Difference between revisions of "Torpedo Planes"

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In 1913, the {{UK-Vernon|f=tp}} began experiments in conjuction with the [[Royal Naval Air Service]] employing a seaplane with sawn-down wings to operate as a hydroplane which could perform high speed drop tests as it skimmed along the surface.  Later in the year a 200 HP Sopwith Canton-Unne seaplane carried a 14-in torpedo aloft at Calshot, and in September a torpedo seaplane was specially ordered for the purpose.
 
In 1913, the {{UK-Vernon|f=tp}} began experiments in conjuction with the [[Royal Naval Air Service]] employing a seaplane with sawn-down wings to operate as a hydroplane which could perform high speed drop tests as it skimmed along the surface.  Later in the year a 200 HP Sopwith Canton-Unne seaplane carried a 14-in torpedo aloft at Calshot, and in September a torpedo seaplane was specially ordered for the purpose.
  
In mid 1914, a 160 HP Short-Gnome seaplane was experimenting with a 14-in torpedo of 810 lbs.
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In mid 1914, a 160 HP Short-Gnome seaplane was experimenting with a 14-in torpedo, and finally a 225 HP Short seaplane carried one weighing 810 lbs.  The first operational chance to use the weapon was lost in May 1915 during the a German coastal raid (which raid is being referred to here, I have no idea), as the plane was loaded with a bomb instead of its customary torpedo.
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Mid-1915 also marked the Royal Navy's move to 18-in torpedoes for aerial work, as they had ordered two 310 HP Short seaplanes able to lift a 14-in Mark IX torpedo which had been especially developed for the purpose.  This weapon weighed 1,000 pounds including its 170 pound T.N.T. warhead.
  
 
==Attacks in the War==
 
==Attacks in the War==

Revision as of 10:35, 16 July 2019

Torpedo Planes (land-based aeroplanes, floatplanes or seaplanes) were envisioned before the Great War and played an ancillary part in the war itself as small numbers of increasingly capable platforms were fielded and employed. The damage they inflicted in the war was slight, but it presaged the impact this weapon system would carry into World War II.

This article is just a stub, to start, and is primarily based upon an extract of a work entitled History of Development of Torpedo Aircraft which appeared in in the Annual Report of the Torpedo School for 1918.[1]

Early Experiments

Short Type 184 carrying 14-in Torpedo, c. 1915.
The tail number suggests this may be the original No. 184.

The British felt that the first tests were made by Italian Captain Guidoni in 1911, when he released a 352-lb. torpedo from an 80 HP "Farman" aeroplane. In America, in 1912 Admiral Fiske advocated using seaplanes to carry torpedoes.

In 1913, the torpedo training school H.M.S. Vernon began experiments in conjuction with the Royal Naval Air Service employing a seaplane with sawn-down wings to operate as a hydroplane which could perform high speed drop tests as it skimmed along the surface. Later in the year a 200 HP Sopwith Canton-Unne seaplane carried a 14-in torpedo aloft at Calshot, and in September a torpedo seaplane was specially ordered for the purpose.

In mid 1914, a 160 HP Short-Gnome seaplane was experimenting with a 14-in torpedo, and finally a 225 HP Short seaplane carried one weighing 810 lbs. The first operational chance to use the weapon was lost in May 1915 during the a German coastal raid (which raid is being referred to here, I have no idea), as the plane was loaded with a bomb instead of its customary torpedo.

Mid-1915 also marked the Royal Navy's move to 18-in torpedoes for aerial work, as they had ordered two 310 HP Short seaplanes able to lift a 14-in Mark IX torpedo which had been especially developed for the purpose. This weapon weighed 1,000 pounds including its 170 pound T.N.T. warhead.

Attacks in the War

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. pp. 89-96.