| Felixstowe F.3 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Felixstowe F.3 | |
| Role | Military flying boat |
| Manufacturer | Short Brothers Dick, Kerr & Co. Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company Malta Dockyard |
| Designer | J C Porte, |
| First flight | February 1917 |
| Introduction | 1917 |
| Primary users | RNAS RAF US Navy |
| Number built | 182 |
| Developed from | Felixstowe F.2 |
| Variants | Felixstowe F.5 Felixstowe F5L |
The Felixstowe F.3 was a British First World War flying boat designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN of the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe the successor to the Felixstowe F.2
Design and development[]
In February 1917, the first prototype of the Felixstowe F.3 was flown. This was a larger and heavier development of the Felixstowe F.2a, powered by two 320 hp (239 kW) Sunbeam Cossack engines.[1] Large orders followed, with the production aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce Eagles. The F.3s larger size gave it greater range and heavier bomb load than the F2, but poorer speed and agility. Approximately 100 Felixstowe F.3s were produced before the end of the war, including 18 built at Malta Dockyard.[2]
The Felixstowe F.5 was intended to combine the good qualities of the F.2 and F.3, with the prototype first flying in May 1918. The prototype showed superior qualities to its predecessors but the production version was modified to make extensive use of components from the F3, in order to ease production, giving lower performance than either the F.2a or F.3. The Felixstowe F.5 was re-exported to America, and re-engined with Liberty V-12s, becoming the Curtiss F5L.
Operational history[]
The larger F3, which was less popular with its crews than the more maneuverable F2a, served in the Mediterranean as well as the North Sea.
Operators[]
Canada
- Canadian Air Board
Portugal
Felixstowe F.3 being hauled out of the water at Kalafrana, Malta, c. 1918. F.3s were operating throughout the Mediterranean by the end of the war.
United Kingdom
Specifications (F.3)[]
Data from British Naval Aircraft since 1912 [3]
General characteristics
- Crew: four
- Length: 49 ft 2 in (14.99 m)
- Wingspan: 102 ft (31.09 m)
- Height: 18 ft 8 in (5.69 m)
- Wing area: 1,432 ft² (133.03 m²)
- Empty weight: 7,958 lb (3,610 kg)
- Loaded weight: 12,235 lb (5,550 kg)
- Powerplant: two × Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII V12 inline piston, 345 hp (257 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 91 mph (79 knots, 147 km/h) at 2,000 ft (610 m)
- Service ceiling: 8,000 ft (2,438 m)
- Wing loading: 8.54 lb/ft² (41.8 kg/m²)
- Power/mass: 0.056 hp/lb (0.092 kW/kg)
- Endurance: Six hours
- Climb to 2,000 ft (610 m): 5 min 15 s
- Climb to 6,500 ft (1,980 m): 24 min
Armament
- Guns: 4 × Lewis guns (one in the nose, three amidships)
- Bombs: Up to 920 lb (418 kg) of bombs beneath wings
See also[]
- Felixstowe F5
- Felixstowe F5L
- Felixstowe Porte Baby -
- Felixstowe F.2 -
- Felixstowe F.3 -
- Felixstowe F.5
References[]
- Notes
- ↑ Bruce 16 December 1955, p.897.
- Bibliography
- Bruce, J.M. "The Felixstowe Flying-Boats: Historic Military Aircraft No. 11 Part 1". Flight, 2 December 1955, pp. 842–846.
- Bruce, J.M. "The Felixstowe Flying-Boats: Historic Military Aircraft No. 11 Part 2". Flight, 16 December 1955, pp. 895–898.
- Bruce, J.M. "The Felixstowe Flying-Boats: Historic Military Aircraft No. 11 Part 3". Flight, 23 December 1955, pp. 929–932.
- Thetford, Owen. British Naval Aircraft since 1912. London: Putnam, Fourth edition, 1978. ISBN 0-370-30021-1.
External links[]
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The original article can be found at Felixstowe F.3 and the edit history here.