Wight Baby

The Wight Baby was a British single-seat seaplane fighter produced by John Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft). Only three prototype aircraft were built.

Design and development

Designed by Howard T. Wright and built by the aircraft department of the shipbuilder J. Samuel White & Company Ltd., the Wight Baby was a single-bay biplane with ailerons on the top wings only and a fabric-covered wooden fuselage. It was powered by a 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine driving a four-bladed propeller. Three prototypes were constructed (Nos. 9097, 9098 and 9099), and service trials were undertaken at the Seaplane Experimental Station at Felixstowe and also at the Isle of Grain, but the aircraft's performance was not good enough for any further development work or volume production to be carried out.

Specifications (Baby)

Data from British Aeroplanes 1914-18^[1]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 26 ft 8 in (8.13 m)
• Wingspan: 30 ft 8 in (9.35 m)
• Height: 9 ft 1 in (2.77 m)
• Wing area: 297 ft² (27.6 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,277 lb (580 kg)
• Loaded weight: 1,864 lb (847 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Gnome Monosoupape 9 Type B-2 rotary, 100 hp (75 kw)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 86.5 mph (75 knots, 139 km/h) at 6,500ft (1,980 m)
• Service ceiling: 9,300 ft (2,800 m)
  
• Endurance: 2½ hours
• Climb to 2,000 ft (610 m): 4 min 50 sec
• Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 48 min 30 sec

Armament

• Possible provision for two 65 lb (30 kg) bombs

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Sopwith Baby

References

• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing. 
• Bruce, J.M. (1957). British Aeroplanes 1914-18. London: Putnam. 
• Mason, Francis K. (1992). The British Fighter since 1912. London: Putnam. p. 83. ISBN 0-85177-852-6.