Boulton Paul Partridge
Partridge | |
---|---|
Role | Single seat fighter |
National origin | United Kingdom |
Manufacturer | Boulton & Paul Ltd |
Designer | John North |
First flight | early 1928 |
Number built | 1 |
The Boulton & Paul P.33 Partridge was a single seat single-engined biplane fighter designed to an Air Ministry specification. One prototype was ordered and built for trials in 1928, but it was not put into production.
Design and development
When
The Partridge[1][2] was a single bay biplane with the unswept constant chord square tipped wings characteristic of Boulton & Paul at this time. There was slight stagger and only the lower wing, smaller in span and chord, had dihedral. The interplane struts leaned outwards markedly and the centre section struts more so. Initially there were ailerons only on the upper wings, but soon they were added to the lower wing with a noticeable vertical interconnecting rigid link. Like the rest of the aircraft the wings were fabric covered.[1]
The fuselage had an oval cross section.
The Partridge first flew in early in 1928 and appeared at the Hendon RAF display that July.[1] Competitive trials between the contestants for F.9/26 began in January at RAF Martlesham Heath. The Hawker Hawfinch and the eventual winner, the Bristol Bulldog stood out from the others in terms of handling. These two and the Partridge had similar performance figures, with the Bulldog 7 mph (11 km/h) faster than the Partridge but having a lower service ceiling.[1] The major failure of the Partridge was its poor longitudinal stability and control, which led to heavy stick forces and made aerobatics difficult. No further orders were placed. Some modifications were made to the original machine during the trials, notably an enlarged cockpit to assist a pilot who was baling out, and this variation became known as the Mk II. Boulton & Paul had always intended the Partridge to be powered by the new but unavailable Bristol Mercury and the designation Mk III was reserved for this unbuilt version.[1]
Specifications
Data from Brew.[3]
General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 23 ft 1 in (7.04 m)
- Upper wingspan: 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m)
- Lower wingspan: 31 ft 0 in (9.45 m)
- Height: 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
- Wing area: 311 sq ft (28.9 m2)
- Empty weight: 2,021 lb (917 kg)
- Gross weight: 3,097 lb (1,405 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Bristol Jupiter VII 9-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, 440 hp (330 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 167 mph (269 km/h, 145 kn) at 10,000 ft (3,000 m)
- Service ceiling: 28,950 ft (8,820 m)
- Time to altitude: 6 min 30 s to 10,000 ft (3,000 m)
Armament
- Guns: 2 × 0.303 (7.7 mm) nose mounted Vickers machine guns
References
- "The Boulton and Paul "Partridge": All-Metal Single-Seat Fighter". Flight. Vol. XX, no. 49. 6 December 1928. pp. 1029–1033. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
- Brew, Alec (1993). Boulton Paul Aircraft since 1915. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-85177-860-7.