The museum has a number of real, restored aircraft, and a number of replicas. The list of aircraft on the museum's website was at best perfunctory in 2013, and still is even while I'm updating these descriptions in 2024. Information on which aircraft fall into which category is barely existent, and pretty much no attention is given to the World War I and earlier exhibits.
As I mentioned in a previous shot, sometimes even the signage doesn't make it clear which ones are real and which are replicas.
I have a strong suspicion that this B.E.2 is a replica if only because there are depressingly few genuine World War I fighter aircraft left around.
Especially B.E.2's which, while a very good aircraft (as such) for its time, and despite around 3,500 having been built, was an absolutely appalling fighting machine susceptible to being knocked out of the sky if a Fokker Eindecker so much as gave it a filthy look.
The B.E.2 was designed by, amongst others, the once legendary Geoffrey de Havilland around 1910/1911. Actually he still is legendary, having been responsible for the World War II Mosquito bomber amongst others, though he may not be as famous as he once was. The design was created at the Royal Aircraft Factory, which was theoretically a research facility rather than a production one... but wars can change things like that.
The B.E. designation was, believe it or not, "Blériot Experimental". You may remember Monsieur Blériot from image 30293. If so... what's the obvious issue with that one? Well for a start, this is a biplane, whereas most of Monsieur Blériot's creations were monoplanes, so the connection is a bit tenuous.
Was there a B.E.1? Yes. It really was an experimental type, which tested out proposed changes to later developments of the B.E.2.
The first flight of the B.E.2 occurred in February 1912. Initially fitted with a 60hp (45 kW) V8 Renault engine, that was upped to 70hp (52kW) in May.
Given the staggered wings on this example (plus the 4 bladed propeller on a boxy engine), this probably represents the extensively redesigned B.E.2c variant which first flew in mid-1914. (The B.E.2c used the same basic fuselage as the earlier variants, but a different wing layout. Edit: Hey, good observation skills, Sherlock! After doing that analysis I noticed the sign hanging from underneath the plane; BE 2C. Ahem, quite. At least my analysis was on target even if my observation left something to be desired.) One of the objectives of the redesign was to make the aircraft nice and stable. That made for a good observation platform.
It made for a gawdawful fighter which needed speed and manoeuvrability. Just look at the Sopwith Camel in comparison. It was a pig to fly, but those same characteristics made it capable of doing wild and unpredictable things that gave German pilots brown trousers. The other problem was the positioning of the gunner / observer in the front cockpit, with the pilot in the rear. Remember that machine guns that were synchronised to fire through propellers had yet to be invented, so the guy in front just had some mounted guns to fire. But he had to make sure he didn't hit the propellers. Or the wings. Or the wing struts. In short, his field of fire was close to sod all.
I did a search for the markings on this; the name SARAN and the tail number 2757. Oddly the only reference I found was on a Russian website, which in turn referred to a book called Planes of the First World War by V. Kondratyev. All it had to say was:
"RAF BE.2c with the presentation inscription "SARAN", owned by one of the divisions of RNAS, 1915."
Sorry Comrade Kondratyev, but that can't be right. The RAF wasn't formed until 1918, through the merger of the Royal Flying Corps (part of the army) and the Royal Naval Air Service (the RNAS mentioned above).
Could this have been an RNAS plane? {Shrug}, maybe. No, it doesn't look like it's configured for shipboard operations but there weren't fleets of carriers operating in 1915; a "carrier" was often "stick a flat deck on an old cruiser hull and see whether it works". The Aside from seaplanes carried on capital ships big enough to launch them, RNAS aircraft probably operated mostly from land bases just like their RFC counterparts.
And in any case... I can't find this one listed in any list of surviving B.E.2s, so it's most likely a replica, as I said.
Nonetheless, this display is realistic enough that you can almost imagine yourself up there, feeling the bugs grinding against your teeth.
Addendum: My personal opinion is that Facebook is a sociopathic organisation that steals other peoples' intellectual property (including the images in this gallery) despite being explicitly denied permission to do so.
