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Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter
The Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter was an attempt to produce a fighter aircraft armed with a heavy calibre gun. The Coventry Ordnance Works (COW) 37 mm automatic gun was used, which had been developed for this purpose some years earlier. Design and development The design was in response to Air Ministry specification F.29/27. The design was an open cockpit single engined metal monoplane with fabric covering. The aircraft design had already been submitted for specification F.20/27 as the Westland Interceptor but had lost out to the Gloster Gauntlet. The gun was in the fuselage and fired up at an angle, in order to attack bombers from below. This concept was similar to the Schräge Musik system used by Germany during World War II. The plane first flew at the end of 1930 but the trials did not give satisfactory results to continue with the idea. The COW gun had been developed by 1918 for use in aircraft and had been trialled on the Airco DH.4. Specifications (C.O.W. Gun Fighter) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. During the war the company produced a number of generally unsuccessful designs, but their Lysander would serve as an important liaison aircraft with the Royal Air Force. After the war the company focused on helicopters, and was merged with several other British firms to create Westland Helicopters in 1961. History Foundation In 1915 the Westland Aircraft Works was founded as a division of Petters in response to government orders for the construction under licence of initially 12 Short Type 184 seaplanes, followed by 20 Short Admiralty Type 166. Orders for other aircraft followed during First World War, including the Sopwith 1½ Strutter, the de Havilland designed Airco DH.4, Airco DH.9 and Airco DH.9A and the Vickers Vimy. The name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westland Interceptor
The Westland Interceptor was a fighter developed by the British company Westland Aircraft to Air Ministry Specification ''F.20/27''. When tested in 1929 and 1930, it showed unsatisfactory handling characteristics and was rejected by the RAF in favour of the Hawker Fury biplane fighter. Development Specification F.20/27 was for a fighter operating in the daylight interception role. The main requirement was that the F.20/27 fighter would be able to overtake, in the shortest possible time, an enemy aircraft passing overhead at at an altitude of .Colin Sinnott, ''The Royal Air Force and Aircraft Design 1923-1939'', Frank Cass publishing, UK 2001. This put the emphasis on high speed and rate of climb. Design work on the Interceptor started in late 1927, and it made its first flight in early 1929, with Lieutnant L. G. Paget at the controls.James Goulding, ''Interceptor'', Ian Allan Ltd., UK 1986. The Interceptor was a low-wing monoplane with an all-metal structure and wire-braced w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coventry Ordnance Works
Coventry Ordnance Works was a British manufacturer of heavy guns particularly naval artillery jointly owned by Cammell Laird & Co of Sheffield and Birkenhead, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Glasgow and John Brown & Company of Clydebank and Sheffield. Its core operations were from a 60-acre site in Stoney Stanton Road in the English city of Coventry, Warwickshire. At the end of 1918 it became a principal constituent of a brand new enterprise English Electric Company Limited. After World War II the works made electricity-generating machinery and heavy machine tools. History Consortium The company, the Coventry Ordnance Works Limited, was formed in July 1905 by a consortium of British shipbuilding firms John Brown 50%, Cammell Laird 25% and Fairfield 25% with the encouragement of the British government, which wanted a third major arms consortium to compete with the duopoly of Vickers Sons & Maxim and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co to drive down price ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
COW 37 Mm Gun
The COW 37 mm gun was a British automatic cannon that was developed during First World War as a large-calibre aircraft weapon. It was tested in several installations and specified for the Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter for attacking bombers. The tests did not yield satisfactory results and the weapon did not enter general service except on a few flying boats. The design was later adapted as the basis of the Vickers S, which saw some service during the Second World War as an anti-armour weapon. Design and development Coventry Ordnance Works had been set up in 1905 by a consortium of British shipbuilding firms (John Brown, Cammell Laird and Fairfield) to compete with the duopoly of Vickers and Armstrong-Whitworth in producing naval guns. Besides the larger naval gun, COW worked at the smaller end on anti-aircraft guns. There was a demand for a weapon that could be mounted on an aircraft. Their first attempt at an automatic gun was a "1-pounder" (the nominal weight of the shell) f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Air Ministry Specifications
This is a partial list of the British Air Ministry (AM) specifications for aircraft. A specification stemmed from an Operational Requirement, abbreviated "OR", describing what the aircraft would be used for. This in turn led to the specification itself, e.g. a two-engined fighter with four machine guns. So for example, OR.40 for a heavy bomber led to Specification B.12/36. Aircraft manufacturers would be invited to present design proposals to the ministry, following which prototypes of one or more of the proposals might be ordered for evaluation. On very rare occasions, a manufacturer would design and build an aircraft using their own money as a "private venture" (PV). This would then be offered to the ministry for evaluation. If the aircraft generated interest in the ministry or RAF due to performance or some other combination of features then the ministry might well issue a specification based on the private venture aircraft. The system of producing aircraft to a specification ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloster Gauntlet
The Gloster Gauntlet was a single-seat biplane fighter designed and produced by the British aeroplane manufacturer Gloster Aircraft in the 1930s. It was the last fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to have an open cockpit, and also the penultimate biplane fighter in its service. The Gauntlet had a somewhat lengthy development process, linking back to the S.S.18 prototype of 1929. Extensive modifications, including multiple engine changes and changes to suit varying specifications, resulted in a relatively fast fighter aircraft for the era as well as a heavy armament and favourable manoeuvrability. By mid-1933, the Gauntlet name had been applied to the type and the Air Ministry placed an initial order for 24 aircraft during September of that year. It was procured as a replacement for the Bristol Bulldog, being roughly 50 MPH faster while also being more heavily armed. In May 1935, No. 19 Squadron became the first unit to receive the Gauntlet I. An improved mode ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schräge Musik
''Schräge Musik'', which may also be spelled ''Schraege Musik'', was a common name for the fitting of an upward-firing autocannon or machine gun, to an interceptor aircraft, interceptor aircraft, such as a night fighter. The term was introduced by the Nazi Germany, German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. "''Schräge Musik''" was previously a German language, German colloquialism, meaning music that featured an unusual Musical tuning, tuning and/or time signature. By itself, the word ''Schräge'' has often been translated as "wikt#Adjective, slanting" or "Oblique angle, oblique", although it may instead be rendered into English as "weird" or "strange". The first such systems were developed in World War I. They were also developed and used by the Japanese military during World War II. Like the ''Luftwaffe'', the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) and Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) fitted such weapons to twin-engined night fighters. Both the Luftwaffe an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airco DH
The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) was an early United Kingdom, British aircraft manufacturer. Established during 1912, it grew rapidly during the First World War, referring to itself as the largest aircraft company in the world by 1918. Airco produced many thousands of aircraft for both the British and Allied military air wings throughout the war, including fighter aircraft, fighters, trainer aircraft, trainers and medium bomber, bombers. The majority of the company's aircraft were designed in-house by Airco's chief designer Geoffrey de Havilland. Airco established the first airline in the United Kingdom, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, which operated as a subsidiary of Airco. On 25 August 1919, it commenced the world's first regular daily international service. Following the end of the war, the company's fortunes rapidly turned sour. The interwar period was unfavourable for aircraft manufacturers largely due to a glut of surplus aircraft from the war ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bristol Mercury IIIA
The Bristol Mercury is a British nine-cylinder, air-cooled, single-row, piston radial engine. Designed by Roy Fedden of the Bristol Aeroplane Company it was used to power both civil and military aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Developed from the earlier Jupiter engine, later variants could produce 800 horsepower (600 kW) from its capacity of 1,500 cubic inches (25 L) by use of a geared supercharger. Almost 21,000 engines were produced, with a number also being built under license elsewhere in Europe. Several examples remain airworthy, with other preserved examples on public display in aviation museums. Design and development The Mercury was developed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1925 as their Bristol Jupiter was reaching the end of its lifespan. Although the Mercury initially failed to attract much interest, the Air Ministry eventually funded three prototypes and it became another winner for the designer Roy Fedden. With the widespread introduction of sup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers Type 161
The Vickers Type 161 was an unusual 1930s pusher biplane interceptor, designed to attack aircraft from below with a single upward-angle large calibre gun. The aircraft flew well but the concept was abandoned and only one was built. Development The Vickers 161 was designed in response to Air Ministry specification F.29/27. This called for an interceptor fighter operating as a stable gun platform for the COW 37 mm gun produced by the Coventry Ordnance Works (COW) that fired 23 oz (0.65 kg) shells. The gun was to be mounted at 45 degrees or more above the horizontal, so that the aircraft could fly below the target bomber or airship, and fire upwards into it. During World War II the Luftwaffe used a rather similar approach, named ''Schräge Musik''. The specification also called for a top speed well in excess of a typical bomber's cruising speed and a good rate of climb. Vickers' approach seems to have been influenced by their World War I experience with the Gunbus family. Li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1930s British Fighter Aircraft
Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 193 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * January 1 – Year of the Five Emperors: The Roman Senate chooses Publius Helvius Pertinax, against his will, to succeed the late Commodus as Emperor. Pertinax is forced to reorganize the handling of finances, which were wrecked under Commodus, to reestablish discipline in the Roman army, and to suspend the food programs established by Trajan, provoking the ire of the Praetorian Guard. * March 28 – Pertinax is assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, who storm the imperial palace. The Empire is auctioned off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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