Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8

The "Harry Tate" (a pun derived from a famous music-hall comedian of the day) was designed in 1916 to meet RFC requirements for a reconnaissance and artillery spotting aircraft. The aircraft began appearing over the French front in late 1916, but was withdrawn from service due to several accidents. The tail was redesigned to overcome a tendency to spin, and despite its shortcoming, was produced in large numbers (4,077 aircraft) for the remained of the war. Belgium received 22 R.E.8s, and the plane also saw service in Italy and Palestine with the RFC.

The plane uses 5.6 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. A full load of fuel and ammo (excluding bombs) costs $16.

Subassemblies: Recon Fighter chassis +2; Light Fighter wings with Biplane option +2; 2 fixed wheels +0.

Powertrain: 112-kW HP gasoline engine with 112-kW old prop and 30-gallon fuel tank [Body].

Occ.: 2 XCS Body

Cargo: 5 Body

Armor F RL B T U

Body: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wings: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Weaponry:

Aircraft LMG/7.7mm Vickers .303 LMG [Body:F] (500 rounds).

Aircraft LMG/7.7mm Lewis .303 LMG [Body:B] (500 rounds).

Equipment:

Body: Casemate mount, high-angle mount, two 112-lb. hardpoints.

Statistics:

Size: 28'x42'x11' Payload: 0.65 tons Lwt.: 1.43 tons

Volume: 96 Maint.: 87 hours Cost: $5,325

HT: 6. HPs: 15 Body, 135 each Wing, 3 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 102 aAccel: 2 aDecel: 34 aMR: 8.5 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 38 mph. Take Off Run: 206 yards. Landing Run: 144 yards.

gSpeed: 141 gAccel: 7 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.5 gSR: 2

Ground Pressure: Very High. 1/8 Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 378 sf. Design loaded weight was 2,740 lbs.; it was increased 5% to the historical. Design aSpeed as 88 mph. Historical values were used for all calculations when available. Fuel capacity and MG load-outs are a guess. The forward fixed Body MG is synchronized, lowering RoF by 10% (see p. W:MP8).

Variants:

None.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS

© 2008 by Jim Antonicic