AD Seaplane Type 1000

Infobox Aircraft
infoboxwidth=20
name=AD Seaplane Type 1000


caption=
type=Torpedo bomber
bomber
manufacturer=J. Samuel White
designer=Harris Booth
first flight=1916
introduced=
retired=
status=
primary user=Royal Naval Air Service
more users=
produced=
number built=1
unit cost=
variants with their own articles=

The AD Seaplane Type 1000 also known as the Admiralty Type 1000 and the AD.1 (from Air Department) was a British seaplane of the First World War designed to attack German warships. When it first flew, it was the largest British aircraft yet to take to the air.

Development

The design of the AD.1 was by Harris Booth of the Admiralty's Air Department just prior to World War I. It was the world's first aircraft designed from scratch as a torpedo bomber, one of the three planned versions of the plane. The other two were a bomber and a plane armed with a recoilless Davis 12-pounder gun (approximately 76 mm calibre).

The aircraft was a float-equipped biplane of pod-and-boom design, with engines mounted at the front of both booms, as well as at the rear of the crew pod. Development began in 1915; it was completed and flown for the first time during the summer of 1916. It was found that the Davis gun would project a blast rearwards so the weapon was changed for a conventional 12-pounder "Naval Landing Gun" though in practice a gun was never installed in the AD.1. [ [http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/8217/fgun/fgun-bi.html Big Guns ] ]

Initially the plane was to use Sunbeam Nubian engines, but this was delayed and Hispano-Suiza selected instead, though eventually the Sunbeam Nubian IIs of 150 hp were delivered in 1917. [http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/Transport/planes/SunbeamEngines4.htm Accessed 29 January 2007]

ervice

Seven aircraft were ordered from J. Samuel White, but when the first one delivered was tested, it was found that its weight was higher than expected, its performance was unexpectedly poor and its undercarriage was not robust enough.

Based on these findings, the contract for the remaining six aircraft was cancelled.

The sole example is known to have survived until 1916, probably at the Royal Naval Air Service's Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe base.

pecifications (AD Seaplane Type 1000)

aircraft specifications

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop

crew=5
length main=64 ft 3 in
length alt=19.6 m
span main=115 ft
span alt=35.1 m
height main=
height alt=
area main=
area alt=
empty weight main=22,352 lb
empty weight alt=10,160 kg
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
max takeoff weight main=27,900 lb
max takeoff weight alt=12,700 kg

number of props=3
engine (prop)=Hispano-Suiza
type of prop=rotary engines
power main=100 hp
power alt=75 kW

max speed main=73 knots
max speed alt=84 mph, 135 km/h
range main=481 nm
range alt=553 mi, 885 km
ceiling main=4,900 ft
ceiling alt=1,500 m
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=

armament=
*One 12 pdr gun or two 14 in, 810 lb (360 mm, 367 kg) torpedoes

References

External links

* [http://mus.ca/collections/image_bank/dig_image.cfm?Lang=e&id=26408 Picture at Canadian Aviation Museum website]

ee also

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