English Electric Kingston
P.5 Kingston | |
---|---|
Kingston II (N.9712) at Lytham, 1925.[1] | |
Role | Reconnaissance and anti-submarine flying boat |
Manufacturer | English Electric |
Designer | W.O. Manning |
First flight | 1924 |
Number built | 6 |
The English Electric P.5 Kingston was a British twin-engined biplane flying boat built by English Electric. When the English Electric Company was formed in 1918 from several companies, the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company brought with it the two prototype Phoenix P.5 Cork reconnaissance flying boats. Redesigned, the Cork reappeared as the English Electric P.5 Kingston with a production order for five aircraft.
Design and development
In 1922
In January 1923 the Air Ministry contracted English Electric to build a prototype and the new design was built at Preston, then moved by road to Lytham for flight trials.
Despite the accident the Air Ministry ordered four more flying-boats to be designated the Kingston Mk. I.[2] The first Kingston I N9709 was ready a few months later, only small changes were made from the prototype including a slightly larger beam and two-bladed propellers.[2] The flying-boat was delivered by rail to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe in November 1924 for acceptance trials.[2] Although the flying-boat met the type and air-handling requirements it did not meet the Ministries' requirements for seaworthiness.[2] Modifications were made to N9709 for improvements including four-bladed propellers.[2] On 25 May 1925, just after becoming airborne the engines left their mountings and the wing structure failed causing cracks in the hull, the aircraft floated and the crew escaped without injury.[2]
The second Kingston I N9710 first flew on 13 November 1925 at Lytham and was flown to
This fourth aircraft re-emerged as N9712 [a] at Lytham with a new duralumin hull and became the sole Kingston II.[3] Test-flown at Felixstowe it failed to perform; in 1930 the metal hull was used for tests at Farnborough.[4]
The last aircraft to be built, N9713, had a completely redesigned hull, but this reverted to wooden construction, and was known as the Kingston III.
Specifications (Kingston I)
Data from British Flying Boats.[8]
General characteristics
- Crew: six (pilot, observer, three gunners, engineer)
- Length: 52 ft 9 in (16.08 m)
- Wingspan: 85 ft 6 in (26.07 m)
- Height: 20 ft 11 in (6.38 m)
- Wing area: 1,282.5 sq ft (119.2 m2)
- Empty weight: 9,130 lb (4,150 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 14,508 lb (6,595 kg)
- Powerplant: 2 × Napier Lion IIIB 12-cylinder piston, 450 hp (336 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 104.8 mph (169 km/h, 91 kn)
- Endurance: 8–9 hours
- Service ceiling: 9,060 ft (2,760 m)
Armament
- Guns: 3× Lewis machine gun
- Bombs: Up to 1,040 lb (472 kg) of bombs
See also
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
- Boeing XPB
- Naval Aircraft Factory PN
- Short Cromarty
- Supermarine Swan
- Supermarine Southampton
- Vickers Valentia
References
- ^ It has been presumed that the superstructure of N9712 was kept and assembled on a new hull, but no definite proof exists.
- ^ "Stainless steel plane leaves Lytham for Felixstowe". media storehouse. 1925. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
Stainless steel plane leaves Lytham for Felixstowe. The seaplane on the slipway.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Ransom/Fairclough 1987, pp.134-146
- ^ Ransom & Fairclough 1987, p. 143.
- ^ a b Ransom & Fairclough 1987, p. 144.
- ^ a b Ransom & Fairclough 1987, p. 145.
- ^ Ransom/Fairclough 1987, p.35
- ^ Ransom/Fairclough 1987, p.51
- ^ London 2003, pp. 260–261.
- London, Peter (2003). British Flying Boats. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-2695-3.
- Ransom, Stephen; Fairclough, Robert (1987). English Electric Aircraft and their predecessors. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-85177-806-2.
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.