А.Шепс Самолеты Первой мировой войны. Страны Антанты

Де Хевилленд D.H.5 1916 г.

   Появление этой машины было вызвано всевозрастающей потребностью фронта в скоростных маневренных машинах, вооруженных синхронным пулеметом. Машины с ферменным фюзеляжем и толкающим винтом типа Виккерс F.B.5 и Де Хевилленд D.H.2 уступали по своим летно-техническим данным новым германским истребителям "Альбатрос" D.I и "Фоккер" Е.IV. Англичане были вынуждены покупать французские машины "Ньюпор-11", а позднее "Ньюпор-17" и "SPAD VII".
   Фирма "AVCO" ("Де Хевилленд Лимитед") начала в 1916 году проектирование такого самолета, вооруженного одним 7,69-мм пулеметом "Виккерс" с синхронизатором. Для обеспечения обзора пилоту в передней полусфере машина имела оригинальную схему. Пилот располагался сразу за двигателем, а верхнее крыло бипланной коробки имело обратный вынос и располагалось за кабиной пилота. Фюзеляж имел деревянную конструкцию, обтягивался полотном и покрывался авиационным лаком. Капот двигателя и его рама имели металлическую конструкцию.
   В серийных машинах передняя часть фюзеляжа иногда имела фанерную обшивку. Топливный бак емкостью 95,5 л располагался в фюзеляже за кабиной пилота, а расходный бак емкостью 22,7 л - на верхнем правом крыле.
   Крылья бипланной коробки двухлонжеронные, цельнодеревянной конструкции, обтягивались полотном и оборудовались элеронами. Стойки одностоечной коробки - из стальных труб в деревянных обтекателях. Оперение обычной конструкции, обтянутое полотном. Стабилизатор, киль и фюзеляж соединялись подкосами и растяжками. Управление тросовое, от ручки управления и педалей.
   Шасси жесткое, из металлических профилированных труб со сплошной осью. Колеса с пневматикой имели резиновую шнуровую амортизацию. На конце фюзеляжа под оперением устанавливался костыль. На левой стойке стоял насос для топливного бака, работавший от вертушки. На машинах устанавливался двигатель "Рон-90" мощностью 110 л. с., 9-цилиндровый, воздушного охлаждения, ротативный, звездообразный, с двухлопастным деревянным винтом "Ланг 1708". На отдельных машинах устанавливались двигатели "Гном Моносупап" (100 л. с.) или "Клерже-90" (110 л. с.). Вооружение самолета состояло из 7,69-мм пулемета "Виккерс" с комплектом в 500 патронов и четырех 11,5-кг бомб "Купер", подвешивавшихся под фюзеляжем. На некоторых машинах ставился телескопический прицел "Алдис".
   Первые машины поступили летом 1917 года в 64-й эскадрон RFC и приняли боевое крещение в сражении у Кэмбре. Но машина эта прославилась не столько своими победами над самолетами противника, сколько боевыми действиями по наземным целям. Они поддерживали атаки британских танков, нанося воздушные удары по батареям противника, ведущим огонь по танкам. Не успев вступить в строй, машина уже устарела. У противника появились новые истребители - "Альбатрос" D V, "Фоккер" Dr I и т. д., с которыми DH-5 уже не могли соперничать. К тому же, новые истребители Сопвич "Кэмл" и RAF S.Е.5 начали в большом количестве поступать в эскадроны RFC и RNAS и могли на равных вести бой с германскими аппаратами. Оставшиеся D.Н.5 в конце 1917 года были переданы учебным эскадрильям на территории Британии. Всего было построено 550 экземпляров D.Н.5, но в боевые подразделения попали только 483 машины, остальные остались в Англии в учебных подразделениях.

A.Jackson De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam)

De Havilland D.H.5

   Continued use of the D.H.2 and other pusher scouts by the R.F.C. in 1916 was due mainly to the lack of a suitable British interruptor gear to enable the guns to fire forward through the airscrew. In that year however, Constantinesco perfected such a mechanism and Capt. Geoffrey de Havilland was at last able to produce a replacement aircraft known as the D.H.5 which combined the enhanced performance of the tractor biplane with the pusher's ability to fire forward. He also sought to retain the pusher pilot's magnificent all round view by rigging the D.H.5 with 27 inches of backward stagger to bring the pilot's cockpit in front of the leading edge of the upper mainplane. The fuselage of the prototype, A5172, was a wire braced, wooden box girder, strengthened with plywood at the forward end. It had rounded top decking and flat sides carrying short fairings behind the familiar circular cowling of the 110 h.p. Le Rhone rotary. The main fuel tank was behind the pilot's seat and surmounted by the oil tank but there was also an auxiliary gravity tank fitted on top of the starboard mainplane. Mainplanes were of the usual two spar type, with spindled spars and the small horn balanced rudder was of typical de Havilland outline. Flight trials showed the rudder to be ineffective during take off and a slightly larger one of similar shape was then fitted. Armament consisted of a single Vickers gun on top of the front fuselage, conveniently placed where the pilot could clear any stoppages.
   Some 550 D.H.5s were built, 200 by the Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and the remainder by three main sub-contractors, but only 483 went into service with the Royal Flying Corps. A single aircraft, B7775, was also built by No. 1 (Southern) Aeroplane Repair Depot. Production aircraft differed from the prototype by virtue of their unbalanced rudders, and their fuselages were faired to a circular section behind the engine and tapered to an octagonal section towards the tail. One was experimentally fitted with a 110 h.p. Clerget rotary and another, A9186, was fitted with a Vickers gun firing forwards and upwards at 45 degrees. Service trials were conducted in France at the end of 1916 and Nos. 24 and 32 Squadrons, which had taken the first D.H.2s to France some two years earlier, were issued with the first production versions in May 1917. Several other squadrons were re-equipped during the ensuing six months.
   The D.H.5 was immensely strong, fully aerobatic, and a pleasant aeroplane to fly but a number of training accidents led to a widespread and unfounded belief that its unorthodox layout imparted a high stalling speed and made recovery from a spin difficult. In squadron service, flown by experienced pilots, it proved quite docile but at heights above 10,000 ft. was easily outflown by contemporary fighters such as the Sopwith Pup. German combat reports claimed the shooting down of several D.H.5s including A9201, A9363 and A9435, some by Manfred von Richtofen on November 23, 1917 and the rest by other pilots a week later. The D.H.5 was consequently relegated to ground attack duties and in the Battle of Ypres in August 1917, enemy trenches and machine gun posts received close attention from D.H.5s of No. 41 Squadron. In November 1917 those of No. 64 and 68 Squadrons carried out low level formation attacks during the Battle of Cambrai, each aircraft carrying four 25 lb. Cooper bombs. As in the case of the D.H.4, many aircraft were provided by public subscription and received individual names such as A9242 "Australia No. 15, N.S.W. No. 14, The Women's Battleplane", A9357 "Tacati", A9414 "Dungarpur", A9415 "Australia No. 8, N.S.W. No. 7, Government", A9432 "Australia No. 16, N.S.W. No. 15, Government", A9513 "Benin", and B371 "Solanki".
   Darracq-built D.H.5 A9403 was tested at Farnborough in September 1917 with plywood covered fuselage and Lott detachable petrol tank but the project was brought to an end by poor engine performance.

SPECIFICATION AND DATA
   Manufacturers:
   The Aircraft Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.9
   The Darracq Motor Engineering Co. Ltd., Townmead Road, Fulham, L o n d o n , S.W.6
   March, Jones and Cribb, Leeds
   British Caudron Co. Ltd., Broadway, Cricklewood, London, N.W.2
   Power Plants:
   One 110 h.p. Le Rhone
   One 110 h.p. Clerget
   Dimensions:
   Span 25 ft. 8 in. Length 22 ft. 0 in.
   Height 9 ft. 1 1/2 in. Wing area 212.1 sq. ft.

Weights and Performances:
   Prototype Production A9403
Tare weight 1,006 lb. 1,010 lb. 985 lb.
All-up weight 1,486 lb. 1,492 lb. 1,430 lb.
Maximum speed 110 m.p.h. 109 m.p.h. 104 m.p.h.
Initial climb 1,000 ft./min. 1,200 ft./min. 1,200 ft./min.
Service ceiling 14,000 ft. 16,000 ft. -
Endurance 3 hours 2 3/4 hours -

Production:
Serial range Manufacturer Serial range Manufacturer
A9163 to A9361 Airco B331 to B380 British Caudron
A9363 to A9562 Darracq *B4901 to B5000 March, Jones and Cribb
Other single aircraft: A5172 (prototype), B7775
* Not all completed.

Service Use:
   (a) On the Western Front with Nos. 24, 32, 41, 64 and 68 Squadrons R.F.C.
   (b) With the Advanced Air Firing School at Lympne.
   (c) With Schools of Aerial Fighting at Freiston, Marske, Sedgeford and Turnberry.

P.Lewis The British Fighter since 1912 (Putnam)

An out-of-the-ordinary concept which did achieve fair success was Geoffrey de Havilland’s little D.H.5 single-seat biplane of 1916, unusual in that it incorporated back-stagger in pursuit of that much-sought-after feature of a fighter - a first class view for the pilot.
   Designed around the 110 h.p. le Rhone, the D.H.5 was in every other respect quite conventional in layout and construction. Unfortunately, performance at height was not a strong point with the type so, because of this fault, employment was found for it mainly in ground attack in which role the excellent forward view was a great asset.

F.Mason The British Fighter since 1912 (Putnam)

Airco D.H.5

   The first appearance in operational service of de Havilland’s D.H.5 as late as May 1917 was a curious anachronism that tended to emphasise the mediocrity of this, the only essay into tractor scout design by Airco. De Havilland’s preoccupation with the D.H.3 and D.H.4 bombers for much of 1916, and the survival of his D.H.2 in service throughout that year together served to sidetrack the designer away from fully exploiting the arrival of the first British gun interrupter equipment until the summer. Even so, the configuration of the D.H.5 was unorthodox owing to de Havilland’s determination to perpetuate the excellent field of vision for the pilot that had been a feature of the D.H.2 pusher.
   To achieve this the D.H.5 was rigged with a pronounced backward stagger of 27 inches on the wings, enabling the pilot’s cockpit to be located directly below the leading edge of the upper wing. Unfortunately this peculiar feature led to some unsavoury handling characteristics, particularly at low airspeeds. Powered by a 110hp Le Rhone rotary, the aircraft first appeared in prototype form as A5172 in the early autumn of 1916, the fuselage in effect being a wooden box girder with flat sides and with rounded top decking formed by frames and stringers; both wings and fuselage were internally cross-braced with wire stays. The main fuel tank was located immediately behind the pilot, with a small gravity tank above the upper wing. Although the prototype flew with a small horn-balanced rudder (of a shape characterised in de Havilland’s designs for the next twenty years), production aircraft possessed slightly larger, but unbalanced rudders; these aircraft also differed from the prototype in having the fuselage faired to octagonal cross-section.
   At least 550 D.H.5s were built by Airco and three sub-contractors, and the first entered operational service with No. 24 Squadron in May 1917, straightway attracting criticism on account of their dismal performance at altitude, being inferior to the new two-seat Bristol F.2B Fighter and the nine-month-old Sopwith Pup. It was also discovered that elevator control rapidly diminished as speeds approached the stall.
   Accordingly the D.H.5 came to be employed increasingly as a ground-strafing fighter and, despite its armament of only one Vickers machine gun, proved to be well suited to this hazardous role - largely on account of the pilot’s excellent field of vision. Aircraft of No 41 Squadron were used to good effect during the Battle of Ypres in August, and for the Battle of Cambrai in November D.H.5s of Nos 64 and 68 Squadrons were also equipped to carry up to four 20lb Cooper bombs.
   Cambrai was effectively the D.H.5’s swansong and, during the next three months, all were replaced by S.E.5As in operational service. Nor did they survive long among the training units.
  

   Type: Single-engine, single-seat tractor biplane fighting scout; also ground attack fighter.
   Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co Ltd, Hendon, London; Darracq Motor Engineering Co Ltd, Fulham, London; British Caudron Co Ltd, Cricklewood, London; March, Jones & Cribb Ltd., Leeds.
   Powerplant: One 110hp Le Rhone nine-cylinder air-cooled rotary engine; some aircraft with one 110hp Clerget air-cooled rotary engine.
   Structure: Fabric-covered all-wood box girder fuselage faired to octagonal section; single-bay two-spar wings rigged with 27 inches of backward stagger.
   Dimensions: Span, 25ft 8in; length, 22ft 0in; height, 9ft 1 1/2 in; wing area, 212 sq ft.
   Weights: Tare, 1,010lb; all-up, 1,492lb.
   Performance: Max speed, 109 mph at sea level; climb to 10,000ft, 12 min 25 sec; service ceiling, 16,000ft; endurance, 2 3/4 hr.
   Armament: One 0.303in Vickers machine gun with Constantinesco CC interrupter gear on top of nose, offset to port; provision later made to carry up to four 20lb Cooper bombs.
   Prototype: One, A5172 (first flown by Geoffrey de Havilland in the autumn of 1915).
   Production: Approx. 550 aircraft from A9163-A9361 (Airco); A9363-A9562 (Darracq); B331-B380 (British Caudron); and B4901-B5000 (Marsh, Jones & Cribb); one aircraft, B7775, rebuilt by No. 1 (Southern) Aeroplane Repair Depot.
   Summary of Service: Served with Nos. 24, 32, 41, 64 and 68 (Australian) Squadrons; also with Schools of Aerial Fighting.

W.Green, G.Swanborough The Complete Book of Fighters

AIRCO D.H.5 UK

   Characterised by the pronounced negative stagger of its mainplanes, which resulted from an attempt on the part of Geoffrey de Havilland to combine the performance of the tractor biplane with the cockpit visibility of pusher aircraft, the D.H.5 was flown late in 1916, and entered service in May 1917. Immensely strong and possessing docile handling qualities, but easily outflown by contemporary fighters at altitudes above 10,000 ft (3 050 m), the D.H.5 was of wooden construction with plywood and fabric skinning. Power was provided by a 100 hp Le Rhone 9J nine-cylinder rotary and armament consisted of a single 0.303-in (7,7-mm) Vickers gun. Some 550 were built by the parent company; Darracq Motor Engineering; March, Jones and Cribb, and British Caudron, but the D.H.5 was deemed to be of limited success and had been withdrawn from operations by the end of January 1918.

Max speed, 102 mph (164 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3 050 m), 89 mph (143 km/h) at 15,000 ft (4 570 m).
Initial climb, 1,200 ft/min (6,1 m/sec).
Endurance, 2.75 hrs.
Empty weight, 1,101 lb (458 kg).
Loaded weight, 1,492 lb (677 kg).
Span, 25 ft 8in (7,82m).
Length, 22 ft 0in (6,71 m).
Height, 9ft 1 1/2 in (2,78 m).
Wing area, 212.1 sq ft (19,70 m2).

J.Bruce British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 (Putnam)

de Havilland 5

  THE D.H.5 was designed in 1916, when D.H.2 and F.E.8 pusher scouts were still in service. By that time, however, several British synchronising gears for machine-guns had become available to designers, and the way was clear for the combination of forward-firing armament and the superior performance of the tractor aeroplane. The last great asset of the pusher layout was the excellent forward view from the cockpit, and the peculiar design of the D.H.5 was the result of attempting to provide a tractor aeroplane with the uninterrupted forward outlook of the pusher.
  The manner of achievement of this compromise was unconventional. The mainplanes were rigged with a pronounced backwards stagger of 27 inches, and the pilot sat below and in front of the leading edge of the upper wing. Otherwise the machine’s structure was fairly typical of its time. The fuselage was basically a wooden box-girder with wire cross-bracing, and in the prototype D.H.5 was flat-sided with a rounded top-decking and fairings behind the engine cowling on either side. The same basic structure remained in production machines, but the fairing of the engine cowling was carried smoothly into the lines of the fuselage which, aft of the centre-section struts, was of octagonal cross-section. The fuselage was made in two parts joined at the line of the rear centre-section struts. The forward portion embodied plywood reinforcing-webs, and the rear portion was wire-braced throughout with plywood webs applied to the two rear bays. The main fuel tank was immediately behind the pilot, and the oil tank was directly above it. There was an external gravity fuel tank of 5-gallon capacity on the starboard upper wing. The undercarriage was a plain vee structure with two steel tube spreader bars and rubber cord shock absorbers.
  The mainplanes had two wooden spars, spindled out for lightness, connected by steel tube compression struts and cross-braced by steel wire. Single-bay interplane bracing was used, and both landing and flying wires were single. The tail-unit was of wooden construction, with steel tube forward edges on rudder and elevators. The rudder of the prototype was horn-balanced; but a plain rudder was fitted to production D.H.5s, and the size of the vertical tail surfaces was slightly increased. The standard engine was the 110 h.p. Le Rhone, but there are indications that an experimental installation of the 110 h.p. Clerget may have been made.
  The production machines began to appear in the spring of 1917, and the D.H.5s made their debut in France in May of that year. No. 24 Squadron received its first D.H.5 on May 1st, and No. 32 Squadron began to re-equip with the type at about the same time. Both units had been flying D.H.2s, and still had one or two of their faithful little pushers on June 7th. The F.E.8s of No. 41 Squadron were replaced by D.H.5s in July, 1917; No. 68 (Australian) Squadron went to France with D.H.5s on September 21st; and No. 64 followed, similarly equipped, on October 15th.
  In 1917, an aeroplane with the radical appearance of the D.H.5 could not fail to give rise to a host of extraordinary rumours. In the case of the D.H.5 these centred around its stalling characteristics. It must be admitted that the machine’s behaviour at the stall was not all it might have been, and much play was made with the theory that the lower wing blanketed the upper by virtue of their relative positions and thereby made recovery difficult. There was, however, no foundation for the rumour that the D.H.5 stalled at 80 m.p.h., viciously and without warning.
  One pilot has recorded that, when he was ordered to take a D.H.5 on a delivery flight, he was warned not to try to fly it at less than 90 m.p.h. Soon after take-off he found himself in difficulties owing to engine trouble, but he was relieved to find that the machine’s stalling characteristics had been greatly exaggerated, and that it was “a most comfortable and pleasant machine to fly, extremely sensitive to aileron control.” The D.H.5’s ailerons were large and of high aspect-ratio.
  The machine was highly manoeuvrable and capable of all the normal aerobatics, but it never achieved popularity. A number of accidents which occurred with D.H.5s at training aerodromes did little to make it more popular, and several of these were attributed to a tendency for elevator control to diminish dangerously near the stall.
  The first D.H.5 to go to France did so late in 1916, presumably for Service trials; but the type did not begin to be operational until the end of May, 1917. On the 25th of that month, Second Lieutenant S. Cockerell of No. 24 Squadron scored the first victory by a D.H.5 of his squadron. Combat successes did not come easily to the D.H.5, and in 205 combats between May 25th and December 25th, 1917, No. 24 Squadron could claim only three enemy machines as completely destroyed, whereas in the 774 combats fought by the squadron when equipped with the D.H.2 no fewer than forty-four enemy machines were destroyed.
  The D.H.5 was not at its best above 10,000 feet, and it was found that when, as in November, 1917, it was necessary to send out mixed formations, these had to be arranged in layers with the D.H.5s at the lowest level. A typical arrangement was for Sopwith Pups to be at 15,000 feet, Bristol Fighters at 12,000 feet, and D.H.5S at 9,000 feet; and the fact that the D.H.5 was inferior to the earlier Pup in ability to hold its height in combat did not improve its reputation with its pilots.
  It is as a ground-attack aeroplane that the D.H.5's best remembered. It was peculiarly well suited to this hazardous duty, for it was strong and from its cockpit the pilot had an unusually good forward view. The first organised use of D.H.5s for ground-strafing occurred during the Battles of Ypres. On August 16th, 1917, two D.H.5s were allotted to each divisional front for cooperation with the forward infantry. One week earlier, the D.H.5s of No. 41 Squadron had demonstrated the use of the type on ground-attack work when they greatly assisted an infantry assault opposite Boiry Notre Dame by attacking enemy trenches, machine-gun emplacements, and trench-mortar positions.
  The Battle of Cambrai again saw the D.H.5 used on ground-strafing duties. These were so much accepted as part of the D.H.s’s normal work that No. 64 Squadron had practised much low-flying before going overseas, and after the arrival of the unit in France low-flying in formation was practised. By this time (November, 1917), the D.H.5s were carrying four 25-lb bombs, and No. 64 Squadron and No. 68 (Australian) Squadron did a considerable amount of low-level bombing and strafing during the battle.
  Cambrai virtually marked the end of the D.H.5s operational career, for all the squadrons using the type were re-equipped with S.E.5a’s by the end of January, 1918. Its Service life was brief, even by the standards of the First World War, and it did not long survive at training aerodromes.
  The D.H.5 was used only on the Western Front. However, the experimental arrangement of the armament on A.9186 may have indicated an intention to use the machine on Home Defence duties: in this D.H.5 the Vickers gun was inclined upwards at about 45° and fired above the airscrew. In fact, no D.H.5s were issued to Home Defence units.
  The type was a bold experiment which deserved greater success than it achieved, but its unpopularity and brief career combined to make it one of the less well-known machines of its time.


SPECIFICATION
  Manufacturers: The Aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Hendon, London, N.W.
  Other Contractors: The Darracq Motor Engineering Co., Ltd., Townmead Road, Fulham, London, S.W.6.
March, Jones and Cribb, Leeds. British Cauldron Co., Ltd., Broadway, Cricklewood, London, N.W.2.
  Power: 110 h.p. Le Rhone; 110 h.p. Clerget.
  Dimensions: Span: 25 ft 8 in. Length: 22 ft. Height: 9 ft 1 1/2 in. Chord: 4 ft 6 in. Gap: 5 ft. Stagger (negative): 2 ft 3 in. Dihedral: 4° 30'. Incidence: 2° (2° 15' at port interplane struts). Span of tail: 8 ft 4 1/2 in. Wheel track: 5 ft. Tyres: 700 X 75 mm. Airscrew diameter: 8 ft 6 1/2 in.
  Areas: Wings: upper 111-2 sq ft, lower 100-9 sq ft. total 212-1 sq ft. Ailerons: each 11-6 sq ft, total 46-4 sq ft. Tailplane: 13-4 sq ft. Elevators: 12-2 sq ft. Fin: 2-2 sq ft. Rudder: 6-3 sqft.
  Tankage: Petrol: main (pressure) tank, 21 gallons; gravity tank, 5 gallons; total, 26 gallons. Oil: 4 gallons.
  Armament: One fixed forward-firing Vickers machine-gun mounted on top of fuselage to port of centre and synchronised by Constantinesco C.C. Gear. Four 25-lb bombs could be carried on racks under the fuselage.
  Service Use: Western Front: R.F.C. Squadrons Nos. 24, 32, 41, 64 and 68 (Australian). Training: Schools of Aerial Fighting at Turnberry, Marske, Sedgeford and Freiston. Advanced Air Firing School, Lympne. London Colney.
Production and Allocation: At least 550 D.H.5S were built. A total of 483 went into service with the R.F.C.: of that number, 341 went to the Expeditionary Force in France, and 142 went to Training Units. Presumably the remaining sixty-seven were in store.

Serial Numbers:
Serial Nos. Contractor
A.5172 Aircraft Manufacturing Co.
A.9163-A.9361 Aircraft Manufacturing Co.
A.9363-A.9562 Darracq Motor Engineering Co.
B.331-B.380 British Cauldron Co., Ltd.
B.4901-B.5000 March, Jones and Cribb
B.7775 No. 1 (Southern) Aeroplane Repair Depot

  Notes on Individual Machines: Used by No. 24 Squadron: A.9165, A.9166, A.9167, A.9175, A.9176, A.9178, A.9182,
9183, A.9220, A.9241, A.9272, A.9291, A.9329, A.9363, A.9435 (“E”), A.9448, A.9471, A.9496, A.9514,
334, B.341, B.348, B.349, B.359. Used by No. 32 Squadron: A.9179, A.9207, A.9300, A.9311, A.9315, A.9340 (“C”), A.9374, A.9404, A.9422, A.9431, A.9439, B.345, B.4914, B.4916, B.4924. Used by No. 41 Squadron: A.9168, A.9196, A.9208, A.9218, A.9225, A.9408, A.9410, A.9440, A.9444, B.340. Used by No. 64 Squadron: A.9458, A.9507 (“E”). Used by No. 68 (Australian) Squadron: A.9224, A.9226, A.9242, A.9245, A.9263, A.9265, A.9271, A.9273, A.9283, A.9284, A.9288, A.9459, A.9462, A.9464, A.9469, A.9473, B.377. Other machines: A.9186: experimental armament - Vickers gun inclined upwards at 45°. A.9242: “Australia No. 15, N.S.W. No. 14, The Women’s Battleplane”. A.9357: “Tacati”. A.9414: “Dungarpur”. A.9415: “Australia No. 8, N.S.W. No. 7, Government”. A.g432: “Australia No. 16, N.S.W. No. 15, Government”. A.9513: “Benin”. B.371: “Solanki”.
Weights (lb) and Performance:
Prototype Production
No. of Trial Report M.76 M.117
Date of Trial Report December, 1916 July, 1917
Type of airscrew used on trial - L.P. 1708
Weight empty 1,006 1,010
Military load 80 80
Pilot 180 180
Fuel and oil 220 222
Weight loaded 1,486 1,492
Maximum speed (m.p.h.) at
3,020 ft 110 -
4,800 ft 108 -
6,600 ft 104 -
8,660 ft 102 -
10,000 ft - 102
10,250 ft 100 -
12,350 ft 98 -
13,000 ft - 94-5
14,100 ft 95 -
15,000 ft - 89
m. s. m. s.
Climb to
1,000 ft 1 00 0 50
2,000 ft 2 00 - -
3,000 ft 3 06 - -
4,000 ft 4 18 - -
5,000 ft 5 42 - -
6,000 ft 7 24 - -
6,500 ft 8 24 6 55
7,000 ft 9 24 - -
8,000 ft 11 36 - -
9,000 ft 14 00 - -
10,000 ft 16 18 12 25
11,000 ft 18 48 - -
12,000 ft 22 00 16 40
13,000 ft 27 00 - -
14,000 ft 33 00 22 50
14,300 ft 36 00 - -
15,000 ft - - 27 30
Service ceiling (feet) 14,000 16,000
Endurance (hours) 3 2 3/4

Costs:
   Airframe without engine, instruments and gun £874 os.
   110 h.p. Le Rhone engine £771 10s.

H.King Armament of British Aircraft (Putnam)

D.H.5. Back stagger, and excellence of pilot-view in consequence, combined with uncommon diving ability to make for the D.H.5 (1916) a more lustrous reputation for ground attack than for prowess in air combat. The type was effective, however, for low and medium-level lighting and all in all can be regarded as the Westland Whirlwind of its day. Respecting armament, the type holds a special interest, not only because, in prototype form, it exemplified one of the rare free installations of a Vickers gun, but because the installation itself was remarkable. Mounted immediately in front of the pilot, the gun, which was synchronised to fire through the airscrew arc, could be elevated through an arc of about 60 degrees. The synchronising gear employed was possibly of the kind devised for movable guns by G. H. Challenger, though Airco also designed a synchronizing gear. Later a Vickers gun was fixed on another solitary specimen for upward-firing at an angle of some 45 degrees. The gun was offset to port and was braced to the fuselage at the muzzle end.
   The standard armament of the D.H.5 was a fixed Vickers gun firing along the line of flight, offset to port ahead of the cockpit. A Cox Type D loading handle was fitted and both ring-and-bead and Aldis sights were generally fitted. When the early A1 type of trigger motor, located at the back of the gun, was fitted, the hydraulic lead from the generator on the engine was led to the rear of the gun, but when an improved pattern of trigger motor (Type B) was fitted on top of the gun the lead was carried up from the fuselage across the gun on the port side, as shown in a photograph. Ammunition supply was 750 rounds, in a Prideaux disintegrating link belt.
   Further heightening the Whirlwind ground-attack analogy, the D.H.5 saw frequent action using bombs - four of 20 lb.

Журнал Flight

Flight, October 24, 1918.

THE D.H.5 PURSUIT BIPLANE

   THE D.H.5 pursuit biplane herewith described was built by the Darracq Motor Engineering Co., Ltd., London, and bears the identification mark A 9435. It is a tractor biplane, with a single pair of interplane struts on either side and with the wings set at a negative stagger of 0.695 m.
   Both wings have a span of 7.84 m. and a chord of 1.375 m . The upper wings are fixed to a centre section, while the lower are joined to wing roots at the height of the lower bottom longitudinals. There is no sweepback, but both wings have a dihedral of 172°; the angle of incidence of the upper wing is 2° amidwings and 2 1/2° at the tips, while that of the lower wing is 2 1/2° throughout.
   The wing spars are of spruce and of I-section. The ribs are spaced from 280 to 350 mm., and between each two ribs there are two false ribs, reaching from the leading edge to the front spar. The interplane and cabane struts are made solid of spruce, and the flying and landing stays are of streamlined wire.
   Ailerons are carried on both wings, hinged to the rear spar.

Side Elevation.
   The control leads, of streamlined wire, run outside the planes, below in front of the leading edge, and above, over the front spar.
   The body is of the ordinary four-longitudinal type braced by cross wiring, and is strengthened, in front, up to the pilot seat, and at the rear, underneath the tail plane, by a planking of 3 mm. plywood. Suitable formers give the body in front a neat circular cross section, the whole body being covered with canvas.
   The undercarriage is of the V-type, with solid, streamlined wooden struts, and a continuous axle which rests between two auxiliary axles. The spring range of the axle is not limited in any way.
   The tail plane is of one piece, and is mounted on the body at an angle of incidence of 1 °, without the customary incidence-change gear. The elevator is of the divided type, each portion having its own crank with single control leads.
   The power plant consists of a 110 h.p. rotary Le Rhone engine, which is known to have developed 130 h.p. in earlier tests. The main fuel tank contains 100 litres of gasoline, and the oil tank has a capacity of 21 litres; both are mounted behind the pilot. There is in addition an emergency gravity fuel tank of 26 litres capacity, which is mounted on the upper starboard wing. The engine is fed from the main tank by compressed air, generated by a small air pump, which is attached to the left forward undercarriage strut. The total fuel supply insures a flight endurance of about two hours.
   The following instruments are mounted in the pilot cockpit: To the right, two fuel supply pipes with stop cocks, and a change gear for the elevator control; on the instrument board, tachometer, speedometer, altimeter, spark switch, watch, and compass; to the left, fuel and oil throttles, and a hand pump for the air. Two machines of the same model, which were built by the Aircraft Manufacturing Company, Ltd., London, have the instruments disposed in a much handier manner, and re also fitted with an electric lighting system for night-flying.
   The armament of the D.H.5 consists of a Maxim machine gun, which is synchronised to fire through the airscrew and is mounted on the nose of the machine to the left of the pilot. The control is of the hydraulic type, and the release is effected by means of a Bowden cable. The cartridges are carried in a metallic belt, and the box into which it ruffs is fitted directly below the machine gun, behind the engine.
   The weight of the machine, empty, is 461 kg., and, fully loaded, is 694 kg. The wing area being 20.14 sq. m., and the horse-power being assumed 130, the wing loading appears to be 34.4 kg. per sq. m., and the power loading 5.33 kg. per horse-power.
   The great visual range of this machine is noteworthy, both forwards and upwards: this feature has been achieved by the negative stagger of the wings, as well as by placing the tanks behind the pilot seat. While this arrangement does not possess any aerodynamic drawbacks for longitudinal stability, it would seem as if the increase of the angle of incidence of the upper wing toward the tips should unfavourably influence transverse stability.


Flight, January 9, 1919.

"MILESTONES"

THE DE HAVILLAND, OR "AIRCO," MACHINES

The D.H. 5

The pusher scouts having become obsolete, partly on account of the relatively poor performance of this type of machine, and also by reason of the adoption of the synchronised machine-gun, Capt. de Havilland set to work to produce a tractor scout in which he aimed, not only at drawing full advantage of the better performance inherent to the type, but also at providing, to as great an extent as possible, the same good view in a forward and upward direction as that enjoyed in the pusher scout. The outcome of these efforts was the D.H. 5, in which the chief characteristic was the negative stagger. This feature lent a curious appearance to the machine, and when she first appeared there were those who were inclined to regard her as a freak. It was not very long, however, before flying tests demonstrated that her performance was very good for her power, and from the reports of pilots who had flown her it appeared that she was not unduly difficult to handle. That she had her own little idiosyncracies which had to be learned and humoured may be admitted, every machine has, but after pilots got into her ways she soon became popular, and during 1917 she was used in great numbers and with good success. Although fitted with a slightly more powerful engine than was the pusher scout - a 110 Le Rhone against a 100 Gnome monosoupape - it is interesting to compare the performance of the two types. The ground speed of D.H. 2 was about 93 m.p.h., while D.H. 5 does 105 m.p.h. at 6,500 ft. The climb to 10,000 ft. was accomplished by the pusher in 18min. 30 sec, while the tractor does it in 12 min. 4 sec. It would, therefore, appear that the advantage of the tractor is greater in the case of speed than as regards climb. In our issue of October 24th, 1918, we published a detailed illustrated description of the D.H. 5 which, in conjunction with the data of this article, forms a very complete exposition of the general construction of this machine. One of the features of the body design which is out of the usual run of bodies is the manner in which the rectangular section fuselage is faired. In section it is an irregular octagon, while in side view the corners of this octagonal section forms straight lines.