Martinsyde F-4

Does anyone know if the F-4 saw service, and was it as quick as I have heard? Someone told me it did 150 MPH.

Regards,
Andrew Smith

according to the 'world war one sorce book', the f4 'buzzard' fighter was one of the fastest british aircraft, but was developed too late in 1918 for use in action.

leon

[PeterL]

A vastly under rated aircraft. Another thread hearabouts is discussing the merits of the Snipe as against the Dolphin and the choice of the former over the later as the standard RAF post-war fighter. The greater mystery is why the Buzzard was not chosen. The potential of the design to accept the big American Vee 12s then coming along assured its' future developement and improvement. I suppose it was the bean counters also mentioned in another place. The Poles and the Finns operated a couple apiece and were apparantly impressed.
Windsock have it slated as a 1999 datafile, so if you are a collecter put it on your gift list for next Christmas.

Peter L

Don't know whether this is significant or not, but the RAF conducted a mock combat between a Buzzard and a Fokker D-VII with the 185-hp engine. The Fokker won handily. I suspect that the Buzzard (which had a practical top speed of about 140 mph) wasn't maneuverable enough for those who selected the RAF's standard post-war fighter.

While we're on the subject, another thing to keep in mind is that the Snipe was designated to be re-engined with the ill-fated ABC Dragonfly, which would have given it a speed performance close enough to the Dolphin (and possibly even Buzzard) to make it a better choice. The Dragonfly wasn't finally abandoned until the Buzzard had been canceled and the Dolphin declared surplus.

[Vigilant]

Mike, If the war had ground on into 1919 would the RAF have been seriously embarrassed by the non-performance of the Dragonfly engine? Would we have been left fielding an awful lot of underpowered planes, with dire results?

Thanks Guys for the info.
Another quick one. Did the Junkers CL 1 ground attack fighter see action?

Regards,
Andrew

junkers CL.I never saw action as far as i'm aware, niether did the J.I, which i often wonder if was the same plane (like Fokker D.VIII and E.V were)

The Junkers J-1 certainly saw action. That is, the armoured ground-support biplane designated J-1 by the Luftstreitkrafte saw action. The Junkers factory also used its own designation system, and the (factory) J-1 was indeed a different machine from the (military) J-1. But the (factory) J-1 was not the same as the CL-1.