Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8

The Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 was a two-seat general-purpose biplane built for the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. The Dutch designer Frederick Koolhoven drew it, as the F.K.7, to replace the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c and the earlier F.K.3, and its first example flew in May 1916. It was sturdier than the F.K.3, with an oleo undercarriage, a 160 hp Beardmore water-cooled engine and a Scarff ring for the observer's Lewis gun, and production aircraft added a forward-firing Vickers gun. Teething troubles with the undercarriage, tail skids and radiators were gradually worked out. Known to its crews as the Big Ack, it served alongside the better known R.E.8 until the end of the war, when 694 remained on RAF charge. A total of 1,650 of the standard F.K.8 were built.