BURGESS HT-B; HT-2 SPEED SCOUT The Burgess HT-2 Speed Scout was an experimental United States observation/fighter seaplane. The Speed Scout’s airframe was made of wood with a fabric covering, except for the engine cowling which was aluminum; the aircraft was powered by a Curtiss OXX-2 engine. Despite being underpowered, 8 were purchased by the US Navy in 1917 following demonstration flights on 19 May 1917. In the late autumn of 1916, the US Navy framed a requirement which, issued on 17 November, called for a float-equipped single-seat fighting scout with…
Tag: WW1
Curtiss JN-4
Curtiss JN-4 The Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” was one of a series of “JN” biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the U.S. Army, the “Jenny” (the common nickname derived from “JN-4”, with an open-topped four appearing as a Y) continued after World War I as a civil aircraft, as it became the “backbone of American postwar [civil] aviation.” Thousands of surplus Jennys were sold at bargain…
BOEING MODEL 4 (EA)
BOEING MODEL 4 (EA) – Trainer Plane US Based The Boeing Model 2, and its derivatives were United States two-place training seaplanes, the first “all-Boeing” design and the company’s first financial success. The Boeing Airplane Company, built the Model C naval trainer as its first mass-produced airplane. A total of 56 C-type trainers were built; 55 used twin pontoons. The Model C-1F had a single main pontoon and small auxiliary floats under each wing and was powered by a Curtiss OX-5 engine. The success of the Model C led to…
Lebed XV11
Lebed XV11 The Lebed XV11 was the most advanced of all ‘ Lebed’ family. Its Salmson140 or 150hp engine was well cowled and equipped with large spinner. Exhaust stacks send gases down the main landing gear struts. Same struts carried two radiators. Forward section of the fuselage was rounded to accommodate the engine and covered with plywood. Tail section was of strut-brace structure, covered with fabric. It was a single-bay, two-seat reconnaissance biplane. The upper wing had a center-wing section; two tubular radiators were attached to shaped front struts; the…
Ledbed X11
Lebed X11 The Lebed XII was a Russian military reconnaissance aircraft produced during the First World War for the Imperial Russian Air Force. It was one of the few domestically designed aircraft to see production in Russia during the war, but was based on designs and techniques learned from Lebed’s rebuilding of captured German types. The fuselage was a plywood structure of rectangular cross-section with seating for the pilot and observer in tandem, open cockpits. The wings were built around a pine spar and covered in fabric, and the empennage…
NEIUPORT 4
Neiuport IV The Nieuport IV was a French-built sporting, training and reconnaissance monoplane of the early 1910s. The first Nieuport IVs were built in 1911 and production continued well into World War I in Russia. The design was adopted in small numbers by most air arms of the period, although the Imperial Russian Air Service was the largest user. The IV.G was one of the principal aircraft used by the Imperial Russian Air Service during its formative years, with roughly 300 being produced locally by the Russo-Baltic Wagon Works and…
Sikorsky S-10
Sikorsky S-10 The Sikorsky S-10 was a Russian Empire military twin-float seaplane that served with the Baltic Fleet from the summer of 1913 to 1915. After Igor Sikorsky built the successful Sikorsky S-6 for the Russian military, he tried to build another successful aircraft for them. The S-10 was a modified S-6B built by the Russo-Baltic Carriage Factory. Approximately sixteen production versions of the S-10 were built. It had a less powerful engine and generally weaker structure than the S-6. They had either an 80 HP Gnome Monosoupape or a 100…
Sikorsky S-16
Sikorsky S-16 The Sikorsky S-16, or RBVZ S-XVI (named after its manufacturer), was a Russian equi-span single-bay two-seat biplane designed by Igor Sikorsky in 1914-15. Conceived in response to demand for an escort fighter for the Ilya Muromets bombers, it was noteworthy in that it was one of the first aircraft to possess synchronisation gear for its 7.7 mm machine gun. The first S-XVI was completed on 6 February 1915 with an 80 hp engine instead of the intended 100 hp because of supply problems. On 17 December 1915, the…
Curtiss R-6
Curtiss R-6 The Curtiss R-6 was a twin float observation plane that was a more powerful version of the earlier R-3, and that was the first US Navy aircraft to see service overseas. The R-3 was the first float plane version of the Model R. Like the R-3, the R-6 was a three bay biplane, with unequal span wings. The two main differences were that the outer panels of both wings had three degrees of dihedral, and it was powered by a 200hp V-2-3 engine. Otherwise it used the same straight edges…
Standard J.1
STANDARD J. 1 – Trainer – US Based This two-seat basic trainer built as a sturdy two-bay biplane was produced from 1916 to 1918. It was powered by a four-cylinder inline Hall-Scott A-7a engine. Made of wood with wire bracing, and fabric. It was seen as a stopgap waiting for the Curtiss JN-4. Made by Ealy Day as a derivative of the Sloan H series under Standard Aero Corporation. Standard, Dayton-Wright, Fisher Body and Wright-Martin, delivered 1,601 of them in one year, between June 1917 and June 1918. The Standard…