The AD Scout (also known as the Sparrow) was designed by Harris Booth of the

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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 ...

as a

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

to defend Britain from

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

bombers during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Design and development

The Scout was a very unconventional aircraft – a biplane with a fuselage pod mounted on the ''upper'' wing. A twin-rudder tail was attached by four booms, and it was provided with an extremely narrow-track undercarriage. The primary armament was intended to be a 2-pounder

recoilless A recoilless rifle, recoilless launcher or recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated "RR" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propel ...

Davis Gun The Davis gun was the first true recoilless gun developed and taken into service. It was developed by Commander Cleland Davis of the United States Navy in 1910, just prior to World War I. Development Davis' design connected two guns back to bac ...

, but this was never fitted. Four prototypes were ordered in 1915, and two each were built by Hewlett & Blondeau and the Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company.

Operational history

Trials flown by pilots of the

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 ...

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proved the aircraft to be seriously overweight, fragile, sluggish, and difficult to handle, even on the ground. The project was abandoned, and all four prototypes were scrapped.

Operators

; *

Specifications (AD Scout)

References

;Notes {{Air Department aircraft Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United Kingdom

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

Blackburn aircraft 1910s British fighter aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Twin-boom aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1915 Rotary-engined aircraft