P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
Wight Double-camber No. 2 Navyplane
The production of Howard T. Wright's designs by J. Samuel White and Co. marked the entry of the boat-building firm into marine aviation. Their exhibit at the 1913 Olympia Aero Show was a development of the No. 1 seaplane and incorporated the "double-camber" wing section invented by Howard Wright. This possessed a deep depression in the centre of the upper profile of the section, and bestowed a wide speed range with small centre of pressure travel for wide variations in incidence. Very long floats were fitted, incorporating three steps and water rudders. The engine was the two-row 160 h.p. Gnome driving a 9 ft. 2 ins. Integral propeller. The machine was intended as a two-seat trainer and reconnaissance seaplane for the R.N.A.S., and was tested during September, 1913. by E. C. Gordon England. It was tried out also with a land undercarriage. Span, 44 ft. Length, 30 ft. Wing area, 500 sq. ft. Weight empty,"l ,350 lb. Weight loaded, 2,000 lb. Maximum speed, 70 m.p.h. Landing speed, 30 m.p.h. Price, ?2,500.
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M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
WIGHT No.2 Navyplane
After the crash of 10 July 1913, the changes made to the design of the earlier machine were more drastic. The work was completed by the 21 August 1913, when the machine, now known as the Navyplane, was launched and flown successfully two days later by Gordon England.
The changes introduced were mainly to the tail booms and tail unit. The top and bottom members of the booms were opened up in elevation, with an extra bay introduced, and slightly towed in in plan. A larger rectangular tailplane was mounted on top with a one piece elevator and twin rudders of a new shape below. There was no fin.
Although the floats were unchanged initially, considerable changes were made to the chassis. Struts were introduced between the floats, and these were anchored at the center to vee struts under the nacelle and center section. Long struts were added from the top center section to near the tips of each float, when new floats were fitted in September. Soon after, a land undercarriage was tried and the machine was tested with this in fields near Cowes at Northwood, until the machine was damaged early in 1914. The machine was then put aside until refurbished as a seaplane at the outbreak of war, when it was acquired by the Admiralty on Contract No.CP53665/14, becoming Serial No.884. It was fitted with dual controls and used as a trainer at Calshot and Warsash until June 1915.
Data
Span top 44ft
Span bottom 40ft
Chord top 6ft 6in
Chord bottom 5ft 6in
Floats 21ft long by 2ft 6in beam
Area 500 sq. ft
Length 31ft 6in
Height lift 6in
Weight allup 2,400lb.
Speed range 35-70 mph
Climb 400 ft per min
Endurance 2 3/4 hr
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Jane's All The World Aircraft 1913
WHITE. J. Samuel White & Co., Ltd., shipbuilders and engineers, East Cowes, Isle of Wight. London office: 28, Victoria Street, S.W. This well-known firm of torpedo craft builders, etc., formally opened an aviation department on 1st January, 1913, with Howard T. Wright as general manager and designer.
1913.
Navy plane.
Length.........feet(m.) 30 (9.15)
Span...........feet(m.) 44 (3.10)
Area........sq.ft.(m?.) 500 (46.50)
Weight, total...
...lbs.(kgs.) 2000 (907)
Weight,useful...
...lbs.(kgs.) 650 (295)
Motor..............h.p. 160 Gnome
Speed,max...m.p.h.(km.) 70 (115)
min...m.p.h.(km.) 35 (57)
Number built*......... ...
Remarks.--Hydro-biplane, with Howard T. Wright patent aeroplanes to give wide range of speed. Two patent hydro floats, 21 feet (--m.) long, three steps on each.
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Журнал Flight
Flight, August 30, 1913.
THE "WIGHT" WATERPLANE.
THE following very interesting account, received from a correspondent, of the successful debut last week-end of the waterplane designed by Mr. Howard Wright, and built by Messrs. J. S. White and Co., will doubtless be read with interest. It will be remembered that the planes of this machine are peculiar in that they have a double curve.
Our correspondent writes from Cowes under date August 24th :-
"East Cowes, August 24th, 1913.
"You will, I am sure, be interested (and pleased) to know that White's 'plane' went for a fine 'fly' yesterday morning. They got Gordon England to come down, and, after having a look round the bearings at Osborne Bay from a motor boat on Thursday morning, England, in the afternoon, taxied out and got the 'hang' of the machine, but did not attempt a flight as there was rather much wind. Friday blew hard all day, and yesterday morning about 9.30 he taxied out in the Roads and calmly lifted her (whilst going with the wind) and flew most perfectly out over Ryde Pier and back, planing down on the water most satisfactorily. Everyone is delighted; England says she is the best machine he has flown. He adjusted the ailerons when he rose, and did not touch them afterwards; she actually flew at 30 m.p.h., and he found that he had to throttle down his engine very much as she was so anxious to climb, although he had 200 lbs. weight ballast in lieu of passenger. He also said that her lifting power was so great that she could have had much smaller planes.
"He now wants as near an absolute quiet windless day, in order that he may get certain data, inclination, &c, and he will then put her through an exhaustive series of trials; but I think she is quite all right as she flew so perfectly steady in both right- and left-hand turns.
"It would seem as though the cause of the two mishaps was her anxiety to climb with a full throttle, which, of course, turned her over before the pilot could bring her back; but with England, he steadily opened her out with the foregoing result. The full speed of the 'plane' should be 70 m.p.h., but, of course, that has not yet been tried."
Flight, September 6, 1913.
The "Wight" Seaplane Trials.
RELATIVE to the report from a correspondent of the tests made by Mr. Gordon England with the "Wight" seaplane off Cowes last week, we have received the following information from the designer, Mr. Howard Wright:- "The machine as flown weighed 2,200 lbs., 600 lbs. of which was useful load. She leaves the water in about 30 yds. with no wind; she climbed 1,000 ft. in just under 2 mins., and with engine shut off glided from that height about 2 1/2 miles from just over Calshot into Cowes Roads. Her maximum speed at present is 65 m.p.h., and her minimum 30. She was very quick on her controls fore and aft, and just as easy to fly as a first-class land machine. The inertia of the floats is not apparent to the pilot. You can readily see that lifting 44 lbs. per sq. ft. at a speed of 30m.p.h. makes the lift constant quite exceptional. The maximum horse-power employed at any time was 120, propeller revolutions being 1,150. The cause of the early accident was that the centre of pressure is very considerably further forward than the model shows, so that the machine on the first and second occasion was very tail heavy. Our machine is quite automatic laterally. She takes a correct "bank," remains on it, and comes off the banking automatically without the use of the ailerons. The behaviour of the floats on the water appears to be very good.
Flight, October 4, 1913.
THE WIGHT SEAPLANE.
SOME further particulars are now to hand regarding the tests of the Wight seaplane built by Messrs. J. Samuel White and Co., Ltd., of East Cowes, I.W., to designs by Mr. Howard T. Wright. Including these last tests, the machine has been very thoroughly tried by Mr. Gordon England, the aggregate time in the air totalling to 20 hours. During these tests, which were made with full load, we understand that no mechanical weaknesses developed. The speed was 63 m.p.h. with the propeller turning at 1,120 r.p.m. and 31 m.p.h. with 900 r.p.m.
The machine, which is fitted with a 160 h.p. Gnome loses elevation very slowly when flying with 7 cylinders cut off, and flies well with 3 cylinders missing. The present propeller is too powerful for the motor, so that it cannot turn more than 1,120 in the air, which is equivalent to about 120 h.p.
The machine, leaves the water without apparent effort in under 60 yds., i.e., without the "unstuck" effect found in so many hydroplanes. With a 15 to 20 mile "following" wind, it left the water in about 150 yds., and gets up at from 35 to 40 miles per hour. No difficulty was found in rising with a second passenger and full load.
Alightings can be made at 27 miles per hour with no perceptible shock to the pilot, the machine coming to rest in twice the length of the floats. With regard to climbing, the first 500 ft. was attained in 1 min., and 3,000 ft. in 10 mins. In descending 1,000 ft. 1 min. 21 secs, were occupied at the speed of 46 miles per hour, the gliding angle being about 1 in 5 1/2.
The fore and aft control is ample under all conditions; the machine can be readily recovered from 35 degrees forward tilt and from, almost vertical dive in a very short space of time. This was tested fully loaded with a second passenger and light, there being no load on the control lever when flying with the tail up or down.
The lateral control is almost automatic. The machine takes its own banking at turns and remains on the bank and leaves it again on the machine being straightened out without the use of the ailerons.
With a very gusty wind 17 to 20 miles per hour the machine was very easy to control and no physical strain on the pilot.
With a choppy sea, about 3 ft. high, the floats behaved very well when taxiing. The floats do not hit the seas hard, but pass practically through them. The machine can be manoeuvred in a strong wind when travelling at a speed of from 25-30 m.p.h.
The machine behaved satisfactorily when towed.
We may repeat that the dimensions of the machine are: Span, 44 ft.; overall length, 30 ft.; height, 11 ft. 6 ins.; weight, empty, 1,700 lbs., loaded 2,400. The floats are Messrs. White's own patents, while the planes have Mr. Howard T. Wright's double camber.
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