unstaggered biplane. The fuselage was rectangular and deep, with a two-windowed section for the cabin, built of mahogany planking over a wooden frame in small-boat fashion to avoid the need for internal bracing. The fuselage was deep enough to allow the crew to stand in the cabin, which contained provisions, storage, bunks and navigator's table. The navigator also had a position for celestial observation at the rear of the cabin. The pilot's open cockpit was at the trailing edge of the wing, in front of the cabin.[1]
In front of the pilot was the engine firewall and the metal-covered engine bay housing a 650 hp (490 kW)
propeller via a spur reduction gear which conveniently raised the propeller shaft high on the nose. This arrangement had at least two advantages: for a given propeller diameter, the height of the fuselage above the water was reduced, shortening the length and weight of the float struts; the underside of the nose could be swept up to the base of the radiator for better aerodynamics.[1]
The two mahogany-planked floats were short, so that at rest the Fremantle sat on the water like a
interplane struts to provide lateral stability. Fuel was stored in tanks in the floats but there was another large and very conspicuous tank mounted centrally above the upper wing. This gravity-fed the engine and was replenished by pumping (hand- or wind-powered) fuel from the float tanks.[1]
Operational history
The Fremantle's first flight was on 28 November 1924, with
serial N173 and the civil registration, for the proposed around-the-world flight, G-EBLZ. No such attempt was made, as three Douglas aircraft had already performed this feat in September 1924, two months before the Fremantle flew. It flew with the Royal Aircraft Establishment on radio navigation development during 1926.[1]
