Felixstowe F.2A

Felixstowe F.2A

Air service of the british navy RNAS used already from the beginning of the war for patrol over the North sea flying boats of american manufacturing Curtiss H and H-4, supplemented later with a few pieces of boats Felixstowe F. 1 which place on the british standards shaky hulls Built using new, constructed commander of the air base at Felixstowe John C. Port, but the tail surfaces and the wings taken almost without changes from the Curtiss. Same problem as with H-4 occurred even after the arrival of the new, much larger machines H-12, and the Porte thus reached for proven solutions - developed for them a new hull, Porte II, which had a much more suitable hydrodynamic properties. This rebuilt machine was marked with a Felixstowe F.2. As well as u H-12 had the all-wood skeleton, covered on most of the hull plywood, and the remaining areas of the screen. Unsatisfactory american engines were replaced by the british Rolls-Royce Eagle I. This new prototype took off probably sometime in the middle of the spring of 1917 and soon proved the usefulness of the adjustments.

In serial production went slightly amended version of F.2A, which had already engine Eagle VIII about the performance of 276 kW. The first who started the production of this type was, ironically, Curtiss, which in the standard F.2A finished fifteen of their H-12 for the british navy and he mislabeled it on the H-16 (with the production of this type continued also for the domestic navy). The first british company, authorized the production of F.2A was With. E. Saunders, from whom were the first of thirty ordered machines delivered since November 1917. The acute need for high-quality patrol machine led to the fact that it was for the time being the new hull is fitted with several already delivered H-12, marked now as a Converted Large America. The next series of Ef twos supplied Saunders from August 1918 and four of the series (21, 10, 25, and 13 machines) built a company May, Harden & May.

The standard armament of the F.2A consisted of four machine guns Lewis, two of the current circles Scarff on the bow and on the fuselage behind the wings and two in the sides of the torso, later, were the machine guns of the circles replaced by "the twins" and the machine gun got even a pilot. On at least two machines appeared and a new range with two Lewis in the middle of the upper wing. Borne bombs included twelve small pieces, four 45kg bombs and two large 105kg, carried under the wings.

Felixstowe F.2A will soon become the main type in all the bases of the RNAS, namely Felixstowe, Killingholmu, Carlshotu, Great Yarmouth, Dundee, Ceterwateru and Scapa Flow. Their main task was to search for and attack enemy ships and submarines, and as well as H-12 flew patrols in the so-called spider's web, in which the device was Dutch lightship ship the North Hinder. Due to the magnification range ever Felixstowy transported to the place of deployment on large boats towed the destroyer. Although these were large aircraft less manoeuvrable and speedy than their most common adversary reconnaissance fighters the Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 and W.29, their huge firepower to a considerable extent, all were making it up. The main weakness of this type consisted in the fuel system, which was due to the location of the engines and the tanks quite complicated and often insufficiently leak-tight fit, which often led to forced landing during the event. In the summer of 1918, was for F.2A introduced protective camouflage, the so called dazzle painting, consisting of bright and dark stripes, simulating the glare on the water surface. For each machine was fabricated individual scheme.

Among their tasks were the defense before the German airships. 10. may 1918, the fill one F.2A from the base Killingholme (the crew Cpt. T. C. Pattinson, And. H. Munday and Sgt. H. R. Stubbington), the German Zeppelin L.62 in a small height above the minovými field near Helgoland. Felixstowe immediately opened fire from all that was at hand, Zeppelin after a while he began to heavily smoke, tried to fly towards the east, after a while, but burst out of. Even the british machine but didn't make it out without a problem - broke down the oil pipe and the British had to make an emergency landing on the surface.

In addition to the serial version of F.2A arose two more prototypes, F.2B and F.2C, which had a lightened hull, a modified bow, and the engine Rolls-Royce Eagle II, later replaced by the Eagle VI. Neither one didn't get into mass production, the F.2C was used at the base in Felixstowe, and even in July 1917 he participated in the destruction of the submarines UC-1. Received a total of RNAS and RAF 173 F.2A, four modified H-12 and 75 H-16. Were introduced into the armament 228., 230., 231., 232., 238., 240., 247., 257. and 267. squadron RAF, the last were scrapped in may 1923. One machine was sold to Chile.

Source:
Hornát, Jiří: Felixstowe F.2, F.2A (Curtiss H-16), L+K 22/2003
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_H12
www.nasm.si.edu
http://www.willhiggs.co.uk/dundee/felixstowes.htm
http://www.stanstokesart.com/ststavartyou.html
warandgame.wordpress.com
www.aviastar.org
http://www.aviation-history.com/felix/f2a.htm.

Source:
www.geocities.com.

Felixstowe captain Pattinson according to Robinson attacked L62, but the L56. The airship after the shooting of the flying boat "enveloped in smoke"; according to the commander L56 kapitánporučíka Zäschmara it were in the air, scattered ballast and gasoline, discarded for a quick gain of height.
L62 exploded, but from other causes. According to Robinson, " ... flew at an altitude of only a thousand feet and disappeared in an impressive kupovitém the cloud. Almost immediately there was a powerful explosion and the broken remains of L62 to fall burning into the sea." The commander of the naval airships, Peter Strasser was not able to find out the cause of the destruction of the airship. Since she flew very much under the "pressure height (Prallhöhe)", he thought to Strasser, that the electric charge in the storm fairy cloud caused the explosion either fuel or bombs. The opinion of survivors of the aeronauts was that one of the lighter bombs for sabotage prematurely detonated the bomb.
Hydrogen filled aerostat ignited it explodes, normally burn. Proof of this is the need of the crash of the Hindenburg in Lakehurst..

Zaujímavé, vieš to podoprieť odkazmi na pramene? Teda zdroje, napr. knižné.

Perhaps they confused two different events, but older sources such as British Naval Aircraft since 1912 indicate that the Pattinsonův N4291 shot down L.62, that "he went down in flames". Another putnamovka, Zeppelin Rigid Airships, it is reported that L.62 exploded 10. 5. 1918, L.56 should be destroyed by the crew in June 1919 (which would fit, if the clash survived). That was shot down! L.56 the Hornátova monograph in the L+K 2003/22. Internet sources often repeat the same text about the wave and the explosion of L.62.
For any be sourced clarification I will be happy..

Foreign discussion forums, where the information came from, is most often based on a book by Douglas Robinson's The Zeppelin in Combat. In the literature was found also a link to the book H. And. Jones The War in the Air. However, I recognize that it could be a mistake; the text was translated from Danish by Google Translatorem..