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This are the ones I like by their nationalities:
Great Britain - S.E.5a
France - Spad XIII
Germany - Albatros DIII
I have a new favourite...the Bristol F2b Fighter. It jumped to the top of my priority list when I discovered a first cousin of my Grandmother, who lived across the street from her, flew Brisfits with 11 Sqn in WW1.
Here's a pic of one of the airframes recorded in his logbook (not sure how the pilot would reach the gun above the top wing in flight...the mount seems pretty tall to my eyes):
I believe the guns were fired via a trigger in the cockpit (you can see the cable on the right side of this pic), and slid down and back along rails in order to reload on the Foster mount:
View attachment 627042
If you magnify your own photo, you'll see that this Brisfit does have a Foster mount.
I can't remember which British ace it was who'd unlock the gun and bring it partially down the rails (on his SE5a) in order to shoot vertically into the bellies of an opponent. Or maybe that was just him posing, as the pic I've seen was taken on the ground.
Agree it's a Foster Mount...but on E2586 it's been fitted on stilts and stands a good foot or more above the upper surface of the wing. Just reaching that in flight would have been....sporting?!
Being a gunner in an FE2 would send my the pucker meter off the charts. Here's a shot of the how the gunner would fire to the rear. All he had to hold onto was a gun on a swivel mount; everything above his ankles was hanging out in the breeze. During flight, the gunner would sit on the edge of his cockpit, facing backwards to keep an eye out for enemy aircraft. Those guys were made of pretty stern stuff.
View attachment 627056
Picture from the Tangmere Museum.
Being a gunner in an FE2 would send my the pucker meter off the charts. Here's a shot of the how the gunner would fire to the rear. All he had to hold onto was a gun on a swivel mount; everything above his ankles was hanging out in the breeze. During flight, the gunner would sit on the edge of his cockpit, facing backwards to keep an eye out for enemy aircraft. Those guys were made of pretty stern stuff.
View attachment 627056
Picture from the Tangmere Museum.
Some real head scratchers here.
but on E2586 it's been fitted on stilts and stands a good foot or more above the upper surface of the wing.
I once read that, throughout WWI, the Camel was credited with bringing down about 450 enemy machines. That same article went on to say that the Camel killed about 435 of it's own pilots in non combat related accidents. I think that 'Deadly' is an apt description. Postscript: I once had occasion to speak with a pilot who built and flew an exact replica of a Sopwith Camel at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. I asked him how filling the secondary fuel tank located behind the pilot affected handling. He told me that he never put fuel in that tank and that the Camel was an airplane with so many handling quirks that to safely learn to fly it a pilot had to operate at sufficiently high altitudes to enable recovery from the inevitable mistakes.I like the Sopwith camel - a bitch to fly but once mastered a deadly machine.
Exactly my preferences as well.
The Air and Space Museum site credits the Camel with 1294 aircraft shot down, and I think Wiki also credits it with about the same number, but that's Wiki.I once read that, throughout WWI, the Camel was credited with bringing down about 450 enemy machines. That same article went on to say that the Camel killed about 435 of it's own pilots in non combat related accidents. I think that 'Deadly' is an apt description. Postscript: I once had occasion to speak with a pilot who built and flew an exact replica of a Sopwith Camel at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. I asked him how filling the secondary fuel tank located behind the pilot affected handling. He told me that he never put fuel in that tank and that the Camel was an airplane with so many handling quirks that to safely learn to fly it a pilot had to operate at sufficiently high altitudes to enable recovery from the inevitable mistakes.