The Sunbeam Bomber was a prototype single-engined, single seat bomber aircraft 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 ...

. Only one example flew as the type proved to be unsuccessful and was abandoned.

Design and development

Following the outbreak of the

, the

Sunbeam Motor Car Company Sunbeam Motor Car Company Limited was a British automobile manufacturer with its works at Moorfields in Blakenhall, a suburb of Wolverhampton in Staffordshire, now West Midlands. Its Sunbeam name had been registered by John Marston in 1888 fo ...

became a major supplier of licence-built aircraft 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), in addition to its existing work as a designer and builder of aero-engines and motor vehicles.Bruce 1957, p. 637.Mason 1994, p. 83. In November 1916, a requirement for a single-engined, single-seat bomber was issued on behalf of the RNAS,Bruce 2001, p. 4. and when Sunbeam decided to design an aircraft to respond to this specification, it received an order for two prototypes from the

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 ...

. Sunbeam's design was a two- 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 ...

of conventional

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...

. It was powered by one of Sunbeam's own

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...

s rated at and driving a two-bladed propeller. The aircraft's fuel tanks were located in the fuselage at the aircraft's

centre of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...

, which resulted in the pilot's cockpit being well behind the wings (and behind the nose). Racks for three 100 lb (45 kg) bombs were fitted under the wings, while a single forward-firing synchronized

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 ...

was mounted above the aircraft's engine.Bruce 1957, pp. 637–638. The first prototype,

serial number A serial number is a unique identifier assigned incrementally or sequentially to an item, to ''uniquely'' identify it. Serial numbers need not be strictly numerical. They may contain letters and other typographical symbols, or may consist enti ...

''N515'' first flew at

Castle Bromwich Castle Bromwich () is a large suburban village situated within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English county of the West Midlands. It is bordered by the rest of the borough to the south east; also Sutton Coldfield to the east and ...

in late 1917, but exhibited a number of problems. The Puma engine, despite being ordered in large numbers, was unreliable and suffered from severe vibration, which considerably delayed service testing. The aircraft's layout, with the pilot sitting so far aft, gave him a poor view, and sitting away from the Vickers gun, could no nothing to resolve any gun stoppage. When eventually formally tested, in August 1918, it proved to be heavier and carry fewer bombs than the private venture Sopwith B.1 of similar concept. The second prototype was abandoned before it was completed, and no orders were placed either for the Sunbeam or the Sopwith,Mason 1994, pp. 82–83. which were incapable of defending themselves against attacking enemy fightersBruce 2001, p.5. Existing two-seat aircraft such as the

Airco DH.4 The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) was an early British aircraft manufacturer. Established during 1912, it grew rapidly during the First World War, referring to itself as the largest aircraft company in the world by 1918. Ai ...

better met the RNAS's (and later the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

's) requirements.Mason 1994, p. 81.

Specifications

Notes

References

* * * {{refend 1910s British bomber aircraft Military aircraft of World War I Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1917

Design and development

Specifications

See also

Notes

References