The Beardmore W.B.V 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, ...
single-engine shipborne
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 ...
fighter 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.57.] It was not successful, only two being completed.
Development and design
At the same time as developing the
Beardmore W.B.IV,
G. Tilghman Richards, the chief designer of Beardmore, designed a second aircraft to meet an
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
requirement for a ship-borne fighter aircraft to be armed with a
37 mm Le-Puteaux quick firing gun in order to destroy airships.
[Bruce 1965, p.74.] The resulting aircraft, the W.B.V, was a single seater two-bay
tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...
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 ...
powered by a 200 hp (149 kW) Hispano-Suiza engine. The wings folded for storage on board ship. The manually loaded Le-Puteaux gun was mounted between the cylinder banks of the V-8 engine, firing through a hollow propeller shaft. Unlike the W.B.V, the W.B.IV was not fitted with a buoyancy chamber, being instead fitted with inflatable flotation bags.
[Mason 1992, pp.127-128.]
The first prototype flew on 3 December 1917.
[Bruce 1965, p.74.] During testing, the Le Puteaux gun was considered dangerous by
RNAS
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 ...
pilots, and the aircraft was re-armed with a more conventional synchronised
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 ...
together with a
Lewis gun mounted on a tripod mounting.
Development was abandoned shortly after the completion of a second prototype.
Specifications
See also
References
*
*
*
{{Beardmore aircraft
1910s British fighter aircraft
W.B.V
Carrier-based aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1917
Biplanes