Wight Twin
J. Samuel White · United Kingdom · first flew 1915 · bomber
The Wight Twin was a British large twin-engined First World War aircraft, a twin-boom biplane. One was built as a landplane for France and three more as seaplanes for the Royal Naval Air Service.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Mid-mounted, straight |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 2 × piston, fuselage-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Two Salmson radial engines in the front of the fuselage booms |
| T — Tail | Twin fin |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Very large twin-boom biplane with five-bay folding wings
- Two Salmson radial engines in the front of the fuselage booms
- Small crew nacelle between the booms on the landplane
A huge twin-boom biplane with five-bay wings, an engine at the front of each boom and, on the seaplane, floats.
Specifications
- The Wight Twin has a length of 13.33 m (44 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 25.6 m (84 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 128 km/h (80 mph).
- Typical crew: 2-3.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
The French government ordered a twin-engined bomber from the Samuel White shipyard at Cowes in summer 1914. It was designed by Howard T. Wright and powered by two 200 hp Salmson water-cooled radials in the front of the booms. The Twin Landplane was completed in July 1915 and had adequate flying characteristics in tests at Eastchurch in August.
Variants
The Twin Landplane had a crew of three in a nacelle between the booms. The Twin Seaplane, built for the Admiralty to carry an 18 inch torpedo, removed the nacelle and put cockpits for a crew of two in the two fuselages behind the wings.
Where you'll see it
A French test pilot crashed the Twin Landplane in September 1915 and the contract was cancelled. The Twin Seaplanes proved unable to carry both a torpedo and a full fuel load and were underpowered, so the type was abandoned and the last was written off in 1917.
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