The Handley Page Type S, or HPS-1 was a prototype British
carrier-based fighter developed for the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
in the early 1920s. A low-wing
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
, it was unsuccessful, only two being built and flown.
Development and design
In 1921 the United States Navy drew up a specification for a single-seat fighter aircraft capable of operating either as a landplane from its aircraft carriers or from the water as a
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 ...
, seeking designs from both American and European companies. The British aircraft manufacturer
Handley Page
Handley Page Limited was a British aerospace manufacturer. Founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909, it was the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into voluntary liquidation a ...
, which had recently developed the
leading edge slot
A leading-edge slot is a fixed aerodynamics, aerodynamic feature of the wing of some aircraft to reduce the Stall (flight), stall speed and promote good low-speed handling qualities. A leading-edge slot is a spanwise gap in each wing, allowing ai ...
, realised use of slots and
flap
Flap may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Flap'' (film), a 1970 American film
* Flap, a boss character in the arcade game '' Gaiapolis''
* Flap, a minor character in the film '' Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland''
Biology and h ...
s could allow a high-speed monoplane to fly at the low speeds needed for carrier operations with a much higher
wing loading
In aerodynamics, wing loading is the total weight of an aircraft or flying animal divided by the area of its wing. The stalling speed, takeoff speed and landing speed of an aircraft are partly determined by its wing loading.
The faster an airc ...
than a normal
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 ...
, and decided to develop an aircraft to meet this requirement. The resulting design, given the Handley Page designation Type S (and later retrospectively known as the H.P.21) was a small, low-wing
cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...
monoplane, with full-span leading edge slots and full-span slotted flaps. The airframe was a
plywood
Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...
monocoque
Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell".
First used for boats, ...
, with the fuselage capable of being broken into two sections for storage on board ship. It had a
tailwheel undercarriage
Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...
that could be replaced by two floats. Although designed to use engines of up to 400 hp (298 kW), the prototypes were fitted with a much less powerful surplus
Bentley BR2
The Bentley B.R.2 was a nine-cylinder British rotary aircraft engine developed during the First World War by the motor car engine designer W. O. Bentley from his earlier Bentley BR.1. The BR.2 was built in small numbers during the war, its mai ...
rotary engine
The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and its ...
.
[Barnes 1976, pp.230–232.][Mason 1992, p.170.]
The US Navy placed an order for three prototypes, designated HPS-1 (Handley Page Scout) in the contemporary US Navy designation system.
[Swanborough and Bowers 1976, p.485.] The first prototype flew on 7 September 1923, but proved to have poor handling, with the rudder proving to be ineffective.
[Barnes 1976, p.232.] The second prototype was built with its wings fitted with six degrees of
dihedral, flying in February 1924. It had much improved handling, and showed good speed at low level.
[Barnes 1976, p.237.] However, when undergoing full load trials for the US Navy at
Martlesham Heath
Martlesham Heath is a village in Suffolk, England. It is east of Ipswich, This was an ancient area of heathland and latterly the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield. A "new village" was established there in the mid-1970s and this has developed in ...
, it was wrecked when its undercarriage collapsed on landing, and the US Navy cancelled the contract, with the third prototype, intended to be a
floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
, not completed.
Operators
;
*
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
Specifications (Type S)
See also
Notes
References
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{{USN scout aircraft
1920s British fighter aircraft
Type S
Rotary-engined aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear