BAT Basilisk
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The BAT F.K.25 Basilisk was a prototype
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
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 ...
of the
First World War 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 ...
. A single engined
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 ...
intended to meet a requirement to replace the
Sopwith Snipe The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of th ...
, the Basilisk was unsuccessful, only three being built.


Development and design

In 1918, the British
Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
issued the RAF Type 1 specification for a single-seat fighter, powered by the new (and untried)
ABC Dragonfly The ABC Dragonfly was a British radial engine developed towards the end of the First World War. It was expected to deliver excellent performance for the time and was ordered in very large numbers. It proved, however, to be extremely unreliable ...
air cooled
radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...
to replace the
Sopwith Snipe The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of th ...
. To meet this requirement,
Frederick Koolhoven Frederick (Frits) Koolhoven (11 January 1886 – 1 July 1946) was an aircraft designer in Britain and his native Netherlands. Koolhoven was born in Bloemendaal, Netherlands. After training as an engineer in Liège and Antwerp, he worked from 19 ...
, (formerly of
Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company, or Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, was a British aircraft manufacturer. History Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was established as the Aerial Department of the Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth & Company e ...
and before that Deperdussin) chief designer of the
British Aerial Transport British Aerial Transport Company Limited (BAT) was a British aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1917 to its closure in 1919. The company was based at Willesden, London. History The company was formed in 1917 by Samuel Waring around the ...
Company of London, designed the F.K. 25 Basilisk.Lewis 1979, pp.128, 130. Like Koolhovens earlier F.K.23 Bantam, the Basilisk was a two-bay
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 ...
with a wooden
monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...
fuselage, but was larger and heavier to accommodate the larger engine and the equipment required by the Specification. Armament was two
Vickers machine gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...
s mounted ahead of the pilot, and enclosed in a large fairing that formed the upper coaming of the pilot's cockpit.Mason 1992, p.140.Bruce 1957, p.75. Three prototypes were ordered in early 1918, and the first one flew in September 1918. It was destroyed on 3 May 1919 when attempting to break the World altitude record, its engine catching fire and BAT's test pilot, Peter Legh, being killed after he jumped clear.''Flight'' 8 May 1919, p.616. The second and third prototype were fitted with modified, horn balanced ailerons, with the second prototype tested at
Martlesham Heath Martlesham Heath village is situated 6 miles (10 km) east of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England. This was an ancient area of heathland and latterly the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield. A "new village" was established there in the mid-1970s and th ...
in October 1919. While its performance was good (although not as good as claimed by BAT), the Dragonfly engine was hopelessly unreliable, with further development or production abandoned earlier in the year, and the Basilisk was abandoned when Koolhoven left BAT at the end of 1919.


Specifications (Second prototype)


See also


Notes


References

* *
The Late Peter Legh
" ''
Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...
'', 8 May 1919, No. 641 Vol. XI. p. 616. *
Some "B.A.T." Aeroplanes
. ''
Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...
'', 1 January 1920, pp. 18, 19. * Bruce, J.M. ''British Aeroplanes 1914-18''. London:Putnam, 1957. * Bruce, J.M. ''War Planes of the First World War: Fighters Volume One''. London:Macdonald, 1965. * Lewis, Peter. ''The British Fighter since 1912''. London:Putnam, Fourth edition 1979. . * Mason, Francis K. ''The British Fighter since 1912''. Annapolis, USA:Naval Institute Press, 1992. .


External links


BAT FK-25 Basilisk
(in Russian) {{Koolhoven aircraft 1910s British fighter aircraft Biplanes Military aircraft of World War I Koolhoven aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1918