Wight Converted Seaplane

Converted Seaplane
Wight Converted Seaplane (No. 9583)
Role Biplane floatplane
Manufacturer John Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft)
First flight 1916
Primary user Royal Naval Air Service
Number built 37


The Wight Converted Seaplane was a British twin-float patrol seaplane produced by John Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft).

Design and development

Developed from the unsuccessful Wight Bomber for use as an anti-submarine patrol aircraft, the "Converted" Seaplane was a straightforward adaptation of the landplane bomber to a seaplane. The aircraft was a three-bay biplane with unswept, unequal span, unstaggered wings. It had twin floats under the fuselage and additional floats at tail and wings tips. Initial production aircraft were powered by a 322 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle IV engine mounted in the nose driving a four-bladed propeller, with later production batches being powered by a 265 hp (198 kW) Sunbeam Maori engine owing to shortages of Eagles.[1] Fifty were ordered for the RNAS, of which only 37 were completed.[2]

Operational history

The Converted Seaplane entered service with the RNAS in 1917,[1] operating from bases at Calshot, Dover, Portland and Cherbourg.[2] On 18 August 1917, a Wight Converted Seaplane flying from Cherbourg sank the German U-boat UB-32 with a single 100 lb bomb, the first submarine to be sunk in the English Channel by direct air action.[1] Seven remained in service with the RAF at the end of the First World War.

Operators

 United Kingdom

Specifications (Seaplane - Eagle engine)

Data from The British Bomber since 1914 [1]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
Related lists

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mason, Francis K (1994). The British Bomber since 1914. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books. ISBN 0-85177-861-5.
  2. 1 2 Thetford, Owen (1994). British Naval Aircraft since 1912 (Fourth ed.). London: Putnam. ISBN 0-85177-861-5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.