The Pemberton-Billing P.B.25 was a
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 ...
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-seat scout aircraft built by
Pemberton-Billing Limited, later Supermarine Aviation Works Limited.
Design and development
The P.B.23 was designed in
1915
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".
* January ...
as a single-seat biplane scout, with a fuselage nacelle strut-mounted between the wings. The nacelle had an open cockpit for the pilot at the front and at the rear an 80 hp (60 kW)
Le Rhône 9C
The Le Rhône 9C is a nine-cylinder rotary aircraft engine produced in France by '' Société des Moteurs Le Rhône'' / Gnome et Rhône. Also known as the Le Rhône 80 hp in a reference to its nominal power rating, the engine was ...
engine driving a pusher propeller. Twin fins and rudders were mounted on a wide-span tailplane with an elevator attached, all connected to the wing structure with four tailbooms. The P.B.23 failed to gain an order after it first flew in September
1915
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".
* January ...
, but twenty of an improved version, the P.B.25, were ordered by the
Royal Naval Air Service. The P.B.25 had swept-back wings, a modified landing gear and a revised fuselage nacelle and although originally powered by a 110 hp (82 kW) Clerget rotary engine, the 20 RNAS aircraft were fitted with
Gnome Monosoupape 9 Type B-2
The ''Monosoupape'' (French for single-valve), was a rotary engine design first introduced in 1913 by Gnome Engine Company (renamed Gnome et Rhône in 1915). It used a clever arrangement of internal transfer ports and a single pushrod-operated e ...
rotary piston engines.
Operational history
The aircraft, which were not used operationally, were based at
RNAS Hornchurch and
RNAS Hendon
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 ...
, where they were probably used in the training role.
Operators
;
*
Royal Naval Air Service
Specifications (P.B.25)
See also
References
Further reading
*{{cite book , title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), publisher= Orbis Publishing
1910s British military reconnaissance aircraft
Supermarine aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Biplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1915
Rotary-engined aircraft