The Norman Thompson N.1B was a prototype British

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

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 two-seat single-engined pusher

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 ...

, a single example was built in 1917, but no production followed.

Development and design

In 1917, the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

issued Specification N.1B, for single-engined, single-seat aircraft which laid down a number of requirements of aircraft to equip 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), including a requirement for a single-engined floatplane or flying boat fighter aircraft intended to operate from the Royal Navy's seaplane carriers.Another requirement of specification N.1B was for a torpedo bomber to carry a heavy torpedo, which resulted in the

Short Shirl The Short N.1B Shirl was a British single-seat biplane, intended to carry heavy torpedoes from early aircraft carriers late in World War I. It met its specifications but planned production was ended with the Armistice of 1918. The design was d ...

and Blackburn Blackburd. These torpedo bombers were unsuitable for the requirement for shipborne fighter which the Norman Thompson N.1B was built and vice versa. The specification required a maximum speed of at , and a ceiling of .James 1991, p.69. Responses were received from a number of companies, including the

Supermarine Baby The Supermarine Baby (also called the Supermarine N.1B Baby) was a First World War fighter aircraft that was the earliest example of a single-seat flying boat fighter to be built in the United Kingdom. It was designed by Supermarine to meet a 1 ...

and the

Westland N.1B The Westland N.1B was a prototype British single-engined floatplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. The first aircraft to be designed by Westland Aircraft, it was a single-engined tractor biplane. Despite good performance, only two airc ...

, as well as that from the Norman Thompson Flight Company. The Norman Thompson design, the Norman Thompson N.1B was a pusher biplane, with two-bay equal-span wings that folded forwards for storage on board ship, with

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s on both upper and lower wings. A single Hispano-Suiza engine mounted between the wings drove a four-blade propeller. While the specification required a single-seat aircraft, the Norman Thompson aircraft had a crew of two, seated in separate tandem cockpits ahead of the wings, giving rise to its alternative name of TNT (Tandem Norman Thompson).Goodall 1995, p.68.London 2003, pp. 37–39. Construction of a single prototype, ''N37'' was ordered by the Admiralty in April 1917, first flying in October that year.London 2003, p.39. Norman Thompson claimed that the aircraft had good performance, reaching a speed of 108 mph (174 km/h), but when the aircraft was officially tested at the Port Victoria Marine Experimental Aircraft Depot, performance was much less than that claimed by Norman Thompson, and did not meet the requirements of the specification.Goodall 1995, p.69. No production of any of the aircraft designed against Specification N.1B followed, with the RNAS operating

Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristi ...

and

Camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

landplanes from flying-off platforms aboard ships, which did not require the carrier to heave to in order to lower a seaplane to the water. The Norman Thompson N.1B was struck off charge by October 1918.

Specifications

Notes

References

Norman Thompson Flight Company advertisement 1917

*Bruce J.M. ''British Aeroplanes 1914-18''. London:Putnam, 1957. *Goodall, Michael H. ''The Norman Thompson File''. Tunbridge Wells, UK:Air Britain, 1995. . *James, Derek N. ''Westland Aircraft since 1915''. London:Putnam, 1991. . *London, Peter. "Bognor's Boats: The Aircraft of Norman Thompson". '' Air Enthusiast'', No. 66, November–December 1996. Stamford, UK:Key Publishing. . pp. 70–75. *London, Peter. ''British Flying Boats''. Stroud, UK:Sutton Publishing, 2003. .

External links

{{Norman Thompson aircraft Flying boats 1910s British fighter aircraft N.1B Biplanes Single-engined pusher aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1917

Development and design

Specifications

See also

Notes

References

External links