Beardmore W.B.1

The Beardmore W.B.1 was a British single-engine bomber biplane of World War I developed by Beardmore.^[1]

Development and design

In 1916, G. Tilghman Richards, the newly appointed chief designer of the aviation department of the Scottish shipbuilder William Beardmore, designed his first aircraft for Beardmore, the W.B.1. This was to be a single engined bomber for the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), which was intended to carry out long gliding attacks to achieve surprise. It was a three-bay biplane with long span high aspect ratio wings, which were highly staggered.^[2] It was powered by a 230 hp (172 kW) BHP engine and first flew in early 1917.^[3]

The W.B.1 was delivered to the RNAS at Cranwell for evaluation on 8 June 1917.^[4] By this time however, the larger and more capable Handley Page O/100 was in production and the W.B.1 was rejected by the RNAS.^[3]

Specifications

Data from Mason, The British Bomber since 1912 ^[3]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 32 ft 10 in (10.01 m)
• Wingspan: 61 ft 6 in (18.75 m)
• Height: 14 ft 9 in (4.50 m)
• Wing area: 796 ft² (74.0 m²)
• Empty weight: 3,410 lb (1,550 kg)
• Gross weight: 5,600 lb (2,545 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Sunbeam or Beardmore Adriatic, 230 hp (172 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 91 mph (147 km/h)
• Endurance: 7.3 hours

Armament

• One .303 in Lewis gun on rear cockpit
• 660 lb (300 kg) bombs

References

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beardmore aircraft.

• Lewis, Peter (1980). The British Bomber since 1912 (Third ed.). London: Putnam. ISBN 0-370-30265-6. 
• Mason, Francis K. (1994). The British Bomber since 1912. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-85177-861-5. 
• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1990). Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I. London: Studio Editions.