__NOTOC__ The COW Biplane was a British tractor biplane built to compete in the

1912 British Military Aeroplane Competition In 1911 the British War Office announced their first Military Aeroplane Competition for aircraft to meet the requirements of the Air Battalion Royal Engineers. The formal requirements were published in December 1911. By the time the trials were he ...

. It was not successful.

Design and development

When the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

held a competition to find a military aeroplane for the newly formed

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

, the directors of the

Coventry Ordnance Works Coventry Ordnance Works was a British manufacturer of heavy guns particularly naval artillery jointly owned by Cammell Laird & Co of Sheffield and Birkenhead, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Glasgow and John Brown & Compa ...

decided to enter two aircraft. The company had just taken over the business of Howard T. Wright in Battersea, and they directed Wright and W.O. Manning to design and build the aircraft. Manning designed two slightly different aircraft. Both were unequal-span tractor biplanes, the first had two crew seated side-by-side, and was powered by a

Gnome rotary engine A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...

, the other had the two crew in tandem and was powered by a Chenu inline engine. Construction of the Gnome powered aircraft started at Battersea in early 1912, by the end of April 1912 the components of the aircraft were moved to Hangar No. 32 at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

for completion. The aircraft flew soon afterwards piloted by

Thomas Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS (18 January 1888 – 27 January 1989) was an English aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman. Early life Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 January 1888. He was the eig ...

who had been hired as a test pilot. On the day after the first flight the aircraft entered an impromptu competition and race at Brooklands, taking three passengers with two of the passengers sitting outside of the cockpit on the lower wing. Construction of the second Chenu-powered aircraft followed and it was delivered to Brooklands in July 1912. The second aircraft differed in engine, seating arrangement, smaller wingspan, and shorter fuselage. Unusual for its time, it was fitted with a four-bladed propeller made from two two-bladed propellers joined together. The War Office allocated Trial No. 10 to the Gnome-powered aircraft and No. 11 to the Chenu-powered one, thereafter they were always identified as Biplane No. 10 and Biplane No. 11. No. 10 arrived at

Larkhill Aerodrome Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of the centre of Durrington village and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury. The settlement ...

in good time for the competition but No. 11 was moved by road and due to delays it missed the entry deadline. Although No. 11 was not disqualified it failed to compete due to engine problems, suffering repeated failures of the

magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...

drive followed by failure of the reduction gear housing (similar problems with a Chenu engine also grounded the Martin and Handasyde entry to the competition).Bruce 1982, pp. 16–18, 30–31. No. 10 started the competition but had to be withdrawn with propeller problems. The aircraft could not be fixed at Larkhill as Manning was abroad and Wright had left the company, so the aircraft were returned to Brooklands after the competition for further work. Manning decided to re-build No. 10 using the original fuselage and tail and retaining the engine, but it was fitted with new wings and landing gear. The modified No. 10 flew again on 13 January 1913 and was flown throughout 1913. The fate on No. 11 is unknown.

Variants

;No. 10 :Gnome-powered biplane for 1912 Military Aeroplane Competition with side-by-side seating, later modified with new wings and other changes. ;No. 11 :Chenu-powered biplane for 1912 Military Aeroplane Competition with tandem seating.

Specifications (No. 10)

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

{{Commons category, COW Biplane 1910s British military aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes

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 ...

Rotary-engined aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1912