WOW094 – FE2

Description

WOW094 The F.E.2a made its first appearance in 1914 just in time for WW1,
it was originally intended as a 2 seat fighter but was often used in the
bombing and aerial photography role. The pilot sat behind the observer who
was armed with a forward firing .303 Lewis machine gun, a second Lewis was
added on a high telescopic mounting originally intended for the pilot, but
was often used by the observer for rear defence.
The observer’s position was very precarious as he had no seatbelt and could
easily be thrown out of the aircraft. Below is a very interesting narrative
by Frederic Libby an American ace serving with an FE unit:
” When you stood up to shoot, all of you from the knees up was exposed to
the elements. There was no belt to hold you. Only your grip on the gun and
the sides of the nacelle stood between you and eternity. Toward the front of
the nacelle was a hollow steel rod with a swivel mount to which the gun was
anchored. This gun covered a huge field of fire forward. Between the
observer and the pilot a second gun was mounted, for firing over the
F.E.2b’s upper wing to protect the aircraft from rear attack. Adjusting and
shooting this gun required that you stand right up out of the nacelle with
your feet on the nacelle coaming. You had nothing to worry about except
being blown out of the aircraft by the blast of air or tossed out bodily if
the pilot made a wrong move. There were no parachutes and no belts, no
wonder they needed observers!”
Our all new FE2 has the second Lewis fitted to it as described above, as
well as a bomb load and is priced at $550, when you consider the complexity
of the tail frame and rigging which is all assembled by hand, this
represents very good value for a modelling masterpiece. The Artist GW066
figure comes free with this model as per the attached pictures.
Punjab 32 Montgomery was an aircraft serving with 11 Sqn when on the 17th
September 1916 (100 years ago today!) it was intercepted by Manfred Von
Richoften and shot down behind German lines, becoming the first of his 80
kill tally. Theoretically this aircraft could be displayed with German as
well as British figures in your diorama!