Original Concept
Albert Ball's interest in fighter aircraft design predated his first aerial victory. As early as 14 April 1916, he had written home to his father about the plans for a new fighter "heaps better than the Hun Fokker", although he made no claim that the plans were his own work. In the letter he further remarked that he could not post the plans, and was carrying them home the next time he received leave. Some writers have taken this to be an early reference to the design that eventually emerged as the A.F.B.1; this has been since largely discounted, among other reasons because the A.F.B.1 was designed around the new Hispano-Suiza engine, which places the commencement of serious design at sometime after August 1916.
It would be six months before the young pilot received his leave; it seems to have been during this period he began drawing up his own ideas for specifications for a single seat fighter aircraft; these he mailed to his father.
Read more about this topic: Austin-Ball A.F.B.1, Origins and Design
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