The Royal Aircraft Factory was an outgrowth of the British Army's balloon organisation, brought under civilian control. Although it was meant to be a test and experimental station, under superintendent Mervyn O'Gorman the factory moved into the development of new aircraft designs. The BE2 types were some of the best pre-war aircraft available in 1914, setting performance records and pioneering wireless experiments. Having enabled the development of army aerial reconnaissance theory, initial BE2 operations at the opening of the Great War went much as planned, undertaking several early bombing raids. However, as soon as aerial opposition developed, the BE's performance and design limitations made it disastrously obsolete. Pre-war theory, and the work of Edward Teshmaker Busk at the Royal Aircraft Factory, had gone towards the type having significant dynamic stability (the ability to return to straight and level flight) to enable the pilot and observer to concentrate on the job of observation. At the time it was not yet realised that a less stable design would be advantageous in the emerging aerial combat environment, because it would be easier to manoeuvre.
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