Bristol F.2b Fighter from World War I.
Registration: F-AYBF.
The Bristol F.2 Fighter was a single-engine fighter designed and manufactured by the British aircraft manufacturer Bristol Aeroplane Company.
The F.2 was used in World War I as a reconnaissance aircraft. The Fighter was equipped with the new Rolls-Royce Falcon V12 engine that gave it the performance of a combat aircraft. The crew consisted of two people, a pilot and an observer/ gunner.
In its first actions, the aircraft was no match for the German aircraft, which was mainly due to the position of the machine gun behind the pilot. Lessons were quickly learned from this experience and the pilot was given a machine gun in front of him and this made the aircraft a formidable opponent. The aircraft remained in service with the Royal Air Force until the '30s.
The aircraft in the picture was rebuilt by The Vintage Aviator Limited in New Zealand using parts of the fuselage of an original F.2.
This photo was taken on 18 May 2018 during the airshow at Aérodrome de Cerny - La Ferté-Alais.
I am Jaap van den Berg and photography has become a great passion of mine since 2010. Since then I travel all over the world to take pictures of military aircrafts. But besides aircraft I also love to photograph other subjects like landscapes, architecture, flowers, animals, .. Read more…