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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1808.PDF
23 December 1955 931 hydrodynamic characteristics; some of these changes were made.The boat was flown with one, two and three steps for experi- mental purposes, but finally had two. Although provision was made in the Fury for the carrying ofarmament, the aircraft was never used operationally. The gunner's cockpit which was originally provided in the bows was fairedover at about the same time as the modified tail unit was fitted. After the Armistice the big triplane continued to be flown experi-mentally; and at one time there was a proposal to attempt the transatlantic flight. This project was officially opposed on thegrounds of expense, but the crossing would have been well within the Fury's capability; maximum fuel capacity was 1,500gallons. The aircraft was wrecked a few months after Porte and Renniewere demobilized. With their departure from Felixstowe there was no technical officer to supervise the experimental flying, andit seems possible that the Fury's load was incorrectly disposed. The pilot, Maj. Ronald Moon, apparently lifted the boat offthe water before its minimum safe flying speed had been reached. With no reserve power available the craft stalled, stove in its hullon striking the water, and sank; Moon and two of his crew lost their lives. Just as the Curtiss company had adopted the Porte type ofconstruction for the H.16 flying-boat, so also did the Norman Thompson company in England. After producing a series ofboats which were generally similar to the Curtiss machines in appearance and construction, the Bognor Regis concern built twoprototypes, designated Norman Thompson N.2C. This type was a development of the Norman Thompson N.T.4A, and had thesame flight organs; but the N.2C had a Porte-type hull in place of the boat-built hull of the N.T.4A. This design was probablyinfluenced by the production of F.2A hulls in the Norman Thompson workshops. As remarked earlier, Service needs for flying-boats were dras-tically reduced with the coming of peace. Production virtually ceased, and the F.3 was soon withdrawn in favour of the F.2Aand F.5. The F.3 was declared obsolete in September 1921, and several were sold abroad. Portugal and Spain used the type: aPortuguese F.3 made the first flight from Portugal to Madeira on March 22nd, 1921, covering the 530 nautical miles in 5j hours;and three F.3s were carried aboard the Spanish aircraft carrier Dedalo. Some of these F.3s were reconditioned by Fairey Avia-tion before going abroad. Farther afield, two F.3s, adapted to carry six passengers or a ton of freight, were used for commercialpurposes in Tasmania. The R.A.F.'s use of F.5s was unspectacular, for no flying-boatswere needed to patrol waters no longer infested by U-boats. A fine flight was made in the summer of 1919 by N.4044, one of the firstF.5s to be built. Accompanied by N.4041, this boat left for a tour of Scandinavia in July 1919. N.4041 was recalled, but N.4044continued alone and completed an uneventful and trouble-free tour which lasted 27 days and covered 2,450 miles. Experiments continued. An F.5 (N.4838) was flown at theIsle of Grain with experimental aileron balances consisting of small auxiliary aerofoils, similar to those used on the AvroManchester and the third Bristol Badger. Two experimental hulls were tested on F.5 aircraft. The firstto appear was N.178, which had a deep, hollow-bottom hull made by Saunders; standard F.5 flight organs were fitted, the main-planes being rigged with a slight stagger. The second experi- mental F.5, N.117, was of considerable significance, for it wasclaimed to be the first military flying-boat in the world to have an all-metal hull. This hull was made by Short Brothers, towhom the aircraft was known as the Short S.2, and was an early example of a metal monocoque. Standard F.5 wings and tailsurfaces were fitted: these included horn-balanced elevators. The Short S.2 hull had a fluted planing bottom, and its strengthwas proved when, near the west coast of France, the aircraft stalled into rough water from a height of about 30ft. The hullremained undamaged and completely watertight. In 1921, fifteen F.5s were bought by Japan. These flying boatsgave excellent service with the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service, and were put to good use by the British Air Missionwhich went to Japan in 1921. Some impressive long-distance flights were made, and in some cases the Japanese F.5s wereairborne for over nine hours. One of the first airlines to be operated by flying-boats was theKey West to Havana route of Aeromarine West Indies Airways Inc. The aircraft were two modified F-5Ls which had accom-modation for twelve passengers in two cabins in the hull, to which circular windows were fitted. The machines were modi-fied late in 1919 by the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company of Keyport, N.J., and were designated the Aeromarine Model (Reading downwards) America's Curtiss H.16, showing the adoption of a Porte-type hull; the Porte Super Baby, or—officially—Felixstowe Fury; and the same aircraft with its modified tail unit. 75. The airline's passengers were mostly thirsty Americansseeking the type of refreshment denied them by Prohibition, but the withdrawal of airmail subsidies in 1923 brought about thecollapse of the venture. An F-5L was used to test an early radio compass on July 6th,1920, when the aircraft flew from Hampton Roads to U.S.S. Ohio at sea with the aid of the instrument; the distance was 95miles. But John Porte was not to see the modest peace-time suc-cesses of his flying-boats. He left the R.A.F. as W/C. Porte, C.M.G., and in August 1919 he joined the Gosport AviationCo., Ltd., as chief designer. For that company he produced a series of designs based on his Felixstowe types. Perhaps themost interesting of these was the Gosport G.9, which was simply a commercial version of the Felixstowe Fury, poweredby three 600 h.p. Rolls-Royce Condor engines—the installation originally intended for the Fury. The G.9's engines werearranged as two tractors and a central pusher unit. Neither the G.9 nor any other Gosport type was built, how-
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