AIRCRAFT COLOURS AND MARKINGS OF THE FIRST
WORLD WAR ERA
Royal Aircraft Factory BE12
It has long been thought that the BE12 was an unsuccessful attempt to
make a single seat fighter out of the BE2c as a last minute counter to
the Fokker Eindecker. However this is not so as the BE12 was never intended
to counter the Eindecker, rather the original idea was to provide a more
powerful engine to the standard BE2c for bombing missions. Later it was
decided to add armament to give the pilot some offensive capability. The
first BE12 was the Bristol-built BE2c 1697 which was taken in hand during
June 1915 and had its 80hp Renault engine replaced by a 140hp RAF 4a,
as well as having the front cockpit faired over and the skid undercarriage
replaced by a V undercarriage. The upper longerons continued straight
from the cockpit to the engine bearers, and later these were lowered where
the front cockpit used to be to allow for a larger fuel tank. Initial
attempts to provide a fixed forward firing gun had a Lewis mounted on
the fuselage and firing through the propellor which was fitted with deflector
plates. This was quickly passed on in favour of a fixed Vickers mounted
on the fuselage side. The first BE12s had the tail surfaces of the BE2c,
but these were later replaced with raked tailplanes and larger curved
fins.
The first operational use of the BE12 was with home defence squadrons,
and between 16 May and 5 June 1916, 18 BE12s had been assigned to eight
HD squadrons. The first to go to France was 6483 to No.10 Sqn and it flew
its first operational sortie on June 25 when it escorted bomb carrying
aircraft.No.19 went to France on July 27/28 with 18 BE12s, and No.21 soon
covnerted from the RE7 to the BE12. The fourth squadron to use the BE12
in France was No.101, which presumably used it as a night bomber. Its
meagre successes and poor performance quickly saw the BE12 withdrawn from
combat and by February 1917, they were back in the UK where they once
again resumed home defence work. As of 31 October 1918, there were still
64 BE12/12as in service - 26 in Egypt and Palestine, 10 in Salonika, 12
with Home Defence squadrons and one in France.

RAF BE12 1697
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Farnborough
September 1915
Source: Datafile No.66 (BE12)
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RAF BE12 1697
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CFS, Upavon
Winter 1915/16
Source: Datafile No.66 (BE12)
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RAF BE12 6180
Lt R Watts
No.19 Sqn RFC
October 1916
Source: via LA Rogers
updated 2013
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RAF BE12 6616
-
No.36(HD)Sqn RFC
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Source: Datafile No.66 (BE12) |

RAF BE12 6146
No.50(HD)Sqn RFC
June 1916
Source: Datafile No.66 (BE12)
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RAF BE12 6655
-
No.77(HD)Sqn RAF
June 1918
Source: Datafile No.66 (BE12) |
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RAF BE12 6543
-
Unit unknown
-
Source: Datafile No.66 (BE12) |
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