English Electric Ayr

The English Electric M.3 Ayr was a British three-seat coastal patrol flying boat designed and built by the English Electric Company. The aircraft refused to become airborne and the project was abandoned.

Development

While the company were working on the Kingston they decided to experiment with a design for a small flying boat. The aircraft was a single-engined biplane flying-boat named the Ayr and was built in 1924. The hull was designed by Linton Hope who had designed the Kingston hulls. An unusual feature was the lower wing, or stub wing mounted low down on the hull. It was designed to carry bombs underneath the stub-wings, these would have been underwater when the aircraft was afloat. During trials the aircraft rolled to the right and refused to become airborne.

Specifications

Data from British Flying Boats ^[1]

General characteristics

• Crew: 3
• Length: 40 ft 8 in (12.40 m)
• Wingspan: 46 ft 0 in (14.02 m)
• Height: 13 ft 8 in (4.12 m)
• Wing area: 466 sq ft (43.3 m²)
• Empty weight: 4,406 lb (2,003 kg)
• Loaded weight: 6,846 lb (3,112 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Napier Lion IIB 12-cylinder 'broad arrow' piston engine, 450 hp (336 kW)
• All weights estimated

Performance

• Maximum speed: 127 mph (110 knots, 204 km/h)
• Service ceiling: 14,500 ft (4,400 m)
  
• All performance estimated

Armament

• Guns:
  
  • 1 x 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis machine gun in nose
  • 1 x 0.303 in Lewis machine gun in rear cockpit
• Bombs: Provision for sponson carried bombs

See also

Related lists

• List of seaplanes and flying boats

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to English Electric aircraft.

• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1613
• London, Peter. British Flying Boats. Stroud, UK:Sutton Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7509-2695-3.