Pemberton-Billing P.B.9

P.B.9
General information
Type	Single-seat Scout
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Pemberton-Billing Limited
Designer	Noel Pemberton-Billing
Primary user	Royal Naval Air Service
Number built	1
History
First flight	August 1914

The Pemberton-Billing P.B.9 was a First World War British single-seat open cockpit equal-span biplane scout aircraft built by Pemberton-Billing Limited, which later became the Supermarine Aviation Works. One P.B.9 was built.

Design and development

The wings of the Pemberton-Billing P.B.9 had full span spars with the upper and lower wings connected by four pairs of interplane struts. ^[1] The fuselage had a fixed landing gear with a tail skid. While designed to allow the use of a Gnome 80 hp engine the prototype P.B.9 was powered by a 50 hp (36 kW) Gnome rotary engine taken from the company's prototype machine, the Pemberton-Billing P.B.1. ^[1]

Using a set of wings that had been obtained from Radley-England (James Radley and Gordon England), the P.B.9 was designed, built and made its first flight within 9 days. For publicity reasons its designer Noel Pemberton Billing claimed it had taken a week, a claim which gave rise to the nickname "Seven Day Bus". ^[1] It was first flown in August 1914. ^[2]

Although the aircraft performed well, only the prototype was built. It was later used by the Royal Naval Air Service as a trainer.

Operators

  United Kingdom

• Royal Naval Air Service

Specifications

Data from Thetford 1958 ^[3]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 20 ft 0 in (6.1 m)
• Wingspan: 26 ft 0 in (7.93 m)
• Powerplant: 1 × Gnome rotary engine , 50 hp (37 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 78 mph (126 km/h, 68 kn)
• Endurance: 3 hours
• Rate of climb: 500 ft/min (2.5 m/s)

See also

• List of aircraft of the Royal Naval Air Service

References

1. Pegram 2016, p. 15.
2. Mason 1992, p. 31.
3. Thetford 1958, p. 379.

Sources

• Mason, Francis K. (1992). The British Fighter since 1912. Putnam Aviation. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN   978-1-55750-082-3.
• Pegram, Ralph (2016). Beyond the Spitfire: The Unseen Designs of R.J. Mitchell. Cheltenham, UK: The History Press. ISBN   978-0-7509-6515-6.
• Thetford, Owen (1958). British Naval Aircraft 1912-58. London: Putnam Publishing.