Austin Whippet

Last updated

Whippet
K-158 (BAPC-207) (15430855790).jpg
Austin Whippet replica at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum
RolePrivate light aircraft
National origin Britain
Manufacturer Austin Motor Company
First flight1919
Number built5

The Austin Whippet was a British single-seat light aircraft that was designed and built by the Austin Motor Company just after the First World War. It was a small single-seat biplane that was intended to be an inexpensive aircraft for the amateur private pilotwere. Five were built, after which Austin abandoned aircraft production.

Contents

Development and design

In 1919, John Kenworthy, chief designer of the motor manufacturer Austin Motor Company, (who had built large numbers of aircraft under license during the First World War) designed a small single-seater light aircraft in order to cash in on an expected boom in private flying. The resulting aircraft, named the Austin Whippet, was a small single-seat biplane of mixed construction, with a fabric covered steel tube fuselage, and single-bay, folding wooden wings. The wings avoided the need for rigging wires by use of streamlined steel lift struts. [1] [2]

The first prototype, powered by a two-cylinder horizontally opposed engine, [3] flew in 1919, receiving its Airworthiness Certificate in December that year. [1] Production aircraft were powered by a six-cylinder Anzani air-cooled radial, and four more aircraft followed before Austin abandoned aircraft production in 1920, when it realised that the postwar depression was severely limiting aircraft sales. [1] [4]

Operational history

Of the five aircraft built, two were sold to New Zealand, while another was sent by its purchaser to Argentina. One of the New Zealand aircraft, serial AU.4/ZK-ACR, remained in existence at Kai Iwi in the 1940s. [5]

An accurate replica of Whippet K-158 is currently on display at the Aeroventure South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum in Doncaster, UK.

A Replica K.158/BAPC.207 South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum at Doncaster.

Specifications

Data from British Civil Aircraft since 1919: Volume I [6]

General characteristics

Performance

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Jackson 1974, p.89.
  2. Flight 15 July 1920, pp. 751-752.
  3. Flight 14 August 1919, pp.1076-1078.
  4. Gunston 2005, p.36.
  5. Jackson 1974, pp.89-90.
  6. Jackson 1974, p.90.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Short Scylla</span> Type of aircraft

The Short L.17 Scylla was a British four-engined 39-seat biplane airliner designed and built by Short Brothers at the request of Imperial Airways to supplement the Handley Page H.P.42 fleet already in service after Handley Page quoted an excessive price for two additional H.P.42s. They were ordered in 1933.

The Central Centaur IV, a.k.a. Central C.F.5, was a British civil two/three-seat biplane aircraft produced by Central Aircraft Company Limited of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avro Club Cadet</span> British biplane trainer aircraft

The Avro Club Cadet was a 1930s single-engined British biplane trainer aircraft, designed and built by Avro as a development of the earlier Cadet. It was planned for private and club use and, unlike the Cadet, was fitted with folding wings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackburn Bluebird</span> Type of aircraft

The Blackburn L.1 Bluebird was a British single-engine biplane light trainer/tourer with side-by-side seating, built in small numbers by Blackburn Aircraft in the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol Ten-seater</span> Type of aircraft

The Bristol Ten-seater and Bristol Brandon were British single-engine biplane transport aircraft built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in the early 1920s. Only three were built, two of which were used as civil transports and one of which served with the Royal Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackburn Mercury</span> Type of aircraft

The Blackburn Mercury was an early British aircraft designed as a pilot trainer for the Blackburn Flying School, Filey, in 1911. It was an enlarged, two-seat version of the Second Monoplane that flew earlier that year. It was a mid-wing monoplane of conventional configuration that accommodated pilot and student in tandem, open cockpits. This prototype was displayed at the Olympia Aero Show in March 1911, and led to orders being placed for two racers to participate in the Daily Mail Circuit of Britain race. The first of these crashed on takeoff, and the second was first rebuilt into a two-seat trainer, then into a single-seat trainer known as the Type B. Another six Mercuries were built for various private buyers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anzani 10-cylinder</span> 1910s French aircraft piston engine

The Anzani 10 was a 1913 10-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engine. It powered several experimental aircraft and also the later production versions of the Caudron G.3 reconnaissance aircraft, the Caudron G.4 bomber/trainer and the first production Cessna, the Model AA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloster Grouse</span> Type of aircraft

The Gloster Grouse was a British biplane of the 1920s developed by the Gloster Aircraft Company. Often referred to as the prototype to the Gloster Grebe, the Grouse originally built as an experimental aircraft and then later developed as a trainer. Despite its compact design and maneuverability, the Grouse was not in itself a commercial success, although it formed the basis for the Gloster Grebe and Gamecock fighters which were used by Britain's Royal Air Force into the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Martlet</span> British sport aircraft

The Southern Martlet was a single-engined, single-seat biplane sports aircraft. Six were built, including the rather different and unsuccessful Metal Martlet.

The Westland Woodpigeon was a British two-seat light biplane designed to compete in the 1924 Lympne light aircraft trials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Driggs Dart</span> Type of aircraft

The Driggs Dart was an American-built light sporting aircraft of the late 1920s.

The Austin Kestrel was a British two-seat biplane designed and built by the Austin Motor Company. Only one aircraft was built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anzani 6-cylinder</span> 1910s French piston aircraft engine

Alessandro Anzani developed the first two-row radial from his earlier 3- cylinder Y engine by merging two onto the same crankshaft with a common crankweb.

The London and Provincial Fuselage Biplane was a British single-engined two-seat training aircraft of the First World War. While the aircraft demonstrated excellent manoeuvrability, only a single example was built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farman Sport</span> Type of aircraft

The Farman FF 65 Sport was a French built light biplane, with a single engine and tandem seats, intended for sport and touring. First flown in 1919, it achieved modest sales at home and abroad in the early 1920s. Two unusual modifications produced a biplane glider and a low aspect ratio parasol wing machine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mann & Grimmer M.1</span> British prototype aircraft

The Mann & Grimmer M.1 was a British prototype two-seat fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was a single-engined biplane with a radial engine in the aircraft's nose driving two pusher propellers, which was hoped to give a good field of fire for the gunner and high performance. Only one example was built, with no production following.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pander E</span> Dutch training aircraft

The Pander E was the first indigenous Dutch training aircraft, used by clubs and also privately owned. A two-seat, single-engine biplane, 17 were built in the Netherlands from 1926 with engines of increasing power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potez VIII</span> Single-seat French training aircraft, 1920

The Potez VIII was a French training aircraft which first flew in 1920. Originally it had a very unusual vertical inline engine and a four-wheeled undercarriage, though the production version was more conventional.

The Gribovsky G-25 was a Soviet tandem seat biplane basic trainer built in the late 1930s. It was hoped to minimize unit costs by using a modified automobile engine but the G-25 did not reach production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caudron C.67</span> French single-seat airplane

The Caudron C.67 was a simple single seat biplane with a low powered engine. It was built and flown in France in 1922.

References