Felixstowe F.2

The Felixstowe F.2a is a biplane seaplane with four-seater hull of maritime recognition and anti-submarine fight of the First World War. Designed by John C. Door in Experimental Seaplane Station, Felixstowe, it was produced in series in Great Britain, but also with the the United States like Curtiss H-16.

Of Felixstowe F.2 in F.2a

If the Curtiss H-8 offered an autonomy higher than the H-4, this apparatus remained unsuited to the operations of patrouillage in the North Sea. John C. Door thus equipped single the Curtiss H-8 bought by the Great Britain with a hull with two steps and engines Rolls-Royce Eagle VI of 250 ch. Ainsi modified, the apparatus took the air in February 1917 with designation Felixstowe F.2 . The combination of the hull with two steps of the Felixstowe F.2 with the cell of the Curtiss H-12 and the engines Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII of 345 ch gave the Felixstowe F.2a . This apparatus was built with 100 specimens by S.E Saunders, 48 by May, Harden & May and 25 by Aircraft Manufacturing Co, which carried out the aerofoils and the final assembly, the hulls being produced by Aldous, Dixon Brothers & Hutchinson, Summers & Payne, and Norman Thompson/H.Williams. Felixstowe also carried out two Felixstowe F.2c , which was characterized by a hull reduced and a station of shooting before modified. One of these two apparatuses destroyed German submarine UC-1 in July 1917.

A short but brilliant career

The first Felixstowe F.2a entered in at the end of service 1917 within the RNAS, which had already taken delivery of 59 apparatuses at the end of May 1918. 53 specimens was in account on October 31st, 1918. This apparatus, which was useful primarily in the North Sea, was quickly very popular near the crews, which appreciated his performances and his handiness, remarkable for an apparatus of this size. May 10th, 1918 a F.2a based in Killingholme and controlled by Capt T.C. Pattinson and A.H. Munday attacked the Zeppelin L.62 to approximately 2400 m of altitude to the top of Héligoland. Munday made fire with the machine-gun before whereas mechanic H.R. Stubbington uses the dorsal machine-gun. At the time or the seaplane was posed at sea on rupture of food while carburizing, the crew saw the airship moving away towards the east by losing altitude and by emitting smoke, then to take fire and fall at sea. In spite of the appearance of the Hansa Brandenburg W.29 during 1918, F.2A remained in service within RNAS until the end of the First World War. The completed war it was quickly replaced by the Felixstowe F.5, some F.2A being then yielded to the Canada and the Chile. It should be noted that two British apparatuses, constrained with the landing with the Netherlands the June 4th, 1918 with Terschelling and October 2nd, 1918 on the beach of Noordwijk, were interned in this country, then versed with the navy Dutchwoman like. They were to remain in service only a few weeks, reformed as of December 1918.

The Curtiss H-16

The production of an apparatus of the size of F.2A proving relatively complex, especially with a multiplicity of subcontractors, the Great Britain made the decision to grant a license of production to Curtiss, which had delivered 69 apparatuses to Liberty engines of 400 ch au RNAS at the end of May 1918. These apparatuses were versed with the units using F-2A already. 235 apparatuses were also ordered by the US Navy after the entry in war of the the United States to ensure the protection of the American coasts. 124 were built by Curtiss A818/867, A1031/1048, A4039/4078 and 150 by Naval Aircraft Factory A3459/3558 with Philadelphia. If the H-16 of RAF disappeared since 1919 the US Navy will use this type of apparatus until the middle of the Twenties.

External bonds

http://www.willhiggs.co.uk/dundee/felixstowes.htm
http://www.aviation-history.com/felix/f2a.htm

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