Golden Age of Flying-boats

108 Pages·2012·52.825 MB·English

by  Martyn Chorlton

COLLECTORS’ ARCHIVE
Golden Age of
Flying-boats
Cutaways and archive images
Pioneering British
fl ying-boat development
5
9
.
7
£
First flown on March 28, 1938, Stranraer I
K7293 ‘S’ (furthest from the camera), joined
228 Squadron at Pembroke Dock the same day. The flying-boat went on
to see service with 209 Squadron and BOAC before settling with 240
Squadron in December 1940. In February the following year the aircraft
sank in a gale at Stranraer and despite being salvaged and allocated to
Scottish Aviation for repair, K7293 was struck off charge in April 1941
INTRODUCTION 3
T
HIS EDITION OF our Aeroplane Collectors’ Archive concentrates on of a fl ying-boat, which often had to perform better on the water than
early British fl ying-boat development from 1913, through to the in the air, if it stood any chance of being developed or ordered by a
RAF’s last biplane fl ying-boat to enter service – the Supermarine civilian or military customer.
Stranraer in 1937. The original concept for this issue was to focus on As always, with any form of military technology, advances happen
biplane fl ying-boats but we have included such types as the Inverness, quicker during a war and the First World War did no harm in
Prawn and Windhover. accelerating this process. The post-war period saw the RAF employing
As with previous issues, technical information is kept to a minimum Felixstowe type-machines in quantity and the demand for the
and attention is paid to photographs drawn from The Aeroplane’s archive. fl ying-boat did not relent during the 1920s when the Supermarine
The time period covered in this issue is little more than 20 years but Southampton ruled the roost. Hull design continued to evolve and,
the range of types and the technical advances achieved in this time is reluctantly, designers gave in to fl ying-boats being made from metal.
astonishing. It is hard to believe that ‘Tommy’ Sopwith’s Bat Boat, which The Southampton saw the end of larger orders by the RAF and, up to
fi rst fl ew in 1913, helped to germinate a seed that would grow, within a the arrival of the Sunderland, the big multi-engined fl ying-boats were
generation, into the Short Singapore III or the Supermarine Stranraer. only ordered in relatively low numbers.
Those pioneering designers who fi rst envisaged a fl ying-boat faced I hope that this issue of Aeroplane Collectors’ Archive gives the
considerably more problems than their land-based counter-parts. reader a taste of a pioneering and bygone age of which we shall never
However, the rewards and the fl exibility of such a machine saw the see the likes again.
fl ying-boat era continuing on into the 1950s. The hull design and
suffi ciently powerful and reliable engines were always key to the success Martyn Chorlton, Editor
Oswald Short (second from right) shows dignitaries around a Short S.8 ‘Calcutta’ on the River Medway at Rochester in 1929. Aeroplane
Aeroplane Collectors’ Archive
Golden Age of Flying-Boats
Editor Martyn Chorlton
Digital Image Manager (cid:51)(cid:70)(cid:67)(cid:70)(cid:68)(cid:68)(cid:66)(cid:1)(cid:40)(cid:74)(cid:67)(cid:67)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:116)(cid:1)Scanning assistant (cid:46)(cid:74)(cid:68)(cid:73)(cid:66)(cid:70)(cid:77)(cid:1)(cid:41)(cid:86)(cid:85)(cid:68)(cid:73)(cid:74)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:84)(cid:1)(cid:116)(cid:1)Image restoration Paul Sanderson
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Golden Age of Flying-boats
36
6 NORMAN THOMPSON N.T.4 AND 4A
The fi rst British-built ‘America’ fl ying-boat
10 FELIXSTOWE PORTE BABY
The RNAS’s fi rst big patrol fl ying-boat
12 NORMAN THOMPSON N.T.2B
Mass produced side-by-side fully-enclosed trainer
14 SHORT S.8 CALCUTTA
A new three-engined fl ying-boat for the Imperial Airways fl eet
18 SHORT S.17 KENT
The luxurious Mediterranean cruiser
23 FELIXSTOWE F.1 (PORTE)
The pioneering aircraft which helped to launch Britain as a world leader in
aviation
24 FELIXSTOWE F.2, F.2A AND F.2C
Long and loyal service for the RNAS and the RAF
27 FELIXSTOWE F.3
More power, bigger war load and a longer range
30 FELIXSTOWE F.5
Cdr John Porte’s last in a successful line of military patrol fl ying-boats
34 VICKERS VIKING, VULTURE AND
VANELLUS
A very successful series of amphibians
36 SHORT S.19 SINGAPORE III
The back-bone of RAF fl ying-boat units throughout the 1930s up to the
early stages of the Second World War
43 SUPERMARINE SOUTHAMPTON
MK I AND MK II 52
R J Mitchell’s classic 1920s design
48 SUPERMARINE SEAGULL MK I TO
MK III
The amphibian fl ying-boat family developed from the Seal
52 SARO LONDON I AND II
A ‘General Purpose Open Sea Patrol Flying-Boat’ for the RAF
56 SUPERMARINE WALRUS
The ubiquitous ‘Shagbat’!
63 SUPERMARINE SCAPA
Mitchell returns to the tried and tested design philosophy
66 SHORT S.14 SARAFAND
Short Brothers’ giant, which was the largest aircraft in Britain at the time
CCoonntteennttss
43 68 BLACKBURN IRIS MK I TO MK IV
The largest aircraft in service with the RAF during the 1930s
70 BLACKBURN PERTH
A comfortable, self-suffi cient, upgrade of the Iris
72 SHORT S.8/8 RANGOON
The military version of the S.8 Calcutta
76 SUPERMARINE STRANRAER II
Biplane fl ying-boat development fi nally comes to an end
81 BRISTOL PEGASUS ENGINE
One of the fi nest British aero engines of the inter-war period
LIMITED PRODUCTION MODELS
84 SOPWITH BAT BOAT TYPE 1, 1A
AND 2
27
85 SUPERMARINE A.D.
NORMAN THOMPSON N.2C
86 FELIXSTOWE F.4 FURY (PORTE
‘SUPER BABY’)
SUPERMARINE CHANNEL I AND II
87 PHOENIX P.5 CORK I/ ENGLISH
ELECTRIC P.5 KINGSTON
SAUNDERS KITTIWAKE
88 SUPERMARINE SEA KING I AND II
SUPERMARINE COMMERCIAL
AMPHIBIAN
89 VICKERS-SAUNDERS BS.1 VALENTIA
SUPERMARINE SEAL I AND II
48
90 FAIREY N.4 ATALANTA AND TITANIA
SUPERMARINE SEA LION I-III
91 ENGLISH ELECTRIC M.3 AYR
SUPERMARINE SEA EAGLE
92 SUPERMARINE SWAN I AND II
BEARDMORE BERO 2 INVERNESS
(ROHRBACH RO IV)
93 SHORT SINGAPORE I
SAUNDERS A.4 MEDINA
34
94 SAUNDERS A.3 VALKYRIE
SUPERMARINE NANOK/SOLENT
95 SUPERMARINE SHELDRAKE
PARNALL P.1 PRAWN
96 SAUNDERS A.7 SEVERN
SARO A.21 WINDHOVER
97 SHORT SINGAPORE II
SUPERMARINE SEAGULL V
6
Norman Thompson N.T.4 & 4A
THE N.T.4 WAS the Norman Thompson Aircraft Company’s fi rst were designated as the N.T.4A. By mid-1917, Norman Thompson
design following the departure of Douglas White in late 1915. The had 50 orders on the books but, by the summer of 1918, with
N.T.4 appeared on the scene at the same time as Curtiss H.4 and in the end of the war approaching, the order was cancelled and
a confusing custom of the day, both fl ying-boats were referred to only 30 aircraft were built.
as the ‘America’ and later the ‘Small America’. As a result, the The N.T.4 was used exclusively for anti-submarine operations
historical records for the Curtiss machine are stronger and the from stations stretching from Calshot in the south to
N.T.4 has been unfairly sidelined in the archives. Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. Armament was one
The N.T.4 was designed to operate as a patrol fl ying-boat. free-mounted Lewis machine-gun with bombs that
Powered by two Hispano-Suiza engines, it had the novelty of a could be carried on racks under the wings. One N.T.4,
fully-enclosed, glazed cockpit, a luxury that not even aircraft No.8338, was fi tted with a 2lb Davis recoilless
during the 1920s enjoyed. The fi rst versions did suff er from poor gun mounted on top of the cockpit;
visibility for the pilot but this was later improved when the cockpit the idea never progressed beyond
roof was glazed. the experimental stage.
The RNAS placed an initial order for ten aircraft in December
1915; the fi rst six of this order (8338-8343) were powered by 150hp
Hispano-Suiza engines. All subsequent aircraft (9061-9064 and
N2140-N2159) were powered by the 200hp geared version and
Main image: staff of the Norman Thompson
Flight Company during happier times in
front of N.T.4 No.9064. Following a sudden
change in RNAS requirements, which
resulted in the cancellation, 20 N.T.4As,
combined with continuous problems with
the N.T.2Bs engines, the company went into
receivership on April 19, 1918. Liquidated in
July 1919, the company’s remaining assets
were bought by Handley Page Limited
The prototype Norman
Thompson N.T.4 No.8338,
the fi rst of only ten built
(8338-8343 and 9061-
9064) pictured at Grain,
Isle of Sheppey during
trials with a 2lb Davis
recoilless gun
7
NORMAN THOMPSON N.T.4A
ENGINES: Two 200hp Hispano-Suiza
WING SPAN: 78ft 7in
LENGTH: 41ft 6in HEIGHT: 14ft 10in
LOADED WEIGHT: 6,469lb MAX SPEED: 95mph
CREW: 4
N.T.4 ‘Small America’ No.9061 off Calshot on
September 24, 1917. By 1918, all of the RNAS’s
N.T.4s were used for training, operating from
Calshot, Killingholme and Cattewater. The
exceptions were No.8339 and No.8340, which
were used for anti-submarine patrols over the
North Sea from Dundee
8
The NT.4A, of which only 20 were built (N2140-N2159), featured a
modified hull, increased cockpit glazing and an improved fuel
system for its 200hp Hispano-Suiza engines
NORMAN THOMPSON N.T.4 ANd 4A 9
Norman Thompson N.T.4 No.8343 pictured
at Killingholme where it was delivered in
March 1917. Note the substantial twin
wheel beaching chassis on which the
6,469lb flying-boat rests
Dominated by a large, centrally
mounted control wheel, the cockpit of
N.T.4 No.9063 is furnished with only
the most basic of flight instruments.
These include two air speed indicators,
one in mph and one in knots, plus a
pair of engine rpm gauges rated to a
maximum of 2,200 revs. A warning,
visible through the control wheel,
states ‘engine revs not to exceed 2,100’
First delivered to the RNAS on June 23, 1917, N.T.4 No.9063 was allocated to the Grain Test Depot on July
14, 1917 (where it is pictured) for experiments with the Type 52B Wireless Transmitter. The flying-boat was
then transferred to Westgate Air Station, west of Margate, where it sprang a leak whilst moored to a buoy
and sank. On January 7, 1918, the wreck was towed ashore and four days later was struck off charge
10
Felixstowe Porte Baby
DESIGNED BY SQN Cdr J C Porte and built by May, Harden and May Douglas, (later Marshal of the Royal Air Force) and F/L B D Hobbs
of Southampton, the Felixstowe Porte Baby was a three-engined forced landed near the North Hinder Light Vessel off the Dutch
flying-boat, two in the tractor position and one in the pusher. coast. After a brave fight, the enemy aircraft were seen off and the
Another design with an enclosed cockpit, the Porte Baby was a Porte Baby began the long ‘seaward’ journey back to the English
three-bay biplane of unequal span. Early versions of the flying- coast to arrive at Sizewell Gap, Suffolk at 0130hrs on October 2.
boat were powered by a pair of 250hp Eagles in the outer position After this incident, the Porte Baby was removed from this duty.
and a single 260hp Green in the centre. Later, three 345hp Eagle or One idea to help with self-defence was for the flying-boats to
three 360hp Eagle VIII were fitted. carry their own fighter protection. No.9080 was used for
Only 11 were built (9800-9810) of which all saw service with the experiments with a Bristol Scout or Bullet mounted on the upper
RNAS from November 1916 and operated from Felixstowe and wing which could be released in flight to help deal with an enemy
Killingholme on patrols over the North Sea. The aircraft’s attack. This was first carried out successfully on May 17, 1916 at
pondering performance made it particularly vulnerable to attack 1,000ft, with Sqn Cdr Porte at the controls of the flying-boat and
by enemy aircraft and one Porte Baby was forced down into the F/L M J Day flying the Bristol Scout. Despite the success of the
sea on October 1, 1917. The flying-boat, flown by Flt Cdr N Sholto experiment, the combination never entered operational service.
Bristol Scout C3028 perches neatly on top of the No.9800 during
fighter defence trials, which were carried out from Felixstowe in
the spring of 1916. The Scout was successfully ‘air-launched’ on
May 17, 1917
FELIXSTOWE PORTE BABY
ENGINES: Three 360hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VII WING SPAN: 124ft
LENGTH: 63ft HEIGHT: 25ft LOADED WEIGHT 18,600lb
MAX SPEED 87.5mph CREW: 5