The AD Flying Boat was designed by the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

Air Department The Air Department of the British Admiralty later succeeded briefly by the Air Section followed by the Air Division was established prior to World War I by Winston Churchill to administer the Royal Naval Air Service. History In 1908, the Briti ...

to serve as a

patrol aircraft A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), also known as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, or by the older American term patrol bomber, is a fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long durations over water in maritime patrol rol ...

that could operate in conjunction with

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

warships. Intended for use during the First World War, production of the aircraft was terminated as the end of the war came into sight, and the type saw little operational use. A number were repurchased after the end of the war by

Supermarine Aviation Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer that is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II as well as a range of seaplanes and flying boats, and a series of jet-powered fighter aircraft after World War II. ...

and rebuilt as civil transports, becoming known as the Supermarine Channel.

Design and development

Designed in 1915 by the British

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

designer

Linton Hope Linton Chorley Hope FRAes (18 April 1863 – 20 December 1920) was a sailor from Great Britain, who represented his country at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Meulan, France. With Lorne Currie as helmsman and fellow crewmembers John Gretton and A ...

,Bruce 1957, p.3. the aircraft was of conventional

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

flying-boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

configuration, and also featured a biplane

tail The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, r ...

with twin

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

s. The pilot and observer sat in tandem in the nose, with the

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

and

pusher propeller In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

mounted behind them, between the wings. The wings could be folded forwards to facilitate shipboard stowage. Two prototypes were constructed in 1916 by Pemberton-Billing Ltd (later to become Supermarine Aviation Works). The first prototype was intended to be powered by a 150 hp (112 kW)

Sunbeam Nubian The Sunbeam Nubian, also called the Sunbeam 155 hp, was a British 8-cylinder aero-engine that was first run in 1916. Design and development In March 1916 Louis Coatalen, the chief designer at Sunbeam, responded to the Admiralty's request ...

engine, but as this was not ready to use, a

Hispano-Suiza 8 The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza ...

was substituted.Bruce 1957, p.4 The aircraft performed poorly both on the water and in the air, demonstrating severe fore and aft vibration during take-off, while subject to excessive yaw during flight. After these problems were solved by producing revised versions of the hull, and the fin and rudder, the AD Flying Boat was able to be ordered into production.Andrews and Morgan 1987, p.23.London 2003, p.20-23. A total of 80 aircraft were ordered, and 27 machines were built.Andrews and Morgan 1987, p.355. Examples were tested with

Sunbeam Arab The Sunbeam Arab was a British First World War era aero engine. Design and development By 1916 the demand for aero-engines was placing huge demands on manufacturing. To help ease the pressure the War Office standardised on engines of about ; ...

and Wolseley Python engines.

Supermarine Channel

Following the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

, Supermarine purchased 19 of these AD Flying Boats to modify them for the civil market as the Supermarine Channel. The Channel I was powered with a

Beardmore 160 hp The Beardmore 160 hp is a British six-cylinder, water-cooled aero engine that first ran in 1916, it was built by Arrol-Johnston and Crossley Motors for William Beardmore and Company as a development of the Beardmore 120 hp, itself a lice ...

engines, and the Channel II was fitted with a

Armstrong Siddeley Puma The Siddeley Puma was a British aero engine developed towards the end of World War I and produced by Siddeley-Deasy. The first engines left the production lines of Siddeley-Deasy in Coventry in August 1917, production continued until December 1 ...

engine. The reconfigured flying-boats provided accommodation for a pilot and three passengers in three open

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

Operators

Military operators

; *

Chilean Air Force "With full speed to the stars" , colours = Indigo White , colours_label = , march = Alte Kameraden , mascot = , anniversaries = 21 March ...

- One aircraft. *

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the Wars ...

acquired one Channel with modified hull (similar to the Supermarine Seal II) in 1922.Andrews and Morgan 1987, p.40. ; *

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

purchased three Channels. ; *

Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service The Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service ( no, Marinens flyvevesen) was alongside the Norwegian Army Air Service the forerunner to the modern-day Royal Norwegian Air Force. History The RNNAS was established on 1 June 1912,Official Norwegian Defence ...

purchased four Beardmore engined Channels in 1920, acquiring a further ex-civil aircraft. One remained in service until 1928.Andrews and Morgan 1987, pp.35-36. ; *

Royal Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels of ...

purchased a single Channel in 1921, it being destroyed during testing. ; *

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

operated AD Flying Boat.

Civil operators

; *

Det Norske Luftfartsrederi Aktieselskapet Det Norske Luftfartsrederi or DNL was Norway's first scheduled airline, founded in 1918 and operated services between Bergen, Haugesund and Stavanger in 1920. It operated Supermarine Channel flying boats. It was also one of the s ...

, Channel Mk INerdrum 1986, p.30.

Specifications (AD Flying Boat)

References

Sources

* * * * {{Authority control

Flying Boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

1910s British patrol aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Flying boats Supermarine aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1916