Vickers F.B.19

The Vickers F.B.19 was a British single-seat fighting scout of the First World War, developed from the Barnwell Bullet prototype and sometimes known as the Vickers Bullet. George Challenger designed it, and it first flew in August 1916. It was a single-engine, single-bay, equal-span biplane, slightly smaller than a Sopwith Camel or Nieuport 17, with a large engine fairing and a tall fuselage that gave it a stubby look, armed with one synchronised 7.7 mm Vickers machine gun mounted on the left side of the fuselage. Around 65 were built. Six early aircraft went to France in late 1916 and were found unsuitable for evolving combat conditions, and twelve Mark IIs went to the Middle East; pilots disliked the poor visibility. The type found more favour in Russia, where it was called the Vikkers Bullit and later adopted by the Red Air Force in the Civil War. In British service it had effectively been retired before the end of 1917.