Supermarine PB 31E Night Hawk

The PE 31E Nighthawk was first aircraft to bear the illustrious Supermarine name though unfortunately that was probably the only good thing going for it. The company had changed had it's name from Pemberton Billing in 1916 (after Mr Pemberton Billing sold his interests to the company's other directors). One of the last aircraft Pemberton Billing had been working on had been the PB 29E, a large quadruplane for anti-airship defence. Unfortunately the sole PB 29E crashed during flight testing but the Admiralty decided to continue pursuing Pemberton Billing's ideas for combating the zeppelin menace and so sponsored a further aircraft.

Public domain image

Information
Manufacturer:	Supermarine
First flight:	1917
Propulsion:	Azani radial engine (2)
Withdrawn:	1917
Number built:	1

This was the Supermarine PB 31E, like the 29E it was a large quadruplane 11.27m long and with a wing span of 18.28m. It was made more sturdy than the 29E with a planned crew of 5 and heavily armed with a 1½-pdr recoiless gun and twin Lewis machine guns. It was intended to be able to stay aloft for up to 18 hours and carried a searchlight that was powered by a separate engine and thus was probably one of the first aircraft to carry an auxiliary power unit. Because of the long planned duration it was fitted with some basic comforts for the crew including a heated cabin. The aircraft also carried armour in some key areas and the cockpit was bound with fabric to avoid wood splinters in the event of a crash to protect the crew.

The problem with all of these innovative and advanced features was that they weighted a lot! The PB 31E weighed over 2787kg when loaded and there simply wasn't the engine technology at the time to adequately power such a plane. Two 100hp Anzani engines powered the PB 31E and were enough to get it airborne but not enough to give it sufficient performance to perform in the anti-zeppelin role. The PB 31E took an hour to climb to over 3,000 metres which meant that zeppelins could easily escape it by ditching ballast and climbing rapidly. The design speed had been 75mph (120kph) which was considered fast enough to catch zeppelins (though some zeppelins could go faster than that in favourable conditions) but it is reported the PB 31E struggled to pass 60mph (97kph).

The PB 31E first flew in February 1917 but by then it was apparent there were serious flaws in the concept, highlighted by the PB 31E's poor performance. Unable to pursue a zeppelin it's only chance of success would have been the sheer luck of being in the right place at the right time and firing on the zeppelin before it got out of range. It's main armament, a 1½ pounder Davis non-recoil gun, was also rather unwieldy.

The sole PB 31E was scrapped in the Summer of 1917, the second planned example never being built. The PB 31E, which was given the name Night Hawk, was technically innovative and it's concept could maybe have worked with more powerful engines and better performance. In the event the zeppelin was near the end of it's time as a military weapon in any case.

de Havilland DH89 Dragon Rapide

The de Havilland Dragon Rapide was a successful short range British airliner of the Interwar Period.

Three views of G-ADAH preserved at MOSI Manchester

Information
Manufacturer:	de Havilland
First flight:	1934
Propulsion:	de Havilland Gypsy 6 piston engine (2)
Number built:	727

The DH89 Dragon Rapide was a development of the earlier DH84 Dragon and the DH86 Express. The Dragon Rapide was a scaled down version of the Express and used the same Gypsy 6 engines, tapered biplane wings and fuselage design largely made from plywood. Although a fairly simple aircraft it had few vices and was durable and reliable.

The prototype, which was known as the Dragon 6, first flew in early 1934 with customer deliveries commencing in the Summer. At the commencement of the Second World War the type was accepted into RAF service in a number of roles including communications and wireless training, the type being known as the Dominie in military service.

After the war hundreds of war surplus Dragon Rapides were supplied to rebuilding allied air forces and air lines. It was also used by British European Airlines and other British airlines on domestic services in the 1950s. A number of Dragon Rapides are still airworthy.

Eurofighter Typhoon

The Eurofighter Typoon is a fourth generation fighter which is the front-line fighter of the Royal Air Force and a number of other airforces. Like other modern European combat aeroplanes it was a collaboration between the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy. France was also a member of the programme in it's early days but later left to pursue it's rival design, the Rafale, instead.

Pre-production aircraft ZH588 at RAF Museum London

Information
Manufacturer:	Eurofighter
First flight:	1994
Propulsion:	Eurojet EJ200 turbofan (2)
Number built:	623

The Typhoon first flew in 1994 and is built by a multi-national organisation which includes Airbus and BAE Systems. The Typhoon entered service in 2003 and has also sold to a number of other countries as well as the four builder nations, especially in the Middle East.

The Typhoon is a highly agile canard delta winged fighter designed initially for air superiority but later updates have added an air-to-ground capability. The Typhoon in RAF service has seen combat use over Libya.

The Typhoon has twin afterburning turbofans

Another view of ZH588

Vickers Wellesley

The Wellesley was built as a private venture in the mid-1930s for an RAF requirement for a multi-role light bomber (with dive and torpedo bombing capabilities) and reconnaissance aircraft.

(SDASM Archive)

Information
Manufacturer:	Vickers-Armstrong
First flight:	1937
Propulsion:	Bristol Pegasus XX radial piston-engine
Withdrawn:	1944
Number built:	177

The Wellesley used the geodesic construction for it's structure, a lattice work that gave greater strength and resilience. It had been developed by Barnes Wallis for the R101 Airship and later was most notable used in Vickers' later Wellington bomber. The Wellesley was a development of the earlier biplane Vickers Type 253 of 1931.

The Wellesley entered service with the RAF in 1937 but by the outbreak of the Second World War was considered already obsolete for the European theatre and mainly served in the Middle East in the early years of the war.

The Wellesley broke the world long distance record in 1938 when a flight of Wellesleys successfully flew from Ismailia, Egypt non-stop to Darwin, Australia. This is still the longest non-stop flight by a single piston-engined aircraft.

(SDASM Archive)

Bristol Ten-seater / Brandon

The Bristol Ten-seater was an early civilian airliner though only three were built, one of which served with the RAF as the Bristol Brandon.

The Type 75 [1]

Information
Manufacturer:	Bristol Aeroplane Company
First flight:	1921
Propulsion:	Napier Lion or Bristol Jupiter IV radial piston-engine
Withdrawn:	1926
Number built:	3

The Ten-seater was designed to carry up to ten people (no surprise there) and was a biplane with a single engine. The first aircraft was fitted with a Napier Lion engine as the Bristol Jupiter IV originally intended was not ready in time for the first flight. The other two aircraft built both had the Bristol engine.

The first aircraft, known as the Type 62, entered service in 1922 and was used on the London-Paris air route. It was configured to carry a pilot and nine passengers in a luxurious cabin [1]. The second aircraft, the Type 75, was used for cargo flights on the London-Cologne route. The third aircraft, known as the Type 79, entered service with the RAF as an air ambulance.

[1] "The Kings Cup Air Race", Flight Magazine Sept 7 1922 p. 513