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Страна: Великобритания

Год: 1913

Single tractor engine, two-seat, two-bay biplane

Варианты

C.Barnes Bristol Aircraft since 1910 (Putnam)

The Admiralty's order for a landplane was fulfilled by converting monoplane No. 144 to a T.B.8. This was first flown as a biplane on 12 August 1913 and was delivered to Eastchurch as number 43 on 7 October 1913. After a crash it was rebuilt with a two-wheeled Vee landing gear as No. 225, and redelivered to the R.N.A.S. in this form in April 1914, still with its original number 43.
   The remarkable success of the T.B.8 quickly eclipsed the remaining Coanda monoplanes, and ten of the latter delivered earlier in the year to Italy, Germany and Rumania were brought back at the end of 1913 for conversion to biplanes. One of them was the special Olympia show model, No. 153, which underwent a record number of metamorphoses. It had gone to Halberstadt, together with Nos. 150 and 151, in April and in August Nos. 151 and 153 were returned to Filton and converted to biplanes. No. 151, equipped with a simple form of bomb rack, was sent to Rumania in October, but No. 153 was taken to Spain by Sippe, where it beat all comers in trials at Cuatros Vientos, and in particular took-off from the ploughed field, always a favourite test with the Spaniards, in 60 yd. from axle-deep mud. Even these severe conditions had no effect on No. 153, which returned to Filton intact in February 1914 and was overhauled for another lease of life as No. 227. Its later career included tests with an 80 h.p. Clerget rotary engine at the Royal Aircraft Factory; modification to take a 100 h.p. Monosoupape Gnome engine, in which form it was sent to compete at Vienna in June 1914; finally it was purchased by the Admiralty (917) in October 1914 and ended its days at Eastchurch as a trainer.
   The first two T.B.8's built from scratch as biplanes were Nos. 197 and 198, completed in November 1913. No. 198 was specially finished for the Paris Salon de l'Aeronautique and was the sole British exhibit there. It had a number of improvements over the earlier monoplane conversions, notably a simpler landing gear with shorter skids and a separate tail skid, also a new aerofoil section characterised by a flattening of the upper surface between the spars. This had been developed by Coanda, who had also designed a new type of airscrew with tapered wide-chord blades, a complete change from the square-tipped Lang type. At one stage it was proposed to fit double rudders to both the B.R.7 and the T.B.8, as on the German Daimler-engined biplane, but this modification was never carried out in practice. No. 198 had single controls in the aft cockpit only, the forward cockpit being equipped with a prismatic bomb-sight and a bomb release trigger which operated a revolving carrier for 12 small bombs mounted below the cockpit floor. Each bomb weighed 10 lb. and contained 2 lb. of T.N.T.; the trigger released the lowest bomb and then revolved the carrier to bring the next into the release position; it also fused the bombs, which had to fall about 100 ft. before a wind-mill arming vane rendered them live.
   The French military authorities were attracted by the workmanlike appearance of No. 198 and would have bought it outright, but their terms of reference limited them to the purchase of French-built aircraft. They urged the Company to arrange for Bristol aeroplanes to be built in France, and a few weeks later a licence was granted to the Societe Anonyme des Ateliers d'Aviation Louis Breguet, with factories at Velizy near Paris and at Douai.
   After returning from the Paris Salon on 9 January 1914, No. 198 was equipped with a two-wheeled undercarriage and purchased by the Admiralty as number 153, being delivered to Eastchurch on 19 March 1914. Meanwhile No. 197, which had been tested with an 80 h.p. Gnome engine at Larkhill in January and February, was fitted with an 80 h.p. Le Rhone engine and sent to the Breguet works at Velizy on 4 March for demonstration to the French army. Flown by Sidney Sippe, it climbed to 3,000 ft. in 7t min. with a useful load of 715 lb. and attained 74 m.p.h. It was damaged at the end of the demonstration, but repaired at Filton in July 1914 and eventually delivered to the Admiralty as number 916 on 17 September 1914. Satisfied with the T.B.8's performance, the French government approved it for manufacture by Breguet, and the Company supplied their licensee with the same range of data and manufacturing aids as in the case of Caproni & Faccanoni, including a complete sample skeleton airframe, No. 228, delivered to Douai in May 1914. In this month also was delivered the only T.B.8 ever sold to a private owner; this was No. 143, originally built in January 1913 as a Coanda monoplane, converted to a biplane in October 1913, modified to increase the wing stagger in January 1914, overhauled and equipped with an 80 h.p. Clerget rotary engine in May 1914 and finally purchased by Mr. R. P. Creagh, a graduate of the Brooklands school, on 3 July 1914 for ?700. Mr. Creagh hoped to convert it to a seaplane like No. 205, but was frustrated by the outbreak of war in August.
   The Admiralty also invited tenders for two larger Bristol seaplanes, but specified the use of the 200 h.p. Canton-Dnne radial engine, and R.N.A.S. numbers 147 and 148 were reserved for them. Several layouts were investigated, but neither a price nor a satisfactory design could be agreed and in June 1914 the Company asked to be allowed to decline the order. A feature of this design, carried over from the earlier B.C.2 project, was a clutch-controlled two-speed airscrew reduction gear to permit maximum engine revolutions for take-off and direct drive for cruising.
   As already stated, the six Coanda monoplanes originally built for Rumania early in 1913 were all delivered later that year as T.B.8 conversions. They comprised Nos. 118, 147, 148, 149, 151 and 152, and Prince Cantacuzene was sufficiently satisfied with their performance to place an order for a much improved derivative, for which he provided a new 75 h.p. Monosoupape Gnome engine. This biplane, No. 223, designated G.B.75, was a complete redesign with only a superficial resemblance to the T.B.8, incorporating many features due to Frank Barnwell. The fuselage was faired above and below and the streamline shape was continued forward by a large hemispherical spinner and cowl enclosing the engine, to which cooling air was admitted by louvers in the spinner. Warping wings were fitted and the tail unit had a fixed vertical fin. Equipment included an electric intercommunication system for the crew. The G.B.75 was first flown at Larkhill on 7 April 1914, but the spinner gave trouble and was removed, and the wings were rigged with increased stagger to compensate for nose-heaviness. It was flown again on 28 April and offered for delivery to Bucharest on 15 June, but never dispatched, the order being cancelled a fortnight later. The reason for this is obscure, but may be related to a single general arrangement drawing which has survived of a biplane with a single cockpit containing two staggered seats, and is dated 27 May 1914. There are also records of requests by Prince Cantacuzene to deliver a new biplane, which could not be done during the war, and it is probable that this is a reference to Type RB, which may have been substituted for the G.B.75. At all events, Type RB was never built, and the G.B.75 was delivered with a standard 80 h.p. Gnome to the R.F.C. at Farnborough on 2 August 1914, receiving number 610.
   After the outbreak of war, 12 improved T.B.8's, Nos. 331-342, were built, with ailerons instead of warp control; initially they were intended for the R.F.C., but were all diverted in October 1914 to the RN.A.S. at Gosport and Eastchurch, receiving numbers 1216-1227. Three T.B.8's went to France with the Eastchurch Squadron and one bombed German batteries at Middelkerke on 25 November 1914. When No.1 Squadron RN.A.S. went to France from Gosport on 26 February 1915, one T.B.8 was still on its strength; but in general, apart from a period of coastal patrol duty by four T.B.8's of No. 1 Squadron detached from Gosport and based on Newcastle-on-Tyne in the winter of 1914-15, the type's war service was confined to training duties. It proved sufficiently valuable in this role for 24 more to be ordered by the Admiralty in August 1915. These were built at Brislington and delivered between 24 September 1915 and 24 February 1916. The first eight, Nos. 870-877 (8442-8449), were fitted with 50 h.p. Gnomes and went to Chingford and Redcar. The next 13, Nos. 878-890 (8450-8453 and 8562-8570), had 60 h.p. Le Rhones, and were issued to Barrow-in-Furness, Killingholme and Kingsnorth as well as Chingford and Redcar. The last three, Nos. 891-893 (8571-3), were delivered as airframes to the White City stores depot.

SPECIFICATIONS AND DATA
   Type: Coanda Two-Seat Biplanes
   Manufacturers:
   The British & Colonial Aeroplane Co. Ltd., Filton and Brislington, Bristol
   Deutsche Bristol-Werke, Halberstadt, Germany
   Societe Anonyme des Ateliers d'Aviation Louis Breguet, Velizy and Douai, France

Model T.B.8 G.B.75
Power Plant 80 hp Gnome 75 hp
   80 hp Le Rhone Mono-
   100 hp Mono-
   Gnome
   50 hp Gnome
   60 hp Le Rhone
Span 37 ft 8 in 37 ft 8 in
Length 29 ft 3 in
Wing Area 450 sq ft 420 sq ft
Empty Weight 970 lb 970 lb
All-up Weight 1665 lb 1650 lb
Speed 65-75 mph 80 mph
Duration 5 hours 5 hours
Accommodation 2 2
Production 53 1
Sequence Nos. 118, 121, 143 223
   144, 147-153
   196-198,218
   225, 227, 228
   331-342
   870-893

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Описание:

  • C.Barnes Bristol Aircraft since 1910 (Putnam)
  • F.Manson British Bomber Since 1914 (Putnam)
  • P.Lewis British Bomber since 1914 (Putnam)
  • M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
  • J.Bruce British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 (Putnam)
  • P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
  • O.Thetford British Naval Aircraft since 1912 (Putnam)
  • Jane's All The World Aircraft 1913
  • Журнал Flight