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The Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2 (Blériot Experimental) was the first military aircraft put into service by Britain. Nicknamed "Quirk", variants of it continued in use by the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service throughout World War I, long after the type was obsolete.

The BE.2 was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland as a development of the BE.1 and first flew in February 1912 with de Havilland as the test pilot. Shortly afterwards it set a new British altitude record of 10,560 ft. It was ordered into production as a reconnaissance machine, and two years later, equipped three observation squadrons. These were all sent to France shortly after the outbreak of war.

The aircraft's greatest weakness was that it was a product of a time when aircraft design philosophies over-emphasised the value of stability, resulting in designs like the BE.2 which were severely lacking in maneuverability. While stability was indeed an asset to a reconnaissance machine, the degree of maneuverability that had been sacrificed to obtain it made it easy prey for enemy fighters, and BE.2 squadrons took terrible losses. This extreme vulnerability led German pilots to nickname it kaltes Fleisch ("cold meat") and British aceA flying ace is a military aviator who has shot down five or more enemy aircraft. The term originated in World War I in France, when French newspapers described Adolphe Pegoud as a flying ace after he became the first pilot to shoot down five German aircr Albert BallAlbert Ball (VC, DSO & 2 Bars, MC) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was 20 years old, and a T/Captain i to sum it up as "a bloody awful aeroplane". In 1917Events January 2 The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank. January 22 World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe. January 25 The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million January 25 Anti- a flight of six BE.2s set off from St Omer for Candas. One crashed in transit, three crashed on landing and one went missing. The survivor, Lieutenant A.S.G. Lee, said:

I felt rather a cad not crashing too because everyone is glad to see death-traps like Quirks written off, especially new ones.

The aircraft underwent various refinements during its service career, mostly concerned with improving engine performance and controllability. These resulted in the BE.2b through BE.2e subtypes. Aircraft from the BE.2c onwards mounted a defensive machine gunA machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. Overview M2 machine gun surrounded by spent shell casings Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun will for the observer. From 1917Events January 2 The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank. January 22 World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe. January 25 The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million January 25 Anti- onwards, the BE.2 was mostly withdrawn from the front-line, but continued in use for submarineUSS Los Angeles (SSN-688)|USS Los Angeles A submarine is a specialized boat that travels under water, usually for military or scientific purposes. Most major navies of the world employ submarines. Submarines are also used for marine and freshwater science spotting, ZeppelinThis is an article about Zeppelin aircraft. There was also a famous British rock band by the name Led Zeppelin. LZ127 "Graf Zeppelin the most traveled airship in history A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship (or dirigible pioneered by Count Ferdinand von defence, and as a trainerTrainer may refer to: An aircraft used for training pilots A padded sports shoe ("trainer" is used commonly in British English where sneaker would be used in American English). The term "trainer" derives from "training shoe". A person who is responsible f. It was in the role of Zeppelin interceptor that the type achieved fame out of proportion with the rest of its performance. On the night of August 3 1916, a BE.2 flown by Captain William Leefe Robinson downed the first Zeppelin to be shot down over Britain, winning Robinson a Victoria Cross and cash prizes totaling £3,500 that had been put up by a number of individuals for the first Zeppelin kill.

Some 3,500 BE.2s were built by over 20 different manufacturers, and it formed the basis for a dedicated (but unsuccessful) fighter version, the BE.12 . A number of aircraft are preserved at museums around the world, including the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, the RAF Museum, Hendon, the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa, the Musée de l'Air et de L'Espace , Paris, the Militaire Luchtvaartmuseum , Soesterberg, Netherlands, and the Forsvarets Flysamling museum in Gardermoen, Norway.