Aeroplanes Voisin Type VIII

Voisin VIII LAP airplane at Aviation Experiment Station, Langley Field, Hampton, VA. 18 June 917

The Voisin VIII is a French two-seat biplane pusher which was built in two versions, one fitted with a 37mm Hotchkiss cannon (the LBP or Ca.2), and the other as a conventional night bomber (the LAP or Bn.2). Like the earlier Voisin models, dating back to the 1910 Type de Course, the Voisin VIII featured a robust steel-tube structure. This was the French army's main night bomber in 1916 and 1917, with over one thousand built. Problems with the Peugeot 8Aa engine led to a short operational career with front line units before being superseded by the Voisin X, which aside from the installation of a new Renault engine, was nearly identical to the VIII.

Two versions were built, a conventional bomber, and an aircraft armed with a large single shot 37mm Hotchkiss cannon as was used on the Voisin IV. Initially it was thought the cannon would be used for air-air attacks and was officially designated a cannon fighter (Ca.2) however this was found to be unworkable as both bomber and fighter types were vulnerable to fighters as they were too slow and unmaneuverable but at least one enemy aircraft was destroyed - with a single shot. As a result, a variety of other roles were attempted with it. Flying artillery, using indirect shots were impossible to aim accurately, balloon busting highlighted the type's vulnerability to anti-aircraft artillery fire, but some success was found when used in the ground attack firing directly at the target. Wikipedia