Aviation Naval Warfare Land Systems Small Arms By Flag By Year By Tag

Felixstowe F.2

1917 WORLD WAR 1

Felixstowe F. 2 Story

Before the First World War, Lieutenant Colonel John Potter of the Royal Navy worked with the famous American aviator Glenn Curtis to develop a long-distance "airship" capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean - a testament to the The cash prize response was provided by the UK's Daily Mail for such an achievement. This resulted in the aircraft being named "American" and in Curtis nomenclature as "H-4" (Type H).

However, everything changed when the war came to Europe and British intervention brought Porter back to England to serve at the Felixstowe Naval Air Force Base. Using his experience of getting results on the H-4, he persuaded the Royal Navy to adopt the aircraft as their own, which they did on 62 examples as well as two prototype "American" airframes.

The H-4 proved to be practical enough, but from a military standpoint it wasn't without its problems - the service required a level of rigor that was uncommon for commercial sailing. It was found that the H-4's airframes were rather weak for sustained rough handling, and their engines were underpowered to power large airframes - pilots didn't particularly like this model, but made it known .

Porte set out to further develop the H-4 into a more viable military product, using several H-4 airframes to test different gear and configurations. Work began with the Felixstowe F.1 and four were built, these aircraft included a modified Porte design fuselage and 2 Hispano-Suiza 8 series engines of 150 hp each, while the tail and biplane wings were H-4 Water-based performance has been significantly improved, with tests showing a more reliable design than before.

Porte continued work and is now focused on bringing the improved Curtiss H-12 aircraft to Royal Navy standards. The H-12 was a larger system and made its first flight in June 1914. Around 478 aircraft of this type will be built before completion, and both the US and UK will add the aircraft to their respective inventories. The H-12 also had the same limitations as the H-4, but work already done on the former helped initiate a revised design for the latter, resulting in the Felixstowe F.2.

Changes included the use of a Porter-designed fuselage and wings from the Curtiss H-12, albeit with the addition of an all-new tail, powered by 2 Rolls-Royce "Eagle" production engines. The first flight of the F.2 was recorded in July 1916.

Satisfied with the improved Curtiss H-12, the Royal Navy purchased 100 F.2s during the war, with the original model designated "F.2a". These carry Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines (345 hp each) and a bomb load of 460 lbs, and can carry up to seven. 303 Lewis machine guns mounted on flexible mounts (usually at least one in the nose and three around the center mass of the aircraft).

Bombs are carried externally under the wings. Performance specs include a top speed of 95 mph and service is capped at 9,600 feet. The endurance is six hours, which provides the aircraft with good "legs" for patrolling the water. A standard operator is four people.

The design of the F.2 was typical of airships of the time, with the main physical features being its boat-like hull and large biplane wing configuration. The wings remain high on the fuselage and consist of a larger upper wing element placed on a smaller lower wing element. Large parallel struts and cables support the wing along its span, and the engine nacelles are located between upper and lower wing units that span the fuselage.

The cockpit/crew area is just forward of the wing, and the gunner/observer's cockpit is mounted forward of the nose, providing impressive oncoming terrain below. The fuselage has the sleek appearance required for water landing and take-off, and the tail has a fixed vertical fin and a high-level horizontal plane.

The general layout of the F.2 was carried over from the original F.1 into the future F.3 and F.5 designs.

In fact, the F.2 served in the Royal Navy and no less than 12 Royal Air Force squadrons. While the F.2 has enough power and firepower to engage zeppelins and even disrupt fighter formations with its network of defensive machine guns, its primary role is to patrol the sea to hunt down enemy naval ships, especially submarines.

Pilots certainly commented on the maneuverability of the F.2 for an aircraft of this size.

The US Navy eventually joined the UK in using the F.2, while Chile became the only other operator of note. After the war, another 100 examples were added, and after 70 the "F.2c" branding was added to become two Felixstowe-built F.2s with lighter hulls.

Contributions from Saunders, Aircraft Manufacturing Co Ltd and May, Harden & May supported wartime manufacturing. A total of 175 F.2s were built.

The Felixstowe "F.3" became the next entry in the airship family, with dimensions larger and heavier than the previous F.2, in order to carry a larger bomb load at a longer range. However, these changes resulted in the aircraft being less maneuverable and generally less popular than its predecessor. The first battle was in February 1917 and 100 were completed. Finally, the pinnacle of the F-series airship was the "F. 5 of the postwar period", which first flew in May 1918 but saw no action during the conflict.

A total of 280 of this model were produced (the F5L is an American-built Liberty powered aircraft).