The Beardmore W.B.1 was a British single-engine bomber biplane of World War I developed by

Beardmore Beardmore can refer to: *Andrew Beardmore, better known as Andy Moor, English trance DJ, producer and remixer *Bob Beardmore, British rugby league footballer *Bud Beardmore (1939–2016), American lacrosse coach *Jim Beardmore, Former All-American ...

.Taylor 1990, p.56.

Development and design

In 1916, G. Tilghman Richards, the newly appointed chief designer of the aviation department of the Scottish shipbuilder William Beardmore, designed his first aircraft for Beardmore, the W.B.1. This was to be a single engined bomber for 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 ...

(RNAS), which was intended to carry out long gliding attacks to achieve surprise. It was a three-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 long span high aspect ratio wings, which were highly staggered.Mason 1994, p.75. It was powered by a 230 hp (172 kW) BHP engine and first flew in early 1917. The W.B.1 was delivered to the RNAS at

Cranwell Cranwell is a village in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Cranwell and Byard's Leap and is situated approximately north-west from Sleaford and south-east from the city and county town o ...

for evaluation on 8 June 1917.Lewis 1980, p.72. By this time however, the larger and more capable

Handley Page O/100 The Handley Page Type O was a biplane bomber used by Britain during the First World War. When built, the Type O was the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and one of the largest in the world. There were two main variants, the Handle ...

was in production and the W.B.1 was rejected by the RNAS.

Specifications

References

Sources

* * * {{Beardmore aircraft 1910s British bomber aircraft W.B.1 Aircraft first flown in 1917 Biplanes