Norman Thompson N.T.4

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N.T.4
Norman Thompson N.T.4.a., Norman Thompson Works, Bognor, February, 1918 Q 63837.jpg
NT4A, February 1918.
RolePatrol Flying Boat
Manufacturer Norman Thompson Flight Company
DesignerFrancis Percy Beadle [1]
First flightOctober 1916
Introduction1916
Retired1918
Primary user Royal Naval Air Service
Number built26 (N.T.4), 44 (N.T.4A), 2 (N2C)
Unit cost
£3,250 [2]
VariantsGosport Mail

The Norman Thompson N.T.4 was a twin-engined British flying boat of the First World War. Although less well known than similar Curtiss and Felixstowe flying boats, 50 were ordered for Britain's Royal Naval Air Service.

United Kingdom Country in Europe

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea separates Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom's 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi) were home to an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.

Flying boat Aircraft equipped with a boat hull for operation from water

A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water, that usually has no type of landing gear to allow operation on land. It differs from a floatplane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage. Flying boats were some of the largest aircraft of the first half of the 20th century, exceeded in size only by bombers developed during World War II. Their advantage lay in using water instead of expensive land-based runways, making them the basis for international airlines in the interwar period. They were also commonly used for maritime patrol and air-sea rescue.

World War I 1914–1918 global war starting in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the resulting 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

Contents

Development and design

The White and Thompson company was formed by Norman Thompson and Douglas White in 1912 at Bognor Regis, Sussex to design and build aircraft. [3] It built several models of aircraft in small numbers, before being renamed the Norman Thompson Flight Company in September 1915.

Bognor Regis town

Bognor Regis is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, 55.5 miles (89 km) south-west of London, 24 miles (39 km) west of Brighton, 5.81 miles (9 km) south-east of Chichester and 16 miles (26 km) east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east-north-east and Selsey to the south-west. The nearby villages of Felpham, and Aldwick are now suburbs of Bognor Regis, along with those of North and South Bersted. The population of the Bognor Regis built-up area, including Felpham and Aldwick, was 63,855 at the 2011 census.

Sussex historic county in South East England

Sussex, from the Old English Sūþsēaxe, is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English Channel, and divided for many purposes into the ceremonial counties of West Sussex and East Sussex. Brighton and Hove, though part of East Sussex, was made a unitary authority in 1997, and as such, is administered independently of the rest of East Sussex. Brighton and Hove was granted City status in 2000. Until then, Chichester was Sussex's only city.

The Norman Thompson Flight Company was a British aircraft manufacturer specialising in the construction of flying boats. It was formed as the White and Thompson Company in 1912, and designed and built the Norman Thompson NT.4 patrol aircraft and the N.T.2B flying boat trainer for the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War, but production problems led to the company entering receivership in 1918, being liquidated in 1919.

The first aircraft to be produced by the renamed company was a twin-engined patrol flying boat, the Norman Thompson N.T.4. This was a three bay biplane powered by two pusher Hispano-Suiza engines mounted between the wings and was fitted with an enclosed, heavily glazed cockpit for its four-man crew.

Biplane Airplane wing configuration with two vertically stacked main flying surfaces

A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a similar unbraced or cantilever monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques, better materials and the quest for greater speed made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.

Pusher configuration arrangement of propellers on an aircraft to face rearward

In a vehicle with a pusher configuration, the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). According to British aviation author Bill Gunston, a "pusher propeller" is one mounted behind the engine, so that the drive shaft is in compression.

Hispano-Suiza 8 V-8 piston aircraft engine

The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza 8A was rated at 140 hp (100 kW) and the later, larger displacement Hispano-Suiza 8F reached 330 hp (250 kW).

An initial order for ten aircraft for the Royal Naval Air Service was placed in December 1915, with the first prototype flying in October 1916. [4] Further orders were placed in 1917 bringing the total ordered to 50. Production continued through 1917, but in 1918, following a change in policy on anti-submarine aircraft, the final contract for 20 aircraft was cancelled. [5] Total production was 26 aircraft, continuing until June 1918. [6]

Royal Naval Air Service former air arm of the Royal Navy

The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force, the world's first independent air force.

Norman Thompson produced a revised design to meet the requirements of Admiralty Specification N.2C, to replace the N.T.4. This type, designated the Norman Thompson N.2C used the wings of the N.T.4 but with a new hull resembling that of the Porte/Felixstowe boats. Power was by two 200 hp (149 kW) Sunbeam Arab engines. The first prototype attempted to fly on 1 August 1918, but required changes to the hull before it was capable of take-off. Water handling remained poor, and the aircraft was tail heavy in flight. It was abandoned following the end of the war. [7]

Sunbeam Arab V-8 piston aircraft engine

The Sunbeam Arab was a British First World War era aero engine.

Operational history

The N.T.4 entered service with the RNAS in 1916, [8] being operated on anti-submarine patrols over the North Sea and English Channel but were mainly used for training, as larger aircraft were more suitable for patrol purposes. [9] Many of the aircraft produced in 1918 were delivered straight to storage and were never used. [5] Owing to its similarity in size to the Curtiss H-4, it shared the Curtiss flying boat's nickname of America, being renamed Small America when the larger Curtiss H-12 (known as Large America) and Felixstowe F.2 flying boats came into service. [10]

North Sea marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean

The North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than 970 kilometres (600 mi) long and 580 kilometres (360 mi) wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres (220,000 sq mi).

English Channel Arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France

The English Channel, also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates Southern England from northern France and links the southern part of the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the busiest shipping area in the world.

Felixstowe F.2

The Felixstowe F.2 was a 1917 British flying boat class designed and developed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN at the naval air station, Felixstowe during the First World War adapting a larger version of his superior Felixstowe F.1 hull design married with the larger Curtiss H-12 flying boat. The Felixstowe hull had superior water contacting attributes and became a key base technology in most seaplane designs thereafter.

Variants

N.T.4
Initial batch of six aircraft. Powered by two 150 hp Hispano-Suiza engines.
N.T.4A
Main production type. Powered by 200 hp geared Hispano-Suiza engines. 44 built.
N2C
Improved version with hull similar to Felixstowe flying boats, powered by two Sunbeam Arab engines. Two prototypes only built in 1918. [11]

Operators

Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom

Specifications (N.T.4A)

"NOSE ON VIEW", fitted with 2 x 150 h.p. Hispano-Suiza engines, February 1918. Norman Thompson N.T.4.a., Norman Thompson Works, Bognor, February, 1918 Q63836.jpg
"NOSE ON VIEW", fitted with
2 x 150 h.p. Hispano-Suiza engines, February 1918.

Data from British Naval Aircraft since 1912 [10]

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Notes

  1. ↑ Moss, Roger. "Francis Percy Hyde Beadle". British Aviation – Projects to Production. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 Goodall 1995, p.52.
  3. ↑ Goodall 1995, pp. 7–8.
  4. ↑ Goodall 1995, pp.44–45.
  5. 1 2 Goodall 1995, p.49.
  6. ↑ Goodall 1995, pp.49,53.
  7. ↑ London 2003, pp.39–40.
  8. ↑ "English Heritage Aircraft utilised by the RFC, RNAS, RAF and US Navy within the UK 1912–18" (PDF). Retrieved 17 September 2007.
  9. ↑ Goodall 1995, p.47.
  10. 1 2 Thetford 1978, p.266-267
  11. ↑ Donald 1997, p. 695

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References

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