Rather early on in the Great War Britain recognized the need for ship-borne fighters to add to the flexibility of naval aviation. Several attempts were tried with none of the candidates performing particularly well in the role which they were intended.
The Mann Egerton Type H, also known as the Mann Egerton H.2, was an unsuccessful British ship-borne fighter aircraft designed in 1916.
The Type H was the first original design by Mann Egerton, and was designed by J W Carr according to Air Ministry specification N.1a in 1916. Its biplane wings could be folded manually (a feature first introduced in 1913 on the Short Folder), due to its intended use as a naval fighter. Other features of the design were the use of flotation chambers and a float attached to the underside of the fuselage for extra buoyancy. An innovation was that the undercarriage could be jettisoned if the aircraft needed to land on water. However, in autumn 1917, the aircraft failed flotation tests, and a new aircraft prototype, the Type H Mk II was developed.
This aircraft had inflatable flotation bags in place of the large float on the Mk I, a more conventional undercarriage and a horn-balanced rudder. This aircraft was tested in December 1917, however it was determined as unfit for production in the Fleet Air Arm and further development was discontinued.
References
- "Mann Egerton Type H". (2008, August 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:45, August 5, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mann_Egerton_Type_H&oldid=234206123
- Green, William; Gordon Swanborough. "The Complete Book of Fighters
". Godalming, UK: Salamander Books.
4 comments:
The amount of aircraft that were unsuccessful is amazing. it looks good until they actually test them I suppose.
The did not have many of the testing tools we take for granted, such as wind tunnels. There is also the problem of dealing with unworkable contract specifications, untested components such as engines. It had to be a difficult task.
They seem to be to more concerned with this aircraft floating that flying. Any idea how well she handled in the air?
@Jon: I have not found anything on the flight characteristics of the H2. Once the prototype failed the floatation tests the Admiralty canceled the project.
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