M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
WIGHT twin-fuselage landplane
This machine was ordered by the French government in August 1914 and was the largest machine built in Britain to that time. Completion at Cowes took place on 24 July 1915 and the machine was then taken by sea to Eastchurch for flight trials by Gordon England, the first taking place on 6 August 1915. In the following month a French pilot crashed the machine on to its nose and the contract was canceled. The machine was returned to Cowes in pieces and was not rebuilt.
The aircraft was designed with a central nacelle seating the crew in tandem with the pilot behind. On either side was a fuselage, each with a tractor engine and deep enough to carry bombs stowed vertically. The bottom, parallel chord, tailplane joined the two fuselages at the lower longerons and a similar tailplane was attached above to an open structure. The horn balance of the rudders swung above the top tailplane, to which a one piece elevator was hinged. As a result of spinning problems during the flight trials, long fins were fitted above the fuselages and top tailplane, displacing the rudder balance areas, and a bottom elevator was added.
The folding wings consisted of five bays outboard of the fuselages, with top overhang braced by kingposts and cables. There were ailerons at all four wing tips, connected by struts top to bottom. The radial engines mounted in the nose of each fuselage were cooled by four tall, square section radiators fitted alongside the fuselages, between the trailing edges of the wings. Separate undercarriages, under each fuselage, consisted of pairs of vee struts with twin skids and two pairs of wheels at each mounting; small bumper wheels were fitted to the tip of each skid, which were supported by struts to the lower longerons.
Power: Two 200hp Salmson (Canton-Unne) fourteen-cylinder two-row water-cooled radials driving 10ft diameter propellers.
Data
Span top 84ft
Span bottom 71ft
Span folded 28ft
Chord top 7ft
Chord bottom 6ft 6in
Area 1,048 sq. ft
Weight allup 10,000lb.
WIGHT twin fuselage seaplane, Admiralty Type 187
The Admiralty ordered a seaplane version similar to the previous machine on Contract No.CP02108/14. This aircraft, serial No. 187 was virtually complete, less engines, in September 1915, but was not delivered to Felixstowe until July 1916. It was found to be unsuitable for carrying the large Mk IX torpedo for which it was intended and was deleted in October. Two further machines ordered in 1915, Nos.1450-1451, were delivered in April and July 1916 and were soon deleted as unsuitable.
The first machine showed a few changes from the Twin-land-plane. Most noticeable were the engine cowlings and extended noses, with front bearing supports for the new extension shafts, introduced for the Salmson engines. The radiators were moved forward, just ahead of the wing leading edge. The central crew nacelle was discarded and the two crew were given separate cockpits in each fuselage. Long main floats, under each fuselage, supported the aircraft, and small cylindrical floats with skateboards protected the wing tips.
The two later machines were fitted with redesigned tail units and the top engine cowlings were deleted.
Power: Two 200hp Salmson (Canton-Unne) fourteen-cylinder two-row water-cooled radials driving two-bladed propellers by extension shaft.
Data
Span top 84ft
Span bottom 71ft
Span folded 28ft
Chord top 6ft 6in
Chord bottom 6ft
Area 972 sq. ft
Length 43 ft 9in
Main floats 23 ft long
Max speed 80 mph
Endurance 5 hr
F.Manson British Bomber Since 1914 (Putnam)
Wight Twins
The boat-building company of J Samuel Wight & Co Ltd, sited in the Isle of Wight at East Cowes, had entered the aircraft manufacturing industry in 1912 with its acquisition of the services of Howard T Wright as designer. By mid-1914 at least three of Wright's seaplane designs had been built and exhibited, and the company had established itself as one of the three prime contractors to the Admiralty.
All the above aircraft were single pusher-engine aircraft, classified as unarmed reconnaissance seaplanes, the last being a large two-seater powered by a 200hp Salmson fourteen-cylinder radial. Seven examples were ordered by the Admiralty, one of which was shipped to the Dardanelles aboard HMS Ark Royal in 1915.
Wright's next essay was, for its time, an exceptionally large aeroplane, originally built as a landplane and almost certainly intended from the outset to carry a torpedo or bombs. With five-bay wings spanning 117 feet, the aircraft featured twin fuselages each with a 200hp Salmson water-cooled radial engine at the front; the two-man crew was accommodated in a small central nacelle. Like the Short aircraft, previously described, the Wight Twin's wings were designed to fold rearwards.
This first Wight Twin suffered an accident early in 1915, resulting in substantial damage to the crew nacelle, engine installations and undercarriage. The company, however, persevered with the project, producing a twin-float prototype at the behest of the Admiralty - almost certainly employing most of the components of the crashed landplane. The wings evidently remained unchanged, as did the biplane tail unit and long parallel-chord fins with rectangular cutouts between the two horizontal surfaces. The crew nacelle was deleted and a cockpit provided in each fuselage well aft of the wings. The Salmson engine installations were revised to be enclosed within the contours of the front fuselage bays, the two-blade propellers being driven through extension shafts.
Very long three-step main floats were located beneath the fuselages, these being considered of sufficient length to avoid the need for tail floats; cylindrical outrigger floats were mounted directly below the outboard interplane struts, and double-acting ailerons were fitted on upper and lower wings.
This aircraft, given the naval serial number 187, was destined from the start to carry a torpedo, contemporary photographs showing it carrying the 1,100 lb Admiralty Mark IX weapon beneath the lower centre wing section. It seems likely from these pictures that difficulty would have been experienced in taking off with the torpedo in anything but the calmest water conditions without submersing the tail, and the two further Wight Twin seaplanes, Nos 1450 and 1451 (ordered in 1915) featured longer float struts so that the aircraft rode higher on the water. The vertical tail surfaces were completely revised with much smaller triangular fins and long, nearly parallel chord ventral fins.
No 1450 was delivered to RNAS Felixstowe and 1451 to Calshot where torpedo drops were achieved, although it was quickly realised that the aircraft were badly underpowered - being incapable of leaving the water when carrying a torpedo and a full fuel load.
Type: Twin-engine, two-seat, five-bay biplane, twin-float torpedo-carrying seaplane with twin fuselages.
Manufacturer: J Samuel White & Co, East Cowes, Isle of Wight.
Powerplant: Two 200hp Salmson (Canton-Unne) fourteen-cylinder two-row, water-cooled, radial engines driving two-blade tractor propellers through extension shafts.
Dimension: Span, 117ft. Further details of dimensions, weights and performance not traced.
Armament: Provision to carry one Whitehead Mk IX 18in torpedo of 1,100 lb nominal weight; no provision for guns.
Prototypes: Three, Nos 187, 1450 and 1451. No 187 was originally completed and flown as a landplane in 1914. Nos 1450 and 1451 underwent Service trials at RNAS Felixstowe and Calshot respectively. No production.
P.Lewis British Bomber since 1914 (Putnam)
During 1914 Howard T. Wright designed a large Wight biplane with a span of 117 ft. and powered by two 200 h.p. Salmson radial engines mounted as tractors in a pair of side-by-side fuselages attached to the lower wings. The machine’s crew were carried in a nacelle placed on the lower centresection between the engines. The wings, braced in five bays, incorporated folding; a pair of radiators for cooling the Salmson radials were installed on the flanks of each fuselage at the trailing edge of the wings. After modifications had been made to the somewhat complicated tail unit, the Wight biplane crashed.
The twin-fuselage concept, however, was retained in the seaplane version, also of 117 ft. span, which followed the earlier landplane design. The first prototype Wight Twin, 187, was equipped to launch a single 18 in. Mk. IX torpedo which it bore beneath the lower centre-section. The central nacelle for the crew was discarded, and they were accommodated in each of the pair of fuselages. Support on the water was provided by a pair of long main floats supplemented by a cylindrical one at each lower wingtip. The two 200 h.p. Salmson engines were cooled by vertical side radiators and transmitted their power through extension shafts to two-blade wooden propellers.
Two additional torpedo-carrying Wight Twin seaplanes, 1450 and 1451, were completed in September, 1915, differing from 187 in having modified fins and rudders and extended undercarriage struts. Using the same 200 h.p. Salmsons, both machines were found under test to lack sufficient power for their great size and to be incapable of leaving the water armed with a torpedo and with full tanks. Under such conditions the type was unable to accomplish its set task and development ceased.
J.Bruce British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 (Putnam)
Wight Twin
THE big Wight Twin was an aircraft of similar configuration to the Blackburn T.B., for it was a float seaplane with twin fuselages and twin tail-units. The Wight type was designed for a completely different purpose, however, and had nearly twice the power of the Blackburn.
The Wight Twin had its origin in a biplane of 117-ft span which was built in 1914 to the design of Howard T. Wright, perhaps to perform the same functions as the Handley Page O/100. This big Wight was a twin-fuselage landplane powered by two 200 h.p. Salmson radial engines. The crew were accommodated in a small central nacelle, and each undercarriage unit had four main and two small wheels, The five-bay wings were arranged to fold backwards. The biplane tail-unit was a peculiar structure which incorporated four rudders, of which the two outermost were horn-balanced.
The tail-unit was later modified. The balance areas were removed from the outer rudders and large fins were added; the area under the upper tailplane was left open in each fin, however. The lower elevator was removed but the two small inner rudders were retained. In this form the aircraft crashed, as the illustration shows.
The next development of the design was a large seaplane which appeared with the official serial number 187. Whether this was a different aircraft or merely the landplane rebuilt is uncertain, but it may be significant that the same gap appeared in each fin. The wing structure also appeared to be identical. In the seaplane, however, the central nacelle was not retained: instead, a cockpit was provided in each fuselage. Additional oblique struts were used in the centre-section bracing, and the engines were fitted with extension shafts. The undercarriage consisted of two long main-floats, one under each fuselage. There were no tail-floats, but a small float was fitted under each lower wing-tip.
The Wight No. 187 was armed with a large torpedo, and must have been one of the earliest torpedo-carriers to be built. The missile was slung under the lower centre-section.
In 1915, two further machines, numbered 1450 and 1451, were built; they were also designed to be torpedo-carriers. These were generally similar to No. 187, but had taller undercarriages and completely revised vertical tail surfaces. The biplane tail with four rudders was retained, and the Salmson engines again had extension shafts. Each float was of broad beam and had three steps.
The two Twins were completed in September 1915 and were tested in the autumn of that year. The type was not successful, however, for it was unable to take off with a torpedo and a full load of fuel. No. 1450 went to Felixstowe and No. 1451 to Calshot; trials continued at both stations and torpedo drops were made. The Wight Twin was underpowered, however, and was ultimately abandoned.
SPECIFICATION
Manufacturers: J. Samuel White & Co., East Cowes, Isle of Wight.
Power: Two 200 h.p. Salmson (Canton-Unne).
Dimensions: Span: 117 ft.
Armament: One 18-inch Mark IX torpedo of just over 1,000 lb.
Serial Numbers: 187, 1450, 1451.
H.King Armament of British Aircraft (Putnam)
Twin Seaplane. This type of very large torpedo-carrying seaplane appeared in 1915. Drops were actually made, and photographed. The torpedo was of the 18-in Mk.IX pattern.