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Страна: США

Год: 1917

P.Bowers Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947 (Putnam)

H-16 (Model 6C) - The H-16 was the final model in the Curtiss H-boat line and was built in greater quantities than any or the other twin-engined Curtiss flying-boats.
   It was a logical development of the H-12 and was originally intended to use the 200 hp Curtiss V-X-X engine. However, the Liberty became available before the first H-16 was completed so all 124 H-16 deliveries to the US Navy were made with the 360 hp low-compression Liberty. These were replaced by 400 hp Liberty 12As in postwar years. The sixty British versions were shipped without engines and were fitted with 345 hp Rolls-Royce Eagles on arrival in the United Kingdom.
   In addition to 184 built by Curtiss, 150 H-16s were built at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia. Originally, the Navy-built models were to be identified as Navy Model C, but all were operated as H-16s. The first Curtiss-built H-16 was launched on 22 June, 1918, while the first Navy-built model had come out of the factory on 27 March. H-16s were shipped overseas to US bases in Britain in 1918; H-16s remained in postwar service with the F-5Ls until May 1930. Prices for Navy-built H-16s ranged from $55,547 less engines for the first example down to $21,680 apiece for the last thirty.
   Because of their great similarity, identification problems between the H-16 and the F-5L were inevitable. The distinctive features of the H-16 were originally the unbalanced ailerons with significant sweep back toward the tips as on the America and H-12, and the enclosed pilots' cockpit. The rudder was unbalanced, but could not be distinguished from early F-5L outlines because the balance area of the F-5L rudder was below the horizontal tail at that time. In postwar years, some H-16s were fitted with F-5L ailerons, had the pilots' enclosure removed, and were given added balanced area to the top or the rudder, further complicating the identity problem.
   US Navy serial numbers: (Curtiss) A784/799 (16), A818/867 (50), A1030/1048 (19), A4039/4078 (40). (NAF) A1049/1098 (50), A3459/3558 (100).
   RAF serial numbers: N4890/4949 (60) (4950/4999 cancelled).

H-16-1 - One H-16 had its engines turned around and was completed as a pusher. No advantage accrued; the adaptation proved to be excessively tail-heavy.

H-16-2 - A second pusher H-16 (A839) was produced by Curtiss with more consideration for the change of balance. Wings of slightly increased span were swept back 5 1/2 degrees. Straight-chord ailerons used with F-5L-type horn balance brought the revised span to 109 ft 7 in (33,27 m). The increased wing area required additional rudder area in the form of two auxiliary rudders mounted on the tailplane.

H-16
   Patrol-bomber flying-boat. Four crew.
   Two 400 hp Liberty 12A.
   Span 95 ft 0 3/4 in (28,97 m); length 46 ft 1 1/2 in (14,05 m); height 17 ft 8t in (5,4 m); wing area 1.164 sq ft (108,13 sq m).
   Empty weight 7,400 lb (3.356,58 kg); gross weight 10,900 lb (4.944,15 kg).
   Maximum speed 95 mph (152,88 km/h); climb 4,700 ft (1,432 m) in 10 min; service ceiling 9,950 ft (3.03) m): range 378 miles (608 km).
   Armament 5-6 flexible 0.30-in Lewis machine-guns, four 230 lb (104 kg) bombs.


Model F-5L

   Although it clearly showed its ancestry in earlier Curtiss twin-engined flying-boats, the F-5L did not carry a Curtiss designation. Actually, it was not even a Curtiss design; it was one of several established European models chosen for production in the United States in 1917.
   The F-5L evolved from the original America of 1914 after Lt Porte, one of its designers, returned to England after the war began. For the Royal Naval Air Service he developed improved versions of the America, the several H-boats called Small Americas, and the H-12 Large America that Curtiss supplied to the RNAS. The first of the production British-built developments was the F.2, the F standing for the government aircraft plant at Felixstowe.
   The wings, empennage, and powerplant arrangement of the British F-boats were essentially Curtiss; Porte's principal contribution to the design was an improved hull. Porte's F.5 model was a parallel design to Curtiss's H-16. While the British F.5s used 345 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle engines, the American versions, redesigned to American standards by the US Navy, were built with Liberties, hence the letter L in the designation. The principal recognition points between the F-5L and the improved Liberty-engined H-16 was the horn-balanced parallel-chord aileron and balanced rudder of the former, and its noticeably different hull lines and open cockpits instead of the enclosed cabin of the H-16. Although the F-5L design belonged to the US Government, its well-known Curtiss ancestry, plus the fact that some were built by Curtiss, has caused it to be widely regarded as a Curtiss. Curtiss built sixty F-5Ls, Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd built thirty, and the US Naval Aircraft Factory built 138. After the war, redesigned vertical tail surfaces were introduced by the Navy on the two of the last three Navy-built F-5Ls which were redesignated F-6. These new tails were then retrofitted to all F-5Ls in service.
   When the Navy adopted an aircraft designation system in 1922, aircraft already in service retained their original designations but the F-5Ls unofficially became PN-5 (P for Patrol, N for Navy, regardless of actual manufacturer). Two F-5L hulls were fitted with entirely new wings and 525 hp geared Wright T-2 engines in 1923 and became PN-7s. Duplicate models with the hull built of metal instead of wood were PN-8s. Further Navy-designed variants continued up to PN-12, with production versions of the PN-12 being built by Martin as PM-1 and -2, Douglas as PO-1, Keystone as PK-1, and Hall as PH-1, -2, and -3 in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Halls served into 1943 to carry the direct descendants of the America through two World Wars.
   Early in 1919 F-5L A3864 was modified by the Navy to a tandem-engine design to test the concept of one tractor and one pusher engine in a single nacelle for possible modification of the existing NC-1 and NC-2 three-engined flying-boats. This variant survived to March 1925.
   A number of surplus F-5Ls were converted to 16/20-passenger transports by several overwater airlines in the 1920-24 era. Postwar price direct from the Navy was $12,400 while new prices for Navy-built F-5Ls ranged from $56,099 less engines for the first to $20,495 for the last.

F-5L
   Patrol flying-boat. Four crew.
   Two 400 hp Liberty 12A.
   Span 103 ft 9 1/3 in (31,62 m); length 49 ft 3 3/4 in (15,03 m); height 18 ft 9 1/4 in (5,72 m); wing area 1,397 sq ft (129,78 sq m).
   Empty weight 8,720 lb (3.955,3 kg); gross weight 13,600 lb (6.168,85 kg).
   Maximum speed 90 mph (144,83 km/h); climb to 2,200 ft (670 m) 10 min; service ceiling 5,500 ft (1,676 m); range 830 miles (1,335 km).
   Armament - 6-8 flexible 30-in machine-guns, four 230 Ib (104 kg) bombs.
   Serial numbers: Canadian Aeroplanes - A3333/3362 (30); Naval Aircraft Factory A3559/4035, 4038 (343 of 480 cancelled); Curtiss - A4281/4340 (60); Naval Aircraft Factory F-6L - A4036,4037.

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Описание:

  • P.Bowers Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947 (Putnam)
  • G.Swanborough, P.Bowers United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911 (Putnam)
  • J.Bruce British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 (Putnam)
  • O.Thetford British Naval Aircraft since 1912 (Putnam)
  • K.Molson, H.Taylor Canadian Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam)
  • Jane's All The World Aircraft 1919
  • C.Owers The Fighting America Flying Boats of WWI Vol.1 (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 22)
  • C.Owers The Fighting America Flying Boats of WWI Vol.2 (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 23)
  • Журнал Flight