The Parnall Scout, unofficially nicknamed the
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, ...
Chaser, was a British fighter prototype of the 1910s. It was the first fighter design from
Parnall
Parnall was a British aircraft manufacturer that evolved from a wood-working company before the First World War to a significant designer of military and civil aircraft into the 1940s. It was based in the west of England and was originally known ...
.
Development
Parnall
Parnall was a British aircraft manufacturer that evolved from a wood-working company before the First World War to a significant designer of military and civil aircraft into the 1940s. It was based in the west of England and was originally known ...
began work on a single-seat anti-
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
fighter aircraft in 1916 based on the designs of A. Camden-Pratt, initially intended to meet an aircraft specification from the
Admiralty. A large, wooden two-bay staggered
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 ...
, it was finished and initially tested in late 1916.
Operational history
The Scout reportedly flew twice in late 1916 under
Admiralty testing, however it was found to be heavy, slow and unsafe. As such it was returned to
Parnall
Parnall was a British aircraft manufacturer that evolved from a wood-working company before the First World War to a significant designer of military and civil aircraft into the 1940s. It was based in the west of England and was originally known ...
in the same year and no further development progressed.
Specifications (Scout - estimated)
Notes
References
*
Further reading
*
{{Parnall aircraft
Scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
* Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
** Scouts BSA, sect ...
1910s British fighter aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Biplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1916