<p>Early air combat over the Western Front indicated the need for a single seat fighter with forward firing armament. As no means of firing forward through the propeller of a tractor aeroplane was available to the British, Geoffrey de Havilland designed the DH.2 as a smaller, single seat development of the earlier two seat DH.1 pusher design. The DH.2 first flew in July 1915.[1]
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The DH.2 was armed with a single .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun which was originally able to be positioned on one of three flexible mountings in the cockpit, with the pilot transferring the gun between mountings in flight at the same time as flying the aircraft.  Pilots learned that the best method of achieving a kill was to aim the aircraft rather than the gun,
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/88123769@N02">Bernard Spragg. NZ</a> from Christchurch, New Zealand
2009-10-05 12:55
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/volvob12b/8336475841/">Airco De Havilland DH 2</a>