Tarrant Tabor

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Tabor
Type Bomber
Manufacturer Walter George Tarrant
Designed by Walter Barling
Maiden flight 26 May 1919
Primary user RAE
Number built 1

The Tarrant Tabor was a British bomber triplane, which was designed towards the end of the First World War and was briefly the world's largest aircraft. It crashed fatally on its first flight.

Contents

[edit] Development

The Tabor was the first aircraft design produced by W.G Tarrant Ltd, a woodworking contractor at Byfleet, Surrey, who had hired Walter Barling from the Royal Aircraft Factory to design a very large long range heavy bomber.

The Tabor was originally planned as a biplane powered by four 600 hp Siddeley Tiger engines. As these were unavailable, however, the aircraft was redesigned to use six 450 hp Napier Lion engines to give a similar power/weight ratio, and a third, upper wing added[1].

The final design was a triplane bomber with a wingspan of over 131 ft (40 m) across. Unusually, the central wing had by far the greater span. Four engines were mounted in push pull configuration pairs between the lower and middle wings with the two additional engines were mounted in tractor configuration between the middle and upper wings, directly above the lower pairs.

The Tabor's maiden flight was from the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough on 26 May 1919. However while on the runway it pitched forwards onto its nose moments before take-off killing the two pilots. Later analysis suggested that the upper engines were so far above the fuselage that they actually forced the nose down when driven up to full power. The situation may not have been helped by the addition of 1,000 lb of lead ballast in the nose against the wishes of Tarrant [1].

[edit] Operators

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[edit] Specifications (Tabor (performance estimated))

Data from The British Bomber since 1914[1]

General characteristics

  • Crew: Six
  • Length: 73 ft 2 in (22.31 m)
  • Wingspan: 131 ft 3 in (40.02 m)
  • Height: 37 ft 3 in (11.36 m)
  • Wing area: 4,950 ft² (460 m²)
  • Empty weight: 24,750 lb (11,250 kg)
  • Loaded weight: 44,672 lb (20,305 kg)
  • Powerplant: 6× Napier Lion 12 cylinder, water cooled broad arrow engines (four tractor, two pusher), 450 hp (336 kW) each

Performance

Armament

  • Bomb load of approximately 4600 lb planned

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Mason, Francis K (1994). The British Bomber since 1914. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, p.126-127. ISBN 0 85177 861 5. 

[edit] External links

[edit] See also