Felixstowe Porte Baby
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| Felixstowe Porte Baby | |
|---|---|
| Type | military flying boat |
| Manufacturer | May, Harden & May |
| Designed by | John Cyril Porte |
| Maiden flight | 1916 |
| Primary user | RNAS |
| Number built | 11 |
The Felixstowe Porte Baby was a British reconnaissance flying boat of the First World War first flying in 1916.
Contents |
[edit] Design and development
The Porte Baby was designed by John Cyril Porte at the Royal Naval Air Station at Felixstowe, where the prototype was also built; ten additional aircraft were built by May, Harden and May of Southampton.[1]
The Porte Baby was an unequal span, three bay biplane of wood and fabric construction, the hull being mounted below the lower wing. The engines, three Rolls-Royce Eagle VII of 325 hp (243 kW) each, were mounted between the wings; two in tractor configuration and the central one in pusher. The two pilots were in an enclosed cockpit but three gunners had open stations armed with machine guns.
As the image shows, the incongruously-named Baby was used to prove the concept of a larger aircraft carrying aloft and launching a lighter aircraft (in this case a Bristol Scout), a technique which came to be known as parasitic.
[edit] Operators
[edit] Specifications
Data from British Aircraft Directory [2]
General characteristics
- Crew: 5
- Length: 63 ft 0 in (19.2 m)
- Wingspan: 124 ft (37.8 m)
- Height: 25 ft 0 in (7.6 m)
- Wing area: 2,364 ft² (219.6 m²)
- Empty weight: 14,700 lb (6,667.8 kg)
- Loaded weight: 18,600 lb (8,164.7 kg)
- Powerplant: 3× Rolls-Royce Eagle VII V12 inline piston, 325 hp (242.5 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 92 mph at sea level (148.1 km/h)
- Service ceiling 8,000 ft (2,440 m)
- Rate of climb: 5 min 20 sec to 2,000 ft (m)
- Endurance:
Armament
- Guns: 3 × Lewis guns (1 in nose, 2 amidships)
[edit] References
- ^ The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1777
- ^ britishaircraft.co.uk - Felixstowe Porte Baby
- British Aircraft Directory accessed 1 February 2007.
[edit] See also
Parasite aircraft
Related development Felixstowe F5L
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