The AD Seaplane Type 1000 also known as the Admiralty Type 1000 and the AD.1 (from Air Department) was a British

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

designed to attack

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warships. When it first flew, it was the largest British aircraft yet to take to the air.

Development

The design of the AD.1 was by Harris Booth of the Admiralty's Air Department just prior to World War I. It was the world's first aircraft designed from scratch as a

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the World War I, First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carryin ...

, one of the three planned versions of the design. The other two were a

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

and an aircraft armed with a recoilless Davis

12-pounder gun 12-pounder gun or 12-pdr, usually denotes a gun which fired a projectile of approximately 12 pounds. Guns of this type include: * 12-pounder long gun, the naval muzzle-loader of the Age of Sail * Canon de 12 de Vallière, French cannon of 1732 * C ...

(approximately 76 mm

calibre In guns, particularly firearms, but not artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or wher ...

). The aircraft was a float-equipped

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

of pod-and-boom design, with engines mounted at the front of both booms, as well as at the rear of the crew pod. Development began in 1915; it was completed and flown for the first time during the summer of 1916. It was found that the Davis gun would project a blast rearwards so the weapon was changed for a conventional 12-pounder 'Naval Landing Gun' though in practice a gun was never installed in the AD.1.

Service

Seven aircraft were ordered from

J. Samuel White J. Samuel White was a British shipbuilding firm based in Cowes, taking its name from John Samuel White (1838–1915). It came to prominence during the Victorian era. During the 20th century it built destroyers and other naval craft for both the ...

, but when the first one delivered was tested, it was found that its weight was higher than expected, its performance was unexpectedly poor and its undercarriage was not robust enough: based on these findings, the contract for the remaining six aircraft was cancelled. The sole example is known to have survived until 1916, probably at the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British ...

's Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe base.

Specifications (AD Seaplane Type 1000)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Goodall, Mike. "Wight Elephants: Murray Sueter's Quest for a Large Military Aircraft". ''

Air Enthusiast ''Air Enthusiast'' was a British, bi-monthly, aviation magazine, published by the Key Publishing group. Initially begun in 1974 as ''Air Enthusiast Quarterly'', the magazine was conceived as a historical adjunct to ''Air International'' magaz ...

'', No. 73, January/February 1998. Stamford, Lincs, UK:Key Publishing. . pp. 14–19. *Mason, Francis K. ''The British Bomber since 1914''. London:Putnam, 1994. . {{Admiralty aircraft type numbers Type 1000 1910s British bomber aircraft Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United Kingdom Rotary-engined aircraft Floatplanes Three-engined push-pull aircraft Twin-boom aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1916 Twin-tail aircraft Three-engined piston aircraft