Wight Converted Seaplane

The Wight Converted Seaplane was a British twin-float patrol seaplane produced by John Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft).

Converted Seaplane
Wight Converted Seaplane (No. 9583)
General information
Type	Biplane floatplane
Manufacturer	John Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft)
Primary user	Royal Naval Air Service
Number built	37
History
First flight	1916

Design and development

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]

Operational history

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.

Operators

 United Kingdom

• Royal Naval Air Service
• Royal Air Force

Specifications (Seaplane – Eagle engine)

Data from The British Bomber since 1914 ^[1]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 44 ft 8.5 in (13.627 m)
• Wingspan: 65 ft 6 in (19.96 m)
• Height: 16 ft 0 in (4.88 m)
• Wing area: 715 sq ft (66.4 m²)
• Empty weight: 3,758 lb (1,705 kg)
• Gross weight: 5,556 lb (2,520 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Eagle IV V-12 water-cooled piston engine, 322 hp (240 kW)
• Propellers: 4-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 84 mph (135 km/h, 73 kn)
• Endurance: 3½ hours
• Service ceiling: 9,600 ft (2,900 m)
• Time to altitude: 6,500 ft (1,981 m) 18 min 20 sec

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Short 184

Related lists

• List of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm

References

1. Mason, Francis K (1994). The British Bomber since 1914. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books. ISBN 0-85177-861-5.
2. Thetford, Owen (1994). British Naval Aircraft since 1912 (Fourth ed.). London: Putnam. ISBN 0-85177-861-5.

• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). Orbis Publishing.

External links

• Wight Converted Seaplane – British Aircraft Directory