It was a plane that shattered the moral of its own pilots and at the same time became
an adored workhorse.
It neither fulfilled expectations, nor did it disappoint.
It was an honest bird, designed with a purpose, accepting the sacrifices it was meant to make
without complain.
The British Harry Tate.
Hello everybody and welcome back to Military Aviation History.
Today we are having a look at the British R.E.8, a World War 1 ground attack light bomber
and reconnaissance aircraft.
Let’s go over her story and then hop inside the one found here at the RAF Museum in London.
Throughout the first World War, the British Royal Aircraft Factory provided the British
with a plethora of two-seater reconnaissance and ground-attack aircraft.
The R.E.8 as the name implies, is the eight design in the R.E. catalogue, standing for
Reconnaissance Experimental, giving away the main role of this aircraft.
Reconnaissance planes don’t attract as much attention as fighter planes but in WW1, they
provided a critical role in giving each side eyes in the sky that could be used to gauge
enemy strength on the ground, direct artillery fire or even to harass ground troops.
This made them the target of fighter aircraft and heavy-AA fire, as it was obviously in
everyone interest to blind their adversary as much as possible.
The most effective way to do this was to shoot down as many recon aircraft as possible.
In 1915 the RFC set down requirements for a future reconnaissance aircraft.
This was met with various designs by the Royal Aircraft Factory in drawn form.
The design would go through various transitions, but the essentials stayed the same: the four-bladed
propeller, the standardized two-seater configuration with one pilot and one observer, as well as
provisions for wireless morse transmissions, and offensive and defensive armament.
The observer in the back was also given some basic control over the aircraft in case of
need.
Offensive firepower was to be provided by an internal single Lewis gun shooting through
the propeller arc.
In absence of a working interrupter system, the air screw was to be protected by metal
deflectors – a working but suboptimal workaround at the time for the Allies.
Defensive firepower was to be a single machine gun operated on a rotating platform by the
observer.
This weapon configuration stands out in 1916.
The RE8 design was not the first two-seater to feature both offensive and defensive firepower,
but it was among the first, showing how the early experiences and the escalation in the
air war started to influence design requirements.
The R.E.8 was a bit of a nonconformist in that it had ties to the previous R.E.-type
aircraft in name only.
Its design features resemble more closely the B.E.2, also from the Royal Aircraft Factory,
with a few tweaks here and there.
Two prototypes were tested in June and July 1916, both at home in Britain and, although
they flew no combat sorties, in France by operational RFC pilots.
The result was a mixed bag.
The aircraft was fine to fly but nearly every pilot complained about heavy handling and
various details, for example in relation to the weaponry or its responsiveness at low
speeds.
The RFC crews took the initiative to make various modifications themselves and finally
submitted multiple reports with all the changes they would like to see done.
That must have proven a bit too depressing of a read, since it was virtually ignored
as the first production R.E.8s were put on order.
It serves mentioning that the R.E.8s production order was under threat at this point as comparison
trials against other designs left it outperformed.
It seems that the R.E.8 was saved by bureaucratic enthusiasm, the pressing need for new aircraft
and the limitations of engine production.
It would be bit much to say that the Royal Aircraft Factory simply neglected the design’s
issues and decided to simply move fast and break things but at the same time, the R.E.8
would cause quite the upset amongst the ranks.
By September 1916 about 1,200 R.E.8s had been ordered.
The magnitude of this order could be contributed to the fact that the RFC was under scrutiny
over the lack of modern aircraft in their arsenal, a deficiency they wanted to close
as quickly as possible.
An initial batch of 50 was produced by the Royal Aircraft Factory itself, who thus provided
the first combat operational R.E.8s in November 1916 to No. 52 Squadron.
Whereas the initial tests with the prototypes had not been a flowery procedure, the RFC
pilots had known that it was an aircraft in testing and thus cut it some slack.
But now, a few months later, a virtually identical production variant showed up on the RFCs doorstep
and the reception was less reserved.
The aircraft was reported to have a tendency to spin unrecoverable with little warning
and was involved in various fatal accidents.
It quickly developed an unflattering reputation that spread.
During that time, the R.E.8 also scored its first kill.
No, not a German – but No.52 Squadrons morale.
Following the troubles it had with this aircraft, morale hit rock bottom to the point where
the squadron had to exchange all their aircraft with another unit, No.34, in order to stay
combat effective.
What is interesting is that No.34, whom exchanged their older B.E.2s for the new R.E.8, were
actually happy with the switch.
What impressed them on the one-hand was the offensive firepower, now upgraded with an
interrupter gear instead of a deflector plate, and the defensive turret – a luxury they
had not yet experienced.
Additionally, they really got a kick out of the performance they now had with their new
kite.
Nevertheless, the Royal Aircraft Factory had its work cut out for it.
After most criticism had been ignored for the initial production run, it now had to
get to work to remedy the most obvious flaws of the aircraft.
In this they were much behind.
They changed and rechanged the control surfaces, the tail fin sizes, as well as the angle and
position of the engine.
It was only by April 1917, five months after the production versions had rolled out the
factories, that the first modified aircraft were tested.
The company came to the following conclusion – the accidents originated from bad handling,
and bad handling arises from pilot error due to inadequate training.
There is credence to this interpretation since No.52 had indeed been a young squadron while
No.34 had plenty of experience to share.
However, the incident also highlighted the deficiencies in RFC pilot training that did
not adequately prepare pilots for their new aircraft.
Beyond these issues however, there was still the mediocre R.E.8, with its heavy stick handling,
sensitive rudder and volatile kinks at low speeds.
Additionally the Vickers-Challenger interrupter gear proved to be of dubious character, with
failures being a consistent company to any pilot.
Replaced by the Constantinesco system in mid-1917, the Vickers gun was also moved to the outside
of the fuselage as had been suggested by some pilots all along.
By this point the unstable undercarriage had also been replaced.
A whole other list of possible modifications including engine upgrades were also proposed
and tested, but only the most pressing, such as a larger dorsal and ventral fin were added.
The cowling was also changed multiple times.
The R.E.8s problems were a mixed bag.
The design itself wasn’t a homerun but it flagged up an issue that the RFC could not
ignore, pilot inexperience.
Pilots with many hours under their belt liked her – commenting that she was ‘cosy and
comfortable, lovely to fly […] and would do anything asked of it up to its limited
ability’.
The new pilots, that story was very different.
With only a few hours of flight time before being sent off to the front, they were not
prepared for an aircraft like this - the combination of a heavy stick, sensitive rudder, limited
acceleration and slow speed characteristics caused plenty of grief.
Evidence to this was already the aforementioned No.52 Squadron - No.34 on the other hand were
in a chipper.
But even they realised that the R.E.8 could be unforgiving.
One Major in No.34 wrote a small guidance hand book for new pilots converting to the
type.
Practical advice included, amongst others, not to use the aircraft in a slow glide, and
to instruct the observer to sit as low as possible on take-off and landing, so as not
to increase wind resistance.
Better training, guidance from more experienced pilots and a few modifications here and there
proved enough to make the R.E.8 into a RFC workhorse.
More and more squadrons converted to her.
By June 1917 15 out of 25 Reconnaissance Squadrons were equipped with the aircraft they now started
to affectionately call the Harry Tate, after a stage performer of the time whose name rhymed
with
the aircraft’s designation.
In combat, the R.E.8 let some of her qualities show.
She was a stable platform, able to do a variety of roles – from recon, artillery spotting
to bombing - and was able to defend herself when need be.
She frequently became the bane of German balloon units which also gives credence to her resilience
under fire.
Braving the FLaK day in, day out, the R.E.8 kept flying the most perilous missions.
In the hand of a good crew and a coordinated flight, she was even able to keep German fighters
at bay – although these would make short work of Harry Tate in most instances.
You can’t fault her for that though, she simply wasn’t a fighter.
Over 4,000 were built, it saw service during World War 1 and while most were taken out
of service, they also saw service in the Middle East for a few years following the end of
the war.
Sadly, only two survived until this day but luckily several have been rebuilt, like this
one here being a flightworthy example.
What it was though was a no-nonsense workhorse, able to execute all missions required of it
without fuss or gaudiness.
So, let’s take a closer look.
The R.E.8 has a length of 8.5m, an upper span of 12.9m, a lower span of 9.9m and
stands at 3.5m.
The 140hp RAF 4a air-cooled V-12 engine gives it a maximum speed of 98mph, on a plane with
a maximum endurance of around 4h of flight time.
The standard armament consisted of one .303 Vickers machine gun, synchronized with the
CC Fire Control interrupter, and a single or twin .303 Lewis gun for the observer.
The maximum payload would be 260lbs.
I found a technical note in
the archives
from 1918 stressing the importance of comfort in an aircraft
for the crew.
It presented the R.E.8 as the prime negative example of how a cockpit should not be, with
a chair at the wrong angle, with padding areas being all wrong, limited longitudal space
etc.
Let’s see how it turns out for me.
The Harry Tate was neither particularly beautiful,
nor outstanding and its pilots might not fit the typical image of the flamboyant aviator.
It did the jobs that weren’t romanticised, and it was perfectly capable of handling this
task, never complained and operated in all manner of conditions.
At the end of the day, what more could you want?
Thank you very much for watching.
If you enjoyed this content, please consider supporting future videos via Patreon or Paypal,
and remember to share this video.
I want to thank the Royal Air Force Museum for allowing us to get close up with this
exhibit that you can visit at their London site!
As always, have a great day, good hunting and see you in the sky!