| Converted Seaplane | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Wight Converted Seaplane (No. 9583) | |
| Role | Biplane floatplane |
| Manufacturer | John Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft) |
| First flight | 1916 |
| Primary user | Royal Naval Air Service |
| Number built | 37 |
The Wight Converted Seaplane was a British twin-float patrol seaplane produced by John Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft).
Developed from the unsuccessful Wight Bomber for use as an anti-submarine patrol aircraft, the "Converted" Seaplane was a straightforward adaptation of the landplane bomber to a seaplane. The aircraft was a three-bay biplane with unswept, unequal span, unstaggered wings. It had twin floats under the fuselage and additional floats at tail and wings tips. Initial production aircraft were powered by a 322 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle IV engine mounted in the nose driving a four-bladed propeller, with later production batches being powered by a 265 hp (198 kW) Sunbeam Maori engine owing to shortages of Eagles. [1] Fifty were ordered for the RNAS, of which only 37 were completed. [2]
The Converted Seaplane entered service with the RNAS in 1917, [1] operating from bases at Calshot, Dover, Portland and Cherbourg. [2] On 18 August 1917, a Wight Converted Seaplane flying from Cherbourg sank the German U-boat UB-32 with a single 100 lb bomb, the first submarine to be sunk in the English Channel by direct air action. [1] Seven remained in service with the RAF at the end of the First World War.
Data from The British Bomber since 1914 [1]
General characteristics
Performance
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