Tarrant Tabor

Infobox Aircraft
name = Tabor
manufacturer = Walter George Tarrant
type = Bomber

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caption =
designer = Walter Barling
first flight = 26 May 1919
introduced =
retired =
primary user = RAE
more users =
produced =
number built = 1
unit cost =
variants with their own articles =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.

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.

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.

Operators

;UK
*Royal Aircraft Establishment

pecifications (Tabor ("performance estimated"))

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop

ref=The British Bomber since 1914 cite book |author=Mason, Francis K |title=The British Bomber since 1914 |publisher=Putnam Aeronautical Books|location=London |year=1994|pages=p.126-127 |id=ISBN 0 85177 861 5

crew=Six
capacity=
length main= 73 ft 2 in
length alt= 22.31 m
span main= 131 ft 3 in
span alt= 40.02 m
height main= 37 ft 3 in
height alt= 11.36 m
area main= 4,950 ft²
area alt= 460 m²
airfoil=
empty weight main= 24,750 lb
empty weight alt= 11,250 kg
loaded weight main= 44,672 lb
loaded weight alt= 20,305 kg
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=
more general=

engine (prop)=Napier Lion
type of prop=12 cylinder, water cooled broad arrow engines (four tractor, two pusher)
number of props=6
power main= 450 hp
power alt= 336 kW
power original=

max speed main= over 96 knots
max speed alt= 110 mph, 177 km/h
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
range main=
range alt=
ceiling main= 13,000 ft
ceiling alt= 3,970 m
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main= 9.02 lb/ft²
loading alt= 44.1 kg/m²
thrust/weight=
power/mass main= 0.06 hp/lb
power/mass alt= 0.099 kW/kg
more performance=*Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 33 min 30 sec
* Endurance: 12 hours

armament=*Bomb load of approximately 4600 lb planned

avionics=

See also

* Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1

References

External links

* http://avia.russian.ee/air/england/tarrant_tabor.php
* http://members.aol.com/wwatrans/unique.htm
* http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2099.htm