Vickers Bullets
By Jim Schubert
Windsock DataFile 154
Publisher: Albatros Productions, Ltd.
Binding: Soft Cover
Pages: 36
In late 1914 Vickers' chief test pilot, Harold Barnwell, designed a chubby, little, high-speed, biplane scout. It was dubbed "Barnwell's Bullet". The putative first flight never got off the ground as the airplane flipped onto its back whilst taxiing. A detail redesign, to get the masses where they belonged, was executed by Rex Pierson newly assigned as chief designer at Vickers. Save for its long-chord cowl, enclosing a 100 hp Monosoupape engine and its fuselage being fully rounded out by formers and stringers, its structure was conventional for its time. The ES.I (Experimental Scout I) Bullet recorded 114 MPH and a rapid rate of climb due to its thorough streamlining.
Right from the beginning, however, service evaluations showed unacceptable visibility from the cockpit due to the obstructive corpulence of the fuselage. A minor redesign, the ES. II, added a large cutout between the spars in the upper wing center section to enhance the pilot's visibility. This was of little actual help. Another, more drastic, redesign, the FB. 19 Mk.I, removed all of the rounding of the fuselage except that above the top longerons and added stagger to the mainplanes, which changes did slightly improve the pilot's field of view. Following evaluation by the RFC, the FB. 19 Mk.I prototype was sent to Russia for evaluation.
Through all these changes the RFC continued to complain of the poor visibility provided the pilot and, in the end, ordered only about 30 of all types of the Bullet. Other than for testing, none were assigned to duty on the Western Front. All were either retained for training and home defence or were sent to the Middle East where the poor visibility from the cockpit made the quite unpopular. I have included a photo from this monograph illustrating how low the pilot sat in the fuselage.
The Russians, being desperate for airplanes, ordered 50 FB. 19 Mk.Is based on their testing of its prototype. In the event only about 20 were actually delivered to them before production ended. The Russians, and later the Soviets, used them in combat, initially against the Austro-Hungarians and later against the White Russians after the revolution of 1917.
There are no survivors of this type known.
All the recent DataFiles are very well done, as is this one. They are well printed on very good stock giving them both a good look and a good feel. Of especial note in this volume are the seven pages of multi, and scrap, view drawings by Martin Digmayer in both 1/48 and 1/72 scales. Jerry Boucher did the cover shown here and Ronny Barr did three pages giving us nine color profiles. 80 contemporary B & W photos complete the thorough graphic coverage of this very little known type.
Some critics would say that Ray Rimmel is scraping the bottom of the barrel for subject matter for his fine DataFiles but another view has it that he is highlighting corners of the spectrum of WWI airplane design with which the majority of us are unfamiliar. I lean to the latter view but do wish he would update and republish some of the earlier DataFiles on the major types.
This DataFile is available direct from the publisher for £11.00 ($18.00) plus postage.
My Thanks to Albatros Productions for providing this copy for review. For details on individual purchases or on subscriptions to Windsock International or to the DataFiles, visit their website.