The RE8 – the RFC/RAF’s Primary Reconnaissance Aircraft in 1918
The RE8 (Research Experimental 8) was by 1918 the standard two-seater reconnaissance aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps and, at its inception, the Royal Air Force. It was a biplane designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory as a successor to the BE2 series, and was meant to be an improved and more powerful aircraft. It was indeed more powerful, but not markedly so, and improvements in agility were somewhat modest and came at the expense of some of the legendary stability of the BE2s. Partly for this reason, and possibly because of its somewhat ungainly looks[1], the RE8 was not universally well received to start with. Nonetheless, it gained acceptance and even a measure of affection if its nickname (‘Harry Tate’) is anything to go by, and a great number – over 4,000 – were produced under licence by various manufacturers.
Engine
Royal Aircraft Factory 4a engine in the Science Museum, London. Click or tap to see full size image. Image: Andrew Sheard
The RE8 was powered by an RAF-4a[2] engine, a 13.2 litre air-cooled V12 unit that was developed from the 8.8 litre V8 RAF-1, which in turn was based on an earlier Renault design. The RAF-4a delivered around 150 bhp/110 kW. This is the sort of power that can today be comfortably be produced by a 2 litre petrol engine – albeit with a markedly higher compression ratio than the 4.3:1 of the RAF-4a. It accounted for about 300 kg of the 820 kg empty weight of the entire aircraft.
Construction
RE8 side, front and top views. Click or tap to see full size image. Image: public domain
The principle of construction was stretched fabric over a wooden frame, with wire tensioning and wire-operated control surfaces. The span of the upper wing (42’ 7”/13 m) was some 10’/3 m longer than that of the lower wing, and the aircraft length was 27’ 10½”/8.5 m. The undercarriage consisted of two wheels located directly below the leading edge of the upper wing, and a tail dragger at the rear. The engine drove a four-bladed mahogany propeller mounted on the nose of the aircraft.
Crew
Forward visibility in the RE8 was somewhat compromised on the ground, as shown in this view of a replica in the RAF Museum, Hendon. Click or tap to see full size image. Image: Andrew Sheard
The RE8 had a crew of two: a pilot and an observer. Unlike in the BE2, the pilot was in the front compartment, located just under the trailing edge of the top wing, which was rebated over the fuselage for better upward visibility. Forward visibility was somewhat compromised, particularly on the ground, by a large cowl on top of the engine for directing the airflow for efficient cooling. The observer’s compartment was clear of the trailing edge of the top wing and afforded good visibility, despite being behind the pilot. The observer’s weight was important for balance, so much so that a warning was stencilled on the side of the aircraft with the injunction not to fly with less than 150 lbs/68 kg in the rear compartment; sandbags were carried on solo flights.
Armaments
The aircraft was armed with two 0.303”/7.7 mm machine guns. One was a forward-facing belt-fed Vickers, mounted on the left of the fuselage and mostly equipped (by 1918) with Constantinesco’s hydraulically operated interrupter gear: a synchronisation mechanism to enable it to fire forwards through the propeller. Gogu Constantinesco worked for Walter Haddon at The Haddon Engineering Works in Alperton, West London. Their British Patent No. 129,299 is entitled “An Improved Method and Means for Actuating Gun Triggers” and claims as its invention:
British Patent No. 129,299. Click or tap to see full document. Opens in new tab.
The method of and means for firing a machine gun by wave impulses travelling along a liquid column so that each shot passes between the rotating propeller by wave impulses transmitted from a generator driven by the engine which drives the propeller.
This hydraulic transmission of impulses, generated by what in practice was a piston driven by a cam mounted on the prop shaft, was an improvement on earlier systems relying on a mechanical linkage between the cam follower and the gun. It essentially solved the problem of unreliability resulting from both wear and temperature-induced changes in the length of the rods and other components making up the mechanical linkage. A vivid illustration of this unreliability is reported in the post Wednesday 27 March 1918 – 42 Squadron in Aerial Combat. In the Air Combat report filed by the crew of RE8 3598 includes the following:
About 10 shots only obtained out of Vickers gun, when it jambed. Four shots went through propeller. Old Vickers gear on gun – unsatisfactory.
The second 0.303”/7.7 mm machine gun was a drum-fed Lewis gun, operated by the observer and mounted on a Scarff ring around the rear compartment, affording good fields of fire in both bearing and elevation.
The RE8 could additionally carry up to 224 lb/102 kg of bombs. In practice, four nominally 25 lb Cooper bombs (sometimes described as 20 lb) were often carried.
Cooper 25lb high explosive bomb. This cutaway version in the RAF Museum, Hendon, was used to demonstrate the internal structure. When dropped, the spinner in the nose rotated a plate thus exposing the detonator to the firing mechanism, which activated on impact.
Surviving Examples
Two examples are known to survive. One is in Brussels Air Museum and has a water-cooled Hispano-Suiza engine and a revised cowling, which gives the aircraft a rather different appearance from those built to the original specification, which were in service with the RFC and RAF. The other is in the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, near Cambridge and is described there in the following terms:
This aircraft, F3556, is the only surviving original specification RE8. It was built by Daimler Ltd and delivered to the RAF on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918. It had logged only 30 minutes flying time before it was transferred to the Imperial War Museum.
Propeller and engine detail of the replica RE8 A3930 at the RAF Museum, Hendon. Click or tap to see full size image. Image: Andrew Sheard
The RAF Museum at Hendon in North London is home to a replica RE8 built by The Vintage Aviator Limited of New Zealand. It is a replica of Napier-built A3930, flown by 9 Squadron RAF. Some excellent photographs both of the build process and of the completed aircraft are available here (opens in new tab).
And here is a video of the replica A3930 flying in September 2012 at the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden, along with an Albatros D Va, prior to arrival at the RAF Museum:
Aside from the aircraft, an RAF-4a engine (photographed above) also survives in the inappropriately dim, religious light of the upper floors of the Science Museum in South Kensington, London.
Why “Harry Tate”?
“Harry Tate” was the nickname given to the RE8, probably because it had a similar rhythm to the formal designation as well as the benefit of a rhyme, following the tradition of rhyming slang. Harry Tate was actually the stage name of Ronald Hutchinson (1872-1940), a music hall performer well known in the First World War. Hutchinson apparently took his name from his employer, the sugar refiner Henry Tate, who founded the Tate Gallery in London and whose company Henry Tate & Sons was to merge in 1920 with Abram Lyle & Sons to form Tate & Lyle – now Tate & Lyle plc.
Several of Tate’s catchphrases went into the English language for a time – ‘Goodbye-ee’, and ‘How’s your father?’ (said as a get-out for not being able to answer something) – and the expression ‘I don’t think’, used ironically (as in ‘He’s a nice chap – I don’t think’)….
The “Goodbye-ee” catchphrase achieved a kind of immortality by being the inspiration for the popular First World War song of the same name by Weston and Lee[4]. The chorus was as follows:
Good-bye-ee Sheet Music. Click or tap for a larger image.Image: believed public domain.
Good-bye-ee! good-bye-ee!
Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee.
Tho’ it’s hard to part I know,
I’ll be tickled to death to go.
Don’t cry-ee! don’t sigh-ee!
There’s a silver lining in the sky-ee.
Bonsoir old thing, cheerio! chin chin!
Nah-poo! Toodle-oo!
Good-bye-ee!
Here is a recording of the whole song by Courtland and Jeffries :
Whether or not it was because of the indirect association with RE8s, this song became a favourite of Greg’s.
Header image: RE8, probably at Yatesbury. Credit: Greg’s War Collection
