Felixstowe F.3
Welcome to MedLibrary.org. For best results, we recommend beginning with the navigation links at the top of the page, which can guide you through our collection of over 14,000 medication labels and package inserts. For additional information on other topics which are not covered by our database of medications, just enter your topic in the search box below:
| Felixstowe F.3 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Felixstowe F3 | |
| Role | Military flying boat |
| Manufacturer | Short Brothers Dick, Kerr & Co. Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company Malta Dockyard |
| Designer | J C Porte, |
| First flight | February 1917 |
| Introduction | 1917 |
| Primary users | RNAS RAF US Navy |
| Number built | 182 |
| Developed from | Felixstowe F.2 |
| Variants | Felixstowe F.5 Felixstowe F5L |
The Felixstowe F.3 was a British First World War flying boat designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN of the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe the successor to the Felixstowe F.2
Contents |
Design and development
In February 1917, the first prototype of the Felixstowe F.3 was flown. This was a larger and heavier development of the Felixstowe F.2a, powered by two 320 hp (239 kW) Sunbeam Cossack engines.[1] Large orders followed, with the production aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce Eagles. The F.3s larger size gave it greater range and heavier bomb load than the F2, but poorer speed and agility. Approximately 100 Felixstowe F.3s were produced before the end of the war, including 18 built in the dockyards at Malta.[2]
The Felixstowe F.5 was intended to combine the good qualities of the F.2 and F.3, with the prototype first flying in May 1918. The prototype showed superior qualities to its predecessors but the production version was modified to make extensive use of components from the F3, in order to ease production, giving lower performance than either the F.2a or F.3. The Felixstowe F.5 was re-exported to America, and re-engined with Liberty V-12s became Curtiss F5L.
Operational history
The larger F3, which was less popular with its crews than the more maneuverable F2a, served in the Mediterranean as well as the North Sea.
Operators
Specifications (F.3)
Data from British Naval Aircraft since 1912 [3]
General characteristics
- Crew: 4
- Length: 49 ft 2 in (14.99 m)
- Wingspan: 102 ft (31.09 m)
- Height: 18 ft 8 in (5.69 m)
- Wing area: 1,432 ft² (133.03 m²)
- Empty weight: 7,958 lb (3,610 kg)
- Loaded weight: 12,235 lb (5,550 kg)
- Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII V12 inline piston, 345 hp (257 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 91 mph (79 knots, 147 km/h) at 2,000 ft (610 m)
- Service ceiling: 8,000 ft (2,438 m)
- Wing loading: 8.54 lb/ft² (41.8 kg/m²)
- Power/mass: 0.056 hp/lb (0.092 kW/kg)
- Endurance: 6 hours
- Climb to 2,000 ft (610 m): 5 min 15 s
- Climb to 6,500 ft (1,980 m): 24 min
Armament
- Guns: 4 × Lewis guns (1 in nose, 3 amidships)
- Bombs: Up to 920 lb (418 kg) of bombs beneath wings
See also
- Related development
References
- Notes
- ^ Bruce 16 December 1955, p.897.
- Bibliography
- Bruce, J.M. "The Felixstowe Flying-Boats: Historic Military Aircraft No. 11 Part 1". Flight, 2 December 1955, pp.842—846.
- Bruce, J.M. "The Felixstowe Flying-Boats: Historic Military Aircraft No. 11 Part 2". Flight, 16 December 1955, pp.895—898.
- Bruce, J.M. "The Felixstowe Flying-Boats: Historic Military Aircraft No. 11 Part 3". Flight, 23 December 1955, pp. 929—932.
- Thetford, Owen. British Naval Aircraft since 1912. London: Putnam, Fourth edition, 1978. ISBN 0-370-30021-1 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
