Felixstowe F.5

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Felixstowe F.5

Felixstowe F.3
Type	military flying boat
Manufacturer	Seaplane Experimental Station Short Brothers Dick, Kerr & Co. Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company Gosport Aviation
Designed by	J C Porte
Maiden flight	May 1918
Introduced	1917
Primary users	RNAS RAF US Navy
Number built	175
Developed from	Felixstowe F.2
Variants	Felixstowe F5L

The Felixstowe F.5 was a British First World War flying boat designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyrill Porte RN of the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe.

1 Development
2 Operational service
3 Variants
4 Specifications (F5)
5 References
6 Related content
7 External links

[edit] Development

Porte had designed a better hull for the larger Curtiss H12 flying boat, giving the Felixstowe F.2a, which was greatly superior to the original Curtiss boat. This entered production and service as a patrol aircraft. In February 1917, the first prototype of the Felixstowe F3 was flown. This was larger and heavier then the F2, giving it greater range and heavier bomb load, but poorer agility. The Felixstowe F5 was intended to combine the good qualities of the F2 and F3, with the prototype first flying in May 1918. The prototype showed superior qualities to its predecessors but the production version was modified to make extensive use of components from the F.3, in order to ease production, giving lower performance than either the F.2a or F5.

[edit] Operational service

The F5 did not enter service until after the end of World War I, but replaced the earlier Felixstowe boats (together with Curtiss flying boats) to serve as the RAF's standard flying boat until being replaced by the Supermarine Southampton in 1925.

In 1920. the Canadian Air Board sponsored a project to conduct the first ever Trans-Canada flight. The leg from Riviére du Loup to Winnipeg was flown by LCol. Leckie and Maj. Hobbs in a Felixstowe F.3 to determine the feasability of such flights for future air mail and passenger service.

[edit] Variants

F5: Development of F3 with longer span wings. Standard post war RAF flying boat.
Felixstowe F5L US built version of F5 with two Liberty engines.

[edit] Specifications (F5)

Data from Aircraft of the Royal Air Force^[1]

General characteristics

Crew: 4
Length: 49 ft 3 in (15 m)
Wingspan: 103 ft 8 in (31.6 m)
Height: 18 ft 9 in (5.7m)
Wing area: 1,409 ft² (131 m²)
Empty weight: 9,100 lb (4,136 kg)
Loaded weight: 12,682 lb (5,765kg)
Powerplant: 2× Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII V12 piston, 345 hp (257 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 76 knots (88mph, 142 km/h) at 2000 ft (610 m)
Service ceiling: 6,800 ft (2,070 m)
Rate of climb: 30 min to 6,500 ft (1,980 m)
Endurance: 7 hours

Armament

Guns: 4 Lewis guns (1 in nose, 3 amidships).
Bombs: Up to 920 lbs bombs beneath wings.

[edit] References

^ Thetford, Owen. Aircraft of the Royal Air Force since 1918. London: Putnam & Co., 1979. ISBN 0-37030-186-2.

Donald, David and Lake Jon, eds. Encyclopedia of World Military Aircraft. London: AIRtime Publishing, 1996. ISBN 1-880588-24-2.
Taylor, Michael J.H. (ed.). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London, England: Studio Editions, Ltd., 1989. ISBN 0-51710-316-8.