Beardmore W.B.26

In the early 'twenties, William Beardmore & Company initiated work on a tandem two-seat fighter under Latvian contract. Of mixed construction with plywood skinning and designated W.B.26, the fighter was designed by W.S. Shackleton and, powered by a 360hp Rolls-Royce Eagle IX liquid-cooled engine, was flown for the first time in 1925. Featuring aerofoil-section interplane bracing struts and angularly-clean lines, the W.B.26 had two Constantinesco-synchronised Beardmore- Farquhar machine guns and a similar weapon on a Scarff mounting in the rear cockpit. The slab-sided fuselage was suspended between the wings, the lower wing being faired into the fuselage by a Lamblin radiator block. Despite a creditable performance only the single prototype of the W.B.26 was built.

3-View

A three-view drawing (1280 x 948)