Canadian Warplanes 1: Vickers Gunbus

Vickers Gunbus

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3391051)

Vickers F.B.5 Gun Bus flown by Canadians in the RFC during the Great War, ca 1918.

17 Jul 1914. First flight of the Vickers F.B.5 (Fighting Biplane 5) (known as the "Gunbus"), a British two-seat pushermilitary biplane of the First World War. Armed with a single .303-in (7.7-mm)Lewis gun operated by the observer in the front of the nacelle, it was thefirst aircraft purpose-built for air-to-air combat to see service, making itthe world's first operational fighter aircraft. (Wikipedia)

Major Frederick Wanklyn of Montreal had trained several of the first RFC pilots to fly to France. He was in France himself in November 1914 as an acting flight commander. He then went on to No. 5 Squadron where he flew the first Vickers FB5 Gun Bus in France. It was a pusher with tail booms, and the observer in the front cockpit had a Lewis gun with an unobstructed field of fire forward. Wanklyn flew escort to an unarmed Avro 504 in the Ypres sector on artillery spotting missions at the time of the German gas attack and was awarded the Military Cross for his work. The first of some 4,500 Canadians who would transfer to the British flying services, Wanklyn commanded No. 9 Squadron on the Somme. He established many notable firsts and the influx of Canadians became a trickle not long after he took the Gun Bus aloft at Abeele. Ron Dodds, The Brave Young Wings, (Canada's Wings; First Edition, 1980)

(RFC Photo)

Vickers F.B.5 Gun Bus, c1917.

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