M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)

F.Mason The British Fighter since 1912 (Putnam)

Martinsyde S.1

   The association that grew up between H P Martin and George Handasyde before the First World War resulted in the establishment of Martinsyde Ltd at Brooklands, a company which achieved distinction with a series of attractive monoplanes. With the appearance of the outstanding Sopwith Tabloid at Brooklands, however, it was not long before Martinsyde joined the growing number of companies determined to compete for military orders for small tractor biplane scouts.
   Superficially resembling the Tabloid, particularly in the engine cowling, the first single-seat scout was the Martinsyde S.1, powered by an 80hp Gnome; it differed, however, in the undercarriage design which incorporated two mainwheels and a pair of skids in front of which were added two smaller, balancing wheels. Later this unwieldy arrangement was discarded in favour of conventional V-struts on each side and plain twin-wheel undercarriage, also dispensing with the skids.
   On account of its ability to mount a Lewis gun on the upper wing from the outset, the S.1 quickly earned production orders, and the first of about sixty Service aircraft appeared towards the end of 1914, all being produced by the parent company. Fewer than a dozen joined RFC squadrons on the Western Front, and one of these gave rise to a famous incident. Capt Louis Strange was flying an S.1 of No 6 Squadron and, finding that the ammunition drum on the Lewis gun had jammed, stood up in his cockpit to gain a firmer grip on the drum so to release it - holding the control column between his knees. The aircraft began to climb steeply, stalled and entered an inverted spin and, not having the benefit of seat straps, Strange was thrown out of the cockpit, still retaining his hold on the drum. Fortunately this, which only moments earlier he had been trying to free, remained jammed, and after losing about 5,000 feet the aircraft righted itself and the pilot managed to struggle back into his cockpit.
   Four S.1s were shipped to the Middle East Brigade in 1915, equipping one Flight of No 30 Squadron in Mesopotamia. More than forty were supplied to training units in Britain that year and the S.1 was withdrawn from operational use in France during the summer of 1915, but a small number was shipped out to Mudros in the Aegean in 1918 to equip No 144 Squadron. Several other examples were tested at the Royal Aircraft Factory with early front gun interrupter equipment.

   Type: Single-engine, single-seat, single-bay tractor biplane scout.
   Manufacturer: Martinsyde Ltd., Brooklands, Surrey.
   Powerplant: One 80hp Gnome engine driving two-blade propeller.
   Structure: All-wood with fabric covering; ailerons on upper and lower wings.
   Dimensions: Span, 27ft 8in; length, 21ft 0in; wing area, 208 sq ft.
   Performance: Max speed, 87 mph.
   Armament: One 0.303in Lewis machine gun on upper wing, firing above propeller.
   Prototype and Production: One prototype, believed to be No 710. 61 production examples: Nos 724, 741, 743, 748-749, 2448- 2455, 2820-2831, 4229-4252 and 5442-5453 (some of these may not have been completed).
   Summary of Service: S.ls served in small 4, 6, 9, 10, 14, 16, 23, 24, 30, 67 and 144 numbers on each of the following: Nos. 1, 2, Squadrons, RFC.

J.Bruce British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 (Putnam)

Martinsyde S.1

  BEFORE the outbreak of the first World War, Messrs Martin & Handasyde produced a series of monoplanes, of which the later machines were characterised by great beauty of line. By 1914, however, the Avro 504, Bristol Scout and Sopwith Tabloid had made a great impact on the aeronautical world, for they showed that a carefully designed biplane could out-perform contemporary monoplanes.
  The military value of such machines as the Bristol Scout and Sopwith Tabloid was realised in 1914, and the first Martinsyde tractor biplane was a small single-seater in the same general category as the Bristol and Sopwith. (It was not the first Martinsyde biplane, for earlier in 1914 a pusher biplane had been built, powered by a 65 h.p. Antoinette engine.)
  The Martinsyde Scout biplane bore the type number S.1, and was powered by an 80 h.p. Gnome engine. It bore a certain resemblance to the Sopwith Tabloid, largely because of the shape of its engine cowling. The fuselage had rather finer lines than that of the Tabloid, however, and terminated in a tail-unit of pleasing outline. The undercarriage was at first a very sturdy structure which had the form of the twin-skid layout then in favour, but a small wheel was fitted at the forward end of each skid. When on the ground the S.1 rested on the rearward extensions of the main skids, and a small bumping skid was fitted under the sternpost of the fuselage.
  Later Martinsyde S.1s had a plain vee undercarriage in place of the rather clumsy four-wheel affair, and a normal sprung tail-skid was fitted.
  The single-bay wings were conventional in every way, and ailerons were fitted to both upper and lower wings.
  The first production S.1s appeared late in 1914: by the end of that year eleven had been delivered to the R.F.C. Some joined the squadrons in France, but they were few in number and no squadron had more than one or two. On March 10th, 1915, No. 4 Squadron had one Martinsyde S.i and No. 5 Squadron had two; two months later, Squadrons Nos. 1, 5 and 6 had one each.
  The Martinsyde of No. 6 Squadron was flown by Captain L. A. Strange, and he has recorded that he found it to be “a very unstable machine both fore and aft, with not much aileron control”. He went on to say “Although a single-seater, it was hardly superior in speed and climbing power to the Avro which carried two men, but in my eyes all these defects were outweighed by the fact that it had a Lewis gun mounted on its top plane, which could be fired forwards and upwards.”
  That same Lewis gun nearly caused Strange’s death on May 10th, 1915. After emptying a drum of ammunition at an enemy two-seater, he found the drum had jammed. Strange raised himself in his seat and held the stick between his knees in order to have both hands free to work on the drum. He lost his grip on the stick with the Martinsyde in a steep climb; the machine went into an inverted spin and Strange was thrown out, hanging on to the wedged Lewis gun drum. Fortunately the drum did not come off, and he was able to right his aircraft and drop back into his seat after spinning down for more than 5,000 feet.
  In addition to its small-scale use on the Western Front, the Martinsyde S.1 also saw service in the Middle East. On August 26th, 1915, four S.1s arrived at Basra to form the equipment of a second flight of No. 30 Squadron. Their Gnome engines were quite unsuitable for work in the heat and dust of Mesopotamia, and constantly gave trouble.
  On September 7th, two Martinsydes, a Caudron and a Maurice Farman joined the concentration of the 6th Division at Ali Gharbi in preparation for the attack on Kut al Imara. The Farman was wrecked on landing, and one of the Martinsydes crashed a few days later. On the evening of September 16th Major H. L. Reilly, flying the second Martinsyde S.1, carried out a remarkably thorough and useful reconnaissance of the Turkish positions at Es Sinn. On his report, map and sketches Major-General Townshend based his Battle Instructions which resulted in the capture of Kut on September 29th, 1915.
  On September 23rd the two remaining Martinsydes had been sent to Ali Gharbi as reinforcements. By October 6th the three machines had moved to Aziziya, whence the first reconnaissance of Baghdad was made by Captain H. A. Petre. On November 21st Major Reilly’s Martinsyde was shot down and he was captured. By that date one of the others had met an unknown fate, and the last of the Mesopotamian Martinsyde S.is was lost next day after being hit by anti-aircraft fire.
  That marked the end of the S.1s operational career, for the type had been withdrawn from the Western Front in the summer of 1915. The surviving machines went to training units.


SPECIFICATION
  Manufacturers: Martinsyde, Ltd., Brooklands, Byfleet.
  Power: 80 h.p. Gnome.
  Dimensions: Span: 27 ft 8 in. Length: 21 ft. Chord: 4 ft pin. Gap: 4 ft 6 in. Stagger: 10 in. Dihedral: 2° 30'. Incidence: 2° 30'.
  Areas: Wings: 280 sq ft. Ailerons: each 7 sq ft, total 28 sq ft. Tailplane: 20 sq ft. Elevators: 13-33 sq ft- Fin: 2-5 sq ft. Rudder: 5-33 sq ft.
  Performance: Maximum speed at ground level: 87 m.p.h.
  Armament: One Lewis machine-gun mounted above the centre-section.
  Service Use: Western Front: R.F.C. Squadrons Nos. 1, 4, 5, 6, 12 and 16. Mesopotamia: No. 30 Squadron, R.F.C. Training Units: School of Instruction, Reading.
  Production and Allocation: Official figures group the Martinsyde S.1 with the G.100 and G.102, and it is not possible to arrive at an accurate total of production S.1s. It seems probable that about sixty were built. Four went to France in 1915 and four to the Middle East Brigade. Training units received four in 1914 and over forty in 1915.
  Serial Numbers: 748, 2451, 2820-2829, 2831, 4241, 4243.

H.King Armament of British Aircraft (Putnam)

Martinsyde

S.1. 'In my eyes,' recorded Capt L. A. Strange of this single-seat scout (built 1914), 'all defects were outweighed by the fact that it had a Lewis gun mounted on its top plane, which could be fired forward and upward.' The installation mentioned was made in the spring of 1915, and it was during May of that year that Capt Strange had the historic experience of saving his life in an inverted spin by hanging on to an ammunition drum which had jammed on the gun. Concerning other forms of armament, specific details are lacking, but rifles were carried, and for Home Defence the following loads have been mentioned in connection with a 'Martinsyde Scout': '6 Carcass bombs (3.45-in R.L. tube for discharge); 12 Hale Naval grenades; 150 incendiary darts; carriers for five powder bombs.' Small bombs were apparently carried for attacking ground targets, and an S.1 of No.5 Squadron (Capt G. I. Carmichael) was adapted to take a 100-lb bomb, sighted through a hole cut in the floor. Previously provision had been made for 20-lb bombs under the wings.

Jane's All The World Aircraft 1919

Late in 1914, the firm produced a small fast, biplane "Scout," with an 80 h.p. Gnome motor, which was an immediate success, and was promptly ordered in large quantities by the War Office. It played an important part in the war in 1915, till the increased speed of the German machines rendered it out of date. It was superseded by a more powerful type of Martinsyde scout, fitted at first with a 120 h.p. Beardmore engine and later with a 100 h.p. Beardmore.
  
  
Nation: Britain
Manufacturer: Martinsyde Ltd.
Type: Fighter
Year: 1914
Engine: Gnome rotary, 80 hp
Wingspan: 27' 8" (8.43 m)
Length: 21' (6.4 m)
Height: 8' 2" (2.49 m)
Speed: 84 mph (135 km/h)
Armament: 1 machine gun
Crew: 1