aircraft illustrated best of british aviation part one 1909-1934

8/7/2019 Aircraft Illustrated Best of British Aviation Part One 1909-1934

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Avro Triplone100 years old as of I January next year,Avro was always one of thegreat pioneering companies in British aviation.AlliottVerdon Roeundertook his initial 'hops'aboard his Roe lAvroplane at Brooklandson 8 June I 908, and although these cannot be classed as true flightshe was soon airborne more confidently, becoming the first Englishmanto take to the skies in a British-built aircraft from British soil whenhis newAvroTriplane, shown here, lifted off from Lea Marshes,Walthamstow, on I 3 July 1909. Roe would construct a total of fourTriplanes. Progression to aircraft manufacturing was a natural, ifambitious, step, and A.V. Roe and Company was founded in Manchesteron I January 1910.

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de HovillondBiplone No IThis was the primitive aircraftthat represented the aeronauticalbeginnings of another legendaryname in British aviation -de Havilland.The 45hp biplanedesigned by Geoffrey deHavilland was test-flown fromSeven Barrows in Berkshire inDecember 1909, but only briefly,for it crashed after a short hop.Subsequent designs would proverather more successful.

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Brislol BoxkiteThe Filton, Bristol, factory of theBritish and Colonial AeroplaneCompany, later the BristolAeroplane Company, developedHenri Farman's biplane designinto what became known as theBoxkite. First flown in July 1910,a total of 75 examples werebuilt, mostly for the British Army- it was the first aircraft typeordered by theWar Office.

Royol Aircrofl Foctory FEIThe second of Geoffrey de Havillandl designs tofly, this proved more successful than his first.de Havilland joined the Farnborough-based ArmyBalloon Factory, later the Royal Aircraft Factory, inI 9 I 0, but that year had already flown his secondaircraft design.The War Office purchased themachine and gave it the first Royal Aircraft Factoryaircraft designation, FE l. lt crashed in I 9 I l, butwas rebuilt as the first type to bear the FE2 name,though by now it was very different to the FE I .

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Avro Triplone100 years old as of I January next year,Avro was always one of thegreat pioneering companies in British aviation.AlliottVerdon Roeundertook his initial 'hops'aboard his Roe lAvroplane at Brooklandson 8 June I 908, and although these cannot be classed as true flightshe was soon airborne more confidently, becoming the first Englishmanto take to the skies in a British-built aircraft from British soil whenhis new Avro Triplane, shown here, lifted off from Lea Marshes,Walthamstow, on l3 July 1909. Roe would construct a total of fourTriplanes. Progression to aircraft manufacturing was a natural, ifambitious, step, and A.V. Roe and Company was founded in Manchesteron I January 1910.

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de HqvillqndBiplone No IThis was the primitive aircraftthat represented the aeronauticalbeginnings of another legendaryname in British aviation -de Havilland.The 45hp biplanedesigned by Geoffrey deHavilland was test-flown fromSeven Barrows in Berl


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Royol Aircrofl Foctory FEIThe second of Geoffrey de Havilland's designs tofly, this proved more successful than his first.de Havilland joined the Farnborough-based ArmyBalloon Factory, later the Royal Aircraft Factory, inI 9 I 0, but that year had already flown his secondaircraft design.TheWar Office purchased themachine and gave it the first Royal Aircraft Factoryaircraft designation, FE l. lt crashed in I 9 I I, butwas rebuilt as the first type to bear the FE2 name,though by now it was very different to the FE l.

Bristol BoxkiteThe Filton, Bristol, factory of theBritish and Colonial AeroplaneCompany, later the BristolAeroplane Company, developedHenri Farman! biplane designinto what became l


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Short S38The Short S38 was amongst the pioneering aircraftofBritish naval aviation. l0January l9l2 sawthe first take-off from a British warship whenLt C. R. Samson got airborne in his S38 from thefixed wooden forecastle ramp on HMS Africo,a cruiser.The ship was at anchor off Sheernessat the time, and the aircraft took to the airafter a run of I 00ft, well before the end of theramp. Samson went one step further on 2 Mayl9l2 when he launched his S38 from a similar fixed ramp onbattleship HMS Hibernio inWeymouth Bay,this time while the ship was under way at 10.51


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,,,,";'i,i::lri$Avro 504One of the greatest British military aircraft of all time, more than10,000 Avro 504s of all versions were produced between l9l3and 1932. Some were used for front-line roles by both the RoyalFlying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service early in WW l, exploitsincluding a successful attack by RNAS machines on the Zeppelinworl


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;W&*a&*:,.---''' r r , ,Airco DH4Of Geoffrey de Havillandl designs for Airco, the DH4 was one of thebest.After its maiden flight in August 1916, this two-seat day bomberentered service with the RFC the following January, and it also equippedRNAS units. Most production examples used the Rolls-Royce Eagleengine, and this gave excellent performance;American-built DH4s, whichalso served in France in numbers duringWWl,had Liberty powerplants.The DH4, upon which its DH9 successor failed to improve, made asubstantial contribution to the war effort, taking the fight to Germanyas part of the lndependentAir Force's strategic bombing offensive inl9lS.After hostilities ceased, many carried on flying as passenger, cargoand mail transports on both sides of theAtlantic.

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Royol Aircrqft Foclory SE5The arrival in service of the SE5, and specifically the'definitive' SE5a, helped turn the tide in the Allies' favour duringWWl,for it was a rapid fighter capable of taking on anything the Germans had to offer.The maiden flight of theSE5 occurred in November l9l6,and March l9l7 saw initial deliveries to No 56 Squadron, RFC. Production soonswitched to the SE5a,and once problems with its Hispano-Suiza engine were solved by substituting theWolseleyViper, the aircraft came of age.Aces such as Mick Mannock,James McCudden and AlbertBall scored many kills inSESas, securing the type'splace as a legend. Shownhere in this rare photo arefive SE5as of the SavageSkywriting Co, which usedsurplus aircraft afterWW I .

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Y" ry*fl'o sskBristol FighterThe early combat service of the'Brisfit' was hardlyauspicious, four of the six F2a aircraft sent on the type'sfirst patrol being shot down by German Albatros D.llls.Changes to two-seat fighter tactics helped, allowingthe Bristoll better agility than other such aircraft to beexploited,while the F2b version,the definitive productionvariant, boasted the more powerful Rolls-Royce Falcon lllengine.Almost 1,600 were in service by war's end, and over5,300 were produced by numerous factories.They servedall over the world, with the RAF - which used F2bs rightaround the Empire long afterWWl - and other air arms.lndeed, the aircraft illustrated here was built for Spain in192 l, fitted with a 200hp Hispano-Suiza engine.r,A trt i,L),

Supermorine SoulhomplonIn typically stately fashion, a flight of threeRAF Supermarine Southamptons cruisesabove the waves.The twin-engined (mainlywith versions of the Napier Lion) generalreconnaissance flying boat tool< to theair and entered service in I 925. Severalhigh-profile long-distance flights made theSouthampton famous, most notably a tripof 27,000 miles by four aircraft from theFar East Flight in 1927-z9,tal


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Supermorine 55This was the aircraft that was the subject ofgreat British national pride, and pride in ouraviation industry, by winning the SchneiderTrophy in 1927 flown by Flt Lt SidneyWebster atan average speed of 28 l.66mph (453.28km/h). ltwas our first victory in the contest for five years,

and heralded the start of British domination ofthe SchneiderTrophy, culminating in our winningthe cup in perpetuity with the 568 in l93l.And,of course, the experience built up by ReginaldMitchell and Supermarine in creating these fastseaplanes would prove of good use when theycame to design the aircraft which became knownas the Spitfire.

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Foirey lllFVarious floatplane andlandplane versions ofthe Fairey lll seriesculminated in the lllF,first flown on 20April1926. lt was developedfor both the FleetAirArm, who used it as aspotting/reconnaissanceplatform, and the RAFas a general-purposeaircraft. Float-equippedlllFs were launchedfrom Royal Navy capitalships, while wheeledexamples flew offaircraft carriers. lts RAFservice in helping policethe colonies was no lessextensive.The Fairey lllFMklll, as depicted hereby S 1794, was the mostextensively-producedmark of what was theFAAI most numeroustype for several yearsbetween the wars.

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Hondley-Poge HP42lf there's an aircraft that sumsup inter-war lmperial Airways,it's the Handley-Page HP42. lnthe days of Empire, it servedelegantly on the lengthy routesout East, its maximum speedof l20mph meaning thatprogress was decidedly statelyover the long sectors that

its 500-mile rangepermitted, but this wastravelling in style.24passengers could beacco mmodated. Thesimilar HP45 had aSreater number ofseats (29), but shorterrange, and was usedon European routes.Pictured here isHP42 G-AAUCHorso, the secondexample of fourbuilt, first flown onll September 193 l.

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Hondley-Poge HeyfordNo-one could have described the Heyford as aheadof its time, despite its unusual configuration with thefuselage mounted to the upper, rather than lower,wings. However, it was a reliable workhorse of abomber, and, with its two Rolls-Royce Kestrel enginesand rugged construction, surprisingly sprightly -it could even be looped!The prototype! maidenflight occurred in June l930,and service entry withNo 99 Squadron (at, fittingly, Upper Heyford) inNovember l933.The days of biplane heavy bomberswere numbered, though, and although some unitsformed under the RAF Expansion Scheme receivedHeyfords, they were replaced by Whitleys,Wellesleysand Wellingtons before the outbreak of war, a fewsoldiering on as trainers. K4029 in the photographwas an'interim' Mkl/lA example.

Foirey long-Ronge MonoplqneA rather ungainly machine,the Fairey Long-Range Monoplane wasnonetheless a great British record-breaker of the inter-war years.Theintention was for the aircraft to study ways of increasing the range offuture designs, and two ended up being built - the first made its initialflight in November 1928 and then made

a non-stop flight from RAF Cranwell toKarachi, but was later lost in an accidentinTlnis during a distance record attempt.This led to a second example, K 199 I(shown here), being built, which capturedthe world long-distance flight record inFebruary 1933 with a trip of 5,4 l0 milesbetween Cranwell andWalvis Bay inSouth-West Africa.

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Howker HorlThe Hart was a light bomber, one of the first of the greatfamily of inter-war Hawl


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Howker High-Speed Furyls there a more aggressive-lool


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Glosler GlodiolorThe Gloster Gauntlet had been an excellent fighter, but the Gladiator,with a more powerful Bristol Mercury engine and a more refined designincluding, on production aircraft, an enclosed cockpit proved evenmore so.The aircraft pictured is in fact the open-cockpit Gloster SS37prototype, flown in September 1934 and being developed at the timeas a private venture. But theAir Ministry ordered over 200 for theRAF during 1935, and production for the service eventually totalledmore than 480 out of 787 built in all. No 72 Squadron was the firstunit to re-equip, in February 1937. Outdated and mostly replaced atthe outbreal< of war, some Gladiators soldiered on overseas, mostfamously in Norway, Malta and theWestern Desert.The Glosterbiplane may have been obsolete, but it earned its spurs magnificently.

&t r1de Hqvillqnd DH89 Drogon Ropide/DominieThis year marks the 75th anniversary of the maiden flight of the DragonRapide, the eight-passenger twin-engined airliner that gave sterling servicewith carriers before and after the war. lt also achieved fame as the firstaircraft to carry a reigning British monarch, King EdwardVlll flying aboardthe King's Flight's new example in 1936. Pre-war production totalledjust over 200, but another 520 or so were built during hostilities for themilitary, adding to civilian examples impressed into service. Named theDominie, the military version was used as a wireless oPerator trainer andcommunications aircraft by both the RAF and Royal Navy,and many foundtheir way onto the commercial market post- 1945 as civil air transportrecovered in peacetime.And as with theTiger Moth,the Dragon Rapide isstill popular today with pleasure flight passengers.

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aircraft illustrated best of british aviation part one 1909-1934

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