people distressed at having the machine in the first place might have found a variety of means to express that distaste. It does seem not all reputations fastened onto aeroplane types then, particularly in their initial service, were well-founded, hard to live down as they often proved.

[patrickmallahan]

Thanks Dan, Old Man & Vin for a helpful explanation. I had consulted my library on the subject but my available sources, including Jack Bruce's books, do not use the word "extension". Thus my ignorance.

Since the extension was not an on-going problem, it is likely that climate, faulty maintenance or other happenstance was responsible for the event cited. The probability is that the extension did indeed separate since the downed pilot survived to tell the tale, albeit as a POW.

Patrick

[Taz]

Patrick- Be advised the term extensions was also used by British pilots to describe horn balances on German aircraft. One of the first descriptions of the Fokker F.I Triplane prototypes refers to the top wing having extensions and Fokker D.VIIs were also described that way.

Taz
Terry Phillips