Page 80 - Aviation News - September 2017

all over Europe it joined the Royal Naval Air but travelled to Calshot Flying School during over the early summer of 1915, all serving
Service (RNAS) as No.882, travelled to Grain October 1915. It wasn’t deleted from the with Eastbourne Flying School. Following
in Kent for assessment and later received RNAS strength until July 1918, but almost tests and modifications 1174 was declared
bomb mountings. It was written off during certainly ceased to exist well before then. unfit for service. Neither 1176 and 1177 flew
June 1915 after a sideslip while landing. The subsequent No.3 ’Boats had varied operationally, and 1178 and 1179 failed their
The second aircraft to appear was a larger, careers. Number 1196, delivered to Fort acceptance tests. Eventually the ‘Bloater’
more complex twin-pusher with 90hp Austin- George, near Inverness during February was abandoned as more successful projects
built Curtiss OX engines, although side-by- 1915, later served in the Dundee area, came along.
side dual control was retained. It received while 1197 joined 1 Squadron, subsequently
racing Number 9, its competition pilot named visiting Dunkirk, Dover and Bembridge and ‘SMALL AMERICA’
as Lt A Loftus Bryan, who worked for Norman 1198 flew from Dover and later Calshot. After On October 4, 1915 the business changed
Thompson. Again, hull construction was 1199 went to France with 1 Squadron it was its name to the Norman Thompson Flight
subcontracted, to Williams of Littlehampton, hit by anti-aircraft fire and force-landed in Company; Hyde Beadle remained chief
a new White and Thompson subsidiary. The Westerschelde, Vlissingen, being interned designer. The restructured firm’s first aircraft
company referred to the aircraft as the ‘No.1 and later operated by the Dutch Navy as was the N.T.4, a twin-engined flying boat
Flying Boat’. Serialled No.883, it made one G1. After a short career at Fort George, the broad ancestry of which lay in the twin-
test flight for the RNAS but wasn’t delivered; 1200 crashed during May 1915. The two engined ‘Circuit of Britain’ racer. The Admiralty
instead it remained at Middleton, waiting for later aircraft, 3807 and 3808, both flew from had become interested in larger flying boats,
modifications it never received. Calshot as trainers; 3807 also sported the stemming from its purchases of twin-engined
However, the Admiralty became interested Lewis gun addition. Several No.3s were Curtiss types. Norman Thompson’s new

in the single-engined type, ordering six No.3 Flying Boats under construction at Norman design initially became known as an ‘America’,
developed examples and later a further two, Thompson’s Middleton premises in late 1914. the same title as bestowed on the Curtiss
known as the White and Thompson No.3 refitted with improved hulls. flying boats, but following the entry into
Flying Boat. Although they were similar to During the autumn of 1914, Percy Hyde service of the larger Curtiss H.12, it was
No.882, improvements were made. Mostly Beadle joined the company as chief designer; rechristened the ‘Small America’, which was a
the 120hp Beardmore was used, but one his first project was a landplane. The aircraft confusing situation.
example featured a 150hp Hispano-Suiza. became known as the ‘Bognor Bloater’, a In fact, the N.T.4 was fundamentally
The single fin above No.882’s upper centre name combining its place of origin with the different to the American ’boats, being a
section was changed to two smaller fins, either appearance of its scaly skinned fuselage. pusher with four-bay wings and a quite different
above the inboard or outboard interplane The first example, 1171, was first flown by hull layout. Its wings were of unequal span
struts (individual aircraft varied). The square Eric Gordon England on March 8, 1915. with broad-chord ailerons, and mounted two
wing tips were rounded off and the tail fin The tandem two-seat ‘Bloater’ fuselages uncowled 150hp Hispano-Suiza engines. The
area enlarged. Generally, the engine bearers were built by Williams and employed S E hull was a boat-built structure incorporating
received supporting struts down to the nose Saunders’ patented Consuta covering – a single step and an enclosed side-by-side
area. No main undercarriage was fitted, laminated planking secured with copper cabin, though at first the amount of cockpit
instead a beaching skid ran beneath the stitching. Simple two-bay unequal span wings glazing was limited. As with previous designs,
empennage. On land, a simple single-axle with four ailerons were adopted, together a very long fin was adopted.
chassis was used to move the aircraft. with a sharply pointed fin and rudder. The During December 1915, a contract
The first No.3 Flying Boat, serialled undercarriage included two skids to prevent a was placed for six N.T.4s. The first, 8338,
1195, was delivered to 1 Squadron RNAS at nose-over, and the ‘Bloater’ was powered by a was tested at Bognor in October 1916 and
Dover on February 7, 1915, by when it had 70hp Renault-Wolseley engine. Although an eventually delivered to Calshot during April
received a Lewis gun mounted on the port order was placed and the serial range 1171-1182 1917. The following five, 8339-8343, were
side of its cockpit. Later that month it was allocated, only nine ‘Bloaters’ were completed, built at Killingholme, Lincolnshire, between
damaged and in March returned to Bognor the final three left as a spares source. January and March 1917, fitted for carriage
for repairs. Back at Dover it suffered several Following test flights 1171 passed to of two 230lb (104kg) bombs for anti-U-
engine failures and consequent damage, 2 Squadron; 1172, 1173 and 1175 arrived boat operations. Number 8338 was tested

80 Aviation News incorporating Jets September 2017

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