20 August 1913

The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.8 was designed by John Kenworthy. It broadly followed the layout of his previous designs, the B.E.3 and B.E.4. In common with most of its contemporary stablemates, the B.E.8 had wing-warping for lateral control and undercarriage skids to protect the propeller tips during landing. The prototype, which was powered by a 70hp Gnome and had no division between the cockpits, made its first flight on 20 August 1913.