Aircraft

A selection of pictures of aircraft seen at Croydon throughout it's history

Royal Aircraft Factory

Between 1911 and 1918 the Royal Aircraft Factory produced a number of aircraft designs. Most of these were essentially research aircraft, but a few actually went into mass production, especially during the war period. Some orders were met by the factory itself, but the bulk of production was by private British companies, some of which had not previously built aircraft.Up to about 1913 the designation letters referred to the general layout of the aircraft, derived from a French manufacturer or designer famous for that type: S.E. = Santos Experimental (Canard or tail-first layout) B.E. = Blériot Experimental (Tractor or propeller-first layout) F.E. = Farman Experimental (Pusher or propeller behind the pilot layout) From 1913/14 onwards this was changed to a designation based on the role for which the aircraft was designed: A.E. = Armed or Armoured Experimental C.E. = Coastal Experimental (e.g. Royal Aircraft Factory C.E.1 – prototype only) F.E. = Fighting experimental (although they remained "Farmans" in the sense of being pushers) N.E. = Night Experimental (e.g. Royal Aircraft Factory N.E.1 – prototype only) R.E. = Reconnaissance experimental (two-seat machines) S.E. = Scout experimental fast single-seat aircraft. The B.S.1 of 1913 was a one-off anomaly, combining both systems: Blériot (tractor) Scout (fighter). R.T. & T.E. were also used for strictly one off prototypes.

(above) 'Royal Aircraft Factory BE 2'

(below) an R.E.8. of the RFC at Beddington

(above) 'SE5's at Beddington