WW1 RPPC photo of shot down English F.E.2b biplane 1916 (France)

Written on the negative:

Sainghin (Lille) France. 

(Red text is an electronic watermark that is not physically part of the photo).

F.E.2b (6356) 9th March 1916 brought down near Sainghin-en-Weppes

An oft-seen photograph of F.E.2b 6356 (20 Squadron RFC) being examined by German troops.

Melbourne-born author Trevor Henshaw writes that this aircraft was on an escorting reconnaissance patrol when at 9:45am it was forced down by a "Fokker". It was last seen by fellow pilots descending above Ligny, with steam coming from it's engine. The crew, Lt. L.R. Heywood and 2Lt. DB Grayford were taken prisoner.

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Between 1911 and 1914, the Royal Aircraft Factory used the F.E.2 (Farman Experimental 2) designation for three quite different aircraft that shared only a common "Farman" pusher biplane layout.

The third "F.E.2" type was operated as a day and night bomber and fighter by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Along with the single-seat D.H.2 pusher biplane and the Nieuport 11, the F.E.2 was instrumental in ending the Fokker Scourge that had seen the German Air Service establish a measure of air superiority on the Western Front from the late summer of 1915 to the following spring.

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