Wight Converted Seaplane

Converted Seaplane

Wight Converted Seaplane (No. 9583)
Role	Biplane floatplane
Manufacturer	John Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft)
First flight	1916
Primary user	Royal Naval Air Service
Number built	37

The Wight Converted Seaplane was a British twin-float patrol seaplane produced by John Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft).

Design and development

Developed from the unsuccessful Wight Bomber for use as an anti-submarine patrol aircraft, the "Converted" Seaplane was a straightforward adaptation of the landplane bomber to a seaplane. The aircraft was a three-bay biplane with unswept, unequal span, unstaggered wings. It had twin floats under the fuselage and additional floats at tail and wings tips. Initial production aircraft were powered by a 322 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle IV engine mounted in the nose driving a four-bladed propeller, with later production batches being powered by a 265 hp (198 kW) Sunbeam Maori engine owing to shortages of Eagles.^[1] Fifty were ordered for the RNAS, of which only 37 were completed.^[2]

Operational history

The Converted Seaplane entered service with the RNAS in 1917,^[1] operating from bases at Calshot, Dover, Portland and Cherbourg.^[2] On 18 August 1917, a Wight Converted Seaplane flying from Cherbourg sank the German U-boat UB-32 with a single 100 lb bomb, the first submarine to be sunk in the English Channel by direct air action.^[1] Seven remained in service with the RAF at the end of the First World War.

Operators

United Kingdom

Specifications (Seaplane - Eagle engine)

Data from The British Bomber since 1914 ^[1]

General characteristics

Crew: 2
Length: 44 ft 8½ in (13.63 m)
Wingspan: 65 ft 6 in (19.97 m)
Height: 16 ft (4.88 m)
Wing area: 715 ft² (66.4 m²)
Empty weight: 3,758 lb (1,708 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 5,556 lb (2,525 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Eagle IV V-12, 322 hp (240 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 73 knots (84 mph, 135 mph)
Service ceiling: 9,600 ft (2,900 m)
Climb to 6,500 ft (2,000 m): 18 min 20 sec
Endurance: 3½ hours

References

1 2 3 4 Mason, Francis K (1994). The British Bomber since 1914. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books. ISBN 0-85177-861-5.
1 2 Thetford, Owen (1994). British Naval Aircraft since 1912 (Fourth ed.). London: Putnam. ISBN 0-85177-861-5.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.

External links

Wight Converted Seaplane

J. Samuel White/Wight Aircraft designed aircraft

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