Royal Aircraft Factory N.E.1

The Royal Aircraft Factory N.E.1 was a night fighter first flown on 8 September 1917. The first prototype was equipped with a 40mm Vickers Q.F. Gun, Mk II for the gunner, who sat in tandem behind the pilot. A searchlight was fitted to the nose of the aircraft to aid in searching for zeppelins and bombers.

Crashing on its first flight, the N.E.1 was rebuilt, without the searchlight and with the gunner sitting in front of the pilot, to improve his field of fire. Official testing revealed that the top speed of 95 mph was too slow to be an effective night fighter and no production orders were issued. A total of six prototypes were built, with one allocated to 78 Squadron for evaluation and others used for trials.