Air Department A.D. Scout (Sparrow)1915 |
FIGHTER | Virtual Aircraft Museum / United Kingdom / Air Department |
Designed by Harris Booth of the Air Department of the Admiralty as a single-seat anti-airship fighter, the A.D. Scout - later to become known unofficially as the '"Sparrow" - was an extraordinary single-bay staggered biplane intended to carry a Davis two-pounder recoilless gun. The rudders and outsize tailplane were carried by four parallel tailbooms, and the unusual appearance of the A.D. Scout resulted primarily from the fact that the large mainplane gap was below rather than above the nacelle accommodating the pilot. The gun was intended to be mounted in the bottom of the nacelle, to the tail of which was attached a 100hp nine-cylinder Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine driving a pusher propeller. Construction was of wood with fabric covering, and four prototypes were ordered and built (two by Hewlett & Blondeau and two by Blackburn) in 1915. Delivered to the RNAS, the A.D. Scouts proved seriously overweight and difficult to handle in the air. In consequence, all four aircraft were scrapped.
lxbfYeaa, e-mail, 14.03.2024 Barry 20
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