 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(September 2012) |
| Short Triple Tractor | |
|---|---|
| Role | Experimental aircraft |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Short Brothers |
| Designer | Horace Short |
| First flight | 24 July 1912 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Short S.47 Triple Tractor was one of a series of experimental twin-engined aircraft built by Short Brothers in 1912. It acquired its name because the two engines drove three tractor propellers.
The Triple Tractor followed the Tandem Twin and Triple Twin in the series of twin-engined aircraft built by Short Brothers, the intention behind fitting two engines being to produce an aircraft capable of sustaining flight in the event of one engine failing. It was powered by a pair of 50 hp (37 kW) Gnome Double Omega engines mounted in tandem in the extended nose of the aircraft, the front engine driving a single propeller and the other driving a pair of tractor propellers mounted at mid-gap between the wings, using chains. In order to reduce the torque effect of the rotary engines they were arranged to revolve in opposite directions.
The airframe of the Triple Twin was similar to the contemporary S.36, S.41 and S.45 tractor biplanes built by Shorts, being an unequal-span two-seater two-bay biplane, with the square-section fuselage mounted in the gap between the upper and lower wings. The tail surfaces consisted of a rectangular rudder mounted on the sternpost of the fuselage, with a rectangular horizontal stabiliser and split elevator mounted in front of it on top of the fuselage. The crew of two were seated side by side behind the trailing edge of the wings. [1]
The aircraft was first flown by Frank McClean on 24 July 1912, [2] and after a formal acceptance flight carried out by Lt. C. L'Estrange-Malone, the aircraft was bought by the Admiralty, being given the serial number T.4 at the Eastchurch Naval School. [3] The aircraft performed well, the only problem being the amount of heat generated, earning it the nickname "The Field Kitchen". [4]
Data from Barnes 1967, p.87.
General characteristics
Performance
The Short Admiralty Type 74 was a single-engined biplane tractor seaplane with non-folding wings, which saw service with the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War.
The Bréguet Type III was an early biplane built by Louis Bréguet in France in 1910.
The Bristol Gordon England biplanes were a series of early British military biplane aircraft designed by Eric Gordon England for the Bristol Aeroplane Company that first flew in 1912. Designed for easy ground transport, the aircraft could be quickly disassembled.
The Sopwith Two-Seat Scout was a 1910s British biplane Anti-Zeppelin scout biplane designed and built for the Admiralty by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It was nicknamed the Spinning Jenny due to a tendency to enter a spin.
The Short Type 827 was a 1910s British two-seat reconnaissance floatplane. It was also known as the Short Admiralty Type 827.
The Boulton & Paul P.12 Bodmin was an experimental British twin-engined biplane bomber with its engines mounted in a fuselage engine room and with tandem pairs of tractor and pusher airscrews mounted between the wings. The two Bodmins built flew in 1924, proving the concept but the layout was not developed to production.
The Short S.41 was a British single-engined biplane built for the Royal Navy in 1912. Capable of being operated either on wheels or floats, it was successful enough for a further two similar aircraft to be built, with the type remaining in use until the early years of the First World War.
The Short S.45 — also known as the Short T.5 after its naval serial number — was a training biplane built for Britain's Royal Navy by Short Brothers in 1912. It was the forerunner of another three identical aircraft delivered to the Royal Navy and Royal Flying Corps during 1912 and 1913. The Royal Naval Air Service was still operating the type when World War I broke out in 1914.
The Dunne D.8 of 1912 was a tailless swept wing biplane, designed by J. W. Dunne to have inherent stability. One example was supplied to RAE Farnborough. License-built Burgess-Dunne models were used by the US Signal Corps and United States Navy and the short-lived Canadian Aviation Corps. It was the latter's first and only warplane.
The Short S.27 and its derivative, the Short Improved S.27, were a series of early British aircraft built by Short Brothers. They were used by the Admiralty and Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps for training the Royal Navy's first pilots as well as for early naval aviation experiments. An Improved S.27 was used by C.R. Samson to make the first successful take-off from a moving ship on 9 May 1912.
The Short Admiralty Type 81 was a series of British two-seat floatplanes built prior to the First World War, and used by the Royal Naval Air Service in the early years of the war. They were powered by 160 hp (120 kW) Gnome Lambda-Lambda 14 cylinder two-row rotary engines and had folding wings to aid storage on ship, hence the popular name Short Folder, shared with a number of other seaplanes made by Short Brothers.
The ASL Viking was a single-engined two seater biplane aircraft designed and built by Horatio Barber's Aeronautical Syndicate Ltd. at Hendon. It was first flown in January 1912.
The COW Biplane was a British tractor biplane built to compete in the 1912 British Military Aeroplane Competition. It was not successful.
The Bristol Racing Biplane was a British single-seat biplane designed to combine the performance of a monoplane but using the strength of the biplane. It was designed by Robert Grandseigne and Léon Versepuy, who were supervised by George Challenger for the British & Colonial Aeroplane Company of Bristol, it crashed on its first flight.
The Short S.80 was an early British floatplane built by Short Brothers for Frank McClean to undertake an aerial expedition up the Nile to investigate the cataracts between Aswan and Khartoum. After a successful flight to Khartoum it was returned to England, where it was used for training by the RNAS. When built it was the largest successful aircraft that had been constructed in Britain. It was also known as the Short Nile Pusher Biplane Seaplane.
The Short S.36 was a British two-seat tractor biplane, built by Short Brothers for Francis McClean in 1911. It was later developed into the Short S.41 and Short S.45, which were the first of a long series of similar aircraft built for the RNAS and RFC.
The Caudron Type B was a 1911 development of the earliest Caudron type, the Caudron Type A, with a nacelle style fuselage and more powerful engine. Initially an equal span biplane, it was modified into a sesquiplane.
The Caudron Type F was a French single seat biplane produced just before World War I. A dozen were bought by China and at least two other examples, with different engines, competed in 1913, coming first and second in the biplane category of the cross-country race at Reims. Flown by Pierre Chanteloup, one was the first biplane to loop-the-loop.
The Caudron Type D was a French pre-World War I single seat, twin-boom tractor biplane, a close but slightly smaller relative of the two seat Caudron Type C. More than a dozen were completed, one exported to the United Kingdom, where they may also have been licence built, and three to China.
The Dunne-Huntington triplane, sometimes referred to as a biplane, was a pioneer aircraft designed by J. W. Dunne and built by A. K. Huntington. It was of unusual staggered triple-tandem configuration and an early example of an inherently stable aeroplane.