P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
Talbot Waterplane
The Talbot Waterplane was a pusher hydro-biplane built at Fambridge, Essex, during early 1914. Both upper and lower wings were joined together by curved tips, and booms carried the biplane elevators at the front and the tailplane at the rear. The complete unit was mounted by means of struts to the boat-shaped float which contained the cockpit. The rear elevators were inter-connected to those at the front and twin rudders were set side-by-side between the rear booms. Ailerons were fitted at mid-gap between the wing-tips. The machine was powered by a water-cooled engine, flanked by vertical radiators, but was unable to rise from the water despite repeated attempts.
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M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
TALBOT-QUICK waterplane (J.J. Talbot and W.B. Quick and manager Croft, Fambridge, Essex)
The machine was constructed in Pemberton Billing's old hangar by local boat builders, supervised by Albert Pink, an engineer from London, in the first half of 1914. It was launched on the 20 August 1914 on to the River Crouch. In the course of this, one of the launch crew was drowned. Modifications were required and later, while making an attempt to take off, the machine capsized after 300 yards had been covered at speed on the water, fortunately without injury to the pilot. The engine was then removed and the machine abandoned.
Even by 1914 standards, the design was crude and obsolete. The machine was a single-engined pusher flying boat with wings of parallel chord, curved at the tips to meet together, this being a change made after the first test. From the center structure, top and bottom booms extended fore and aft, to taper to points at both extremities, in side elevation. The front boom carried a biplane elevator, interconnected to a similar unit at the rear. Twin rudders were fitted within the rear booms.
The center structure contained the water-cooled marine engine, of unknown make, with radiators on either side and drove a four-bladed pusher propeller. The pilot was seated ahead of the engine on the lower center section. The whole of this structure was mounted above a boat hull with flared stern. The center of gravity was obviously high and the machine was apparently unstable laterally, requiring the addition of pontoon type floats under the wing tips, together with ailerons between the wings after the first attempts.
The machine received little mention at the time and no further details can be traced except for a patent No.6829 which was registered in 1913.
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