Felixstowe F.2
Felixstowe F.2 | |
---|---|
Felixstowe F.2A in flight. | |
Role | Military flying boat |
National origin | United Kingdom |
Manufacturer | May, Harden & May
|
Designer | John Cyril Porte |
First flight | July 1916 |
Introduction | 1917 |
Primary users | Royal Naval Air Service Royal Air Force United States Navy |
Number built | 175 |
Developed from | Curtiss H-12
|
Variants | Felixstowe F.3 Felixstowe F.5 Felixstowe F5L |
The Felixstowe F.2 was a 1917 British
Design and development
Before the war Porte had worked with American aircraft designer
The Curtiss H-4 was found to have a number of problems, being both underpowered and having a hull too weak for sustained operations and having poor handling characteristics when afloat or taking off.[3][4] One flying boat pilot, Major Theodore Douglas Hallam, wrote that they were "comic machines, weighing well under two tons; with two comic engines giving, when they functioned, 180 horsepower; and comic control, being nose heavy with engines on and tail heavy in a glide."[5]
To try to resolve the H-4's hydrodynamic issues, in 1915 Porte carried out a series of experiments on four H-4s fitted with a variety of modified hulls,
Porte then designed a similar hull, for the larger
In February 1917, the first prototype of the Felixstowe F.3 was flown. This was larger and heavier than the F.2, giving it greater range and heavier bomb load, but poorer agility. Approximately 100 Felixstowe F.3s were produced before the end of the war.
The Felixstowe F.5 was intended to combine the good qualities of the F.2 and F.3, with the prototype first flying in May 1918. The prototype showed superior qualities to its predecessors but the production version was modified to make extensive use of components from the F.3, in order to ease production, giving lower performance than either the F.2A or F.3.
Operational history
The Felixstowe F.2A was used as a patrol aircraft over the
The F.5 did not enter service until after the end of World War I, but replaced the earlier Felixstowe boats (together with Curtiss flying boats) to serve as the
Variants
- F.2A
- Based on the Curtiss H12 with a new hull. Powered by two 345 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines, with 4 to 7 machine guns and 460 lb of bombs.
- F.2B
- F.2A with an open cockpit.[12]
- F.2C
- Modified F.2A with a lighter hull. Two built.
Operators
- Chilean Air Force - received one F.2A in 1920. Still operational in 1924.[13]
- Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service - one in service (N4551), receiving serial L-2[citation needed]
Specifications (F.2A)
Data from British Naval Aircraft since 1912 [14]
General characteristics
- Crew: 4
- Length: 46 ft 3 in (14.1 m)
- Wingspan: 95 ft 7.5 in (29.15 m)
- Height: 17 ft 6 in (5.34 m)
- Wing area: 1,133 sq ft (105.3 m2)
- Empty weight: 7,549 lb (3,424 kg)
- Gross weight: 10,978 lb (4,980 kg)
- Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII V12 piston, 345 hp (257 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 95.5 mph (154 km/h, 83 kn) at 2,000 ft
- Endurance: 6 hours
- Service ceiling: 9,600 ft (2,926 m)
- Time to altitude: 3 min 50 s to 2,000 ft (610 m), 39 min 30 s to 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
- Wing loading: 9.69 lb/sq ft (47.4 kg/m2)
- Power/mass: 0.063 hp/lb (0.10 kW/kg)
Armament
- Guns: 4 × Lewis Guns, 1 in nose, 3 amidships
- Bombs: Up to 460 lb (210 kg) of bombs beneath wings
See also
Related development
- Felixstowe F.1
- Curtiss H-12
- Curtiss H-16
- Felixstowe F.3
- Felixstowe F.5
- Felixstowe F5L
Notes
- ^ Bruce Flight 2 December 1955, pp. 843–844.
- ^ a b Bruce Flight 2 December 1955, p.844.
- ^ London 2003, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Hallam 1919, pp. 21–22.
- ^ London 2003, p.18.
- ^ Bruce Flight 2 December 1955, pp. 845–846.
- ^ Rennie, Major John Douglas (1923). Pritchard, J. Laurence (ed.). "Some Notes on The Design, Construction and Operation of Flying Boats". The Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society. XXVII. University of Toronto: Royal Aeronautical Society: 136–137. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
- ^ London 2003, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Bruce Flight 2 December 1955, p. 846.
- ^ a b Bruce Flight 16 December 1955, p. 895.
- ^ Rivas 2019, p. 20
Bibliography
- Bruce, J.M. "The Felixstowe Flying-Boats: Historic Military Aircraft No. 11, Part 1." Flight, 2 December 1955, pp. 842–846.
- Bruce, J.M. "The Felixstowe Flying-Boats: Historic Military Aircraft No. 11, Part 2." Flight, 16 December 1955, pp. 895–898.
- Bruce, J.M. "The Felixstowe Flying-Boats: Historic Military Aircraft No. 11, Part 3." Flight, 23 December 1955, pp. 929–932.
- Bruce, J.M. British Aeroplanes 1914-18. London: Putnam, 1957.
- Hallam, T.D. The Spider Web: The Romance of a Flying Boat War Flight. London: William Blackwood, 1919.
- London, Peter. British Flying Boats. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7509-2695-3.
- Rivas, Santiago. British Combat Aircraft in Latin America. Manchester, UK: Crécy Publishing, 2019. ISBN 978-1-90210-957-2.
- Thetford, Owen. British Naval Aircraft since 1912. London: Putnam, Fourth edition 1978. ISBN 0-370-30021-1.
External links
- Pigeons and Seaplanes: Film of carrier pigeons used to send messages from British seaplanes in the North Seaduring the First World War, including the Felixstowe F.2, c.1917.
- Felixstowe Flying-Boats