The raiders

8 June 2008 in 1910s, Aircraft, Art, Books, Pictures by Brett Holman | 5 comments

The Raiders

THE RAIDERS. A FLIGHT OF SEAPLANES SETTING OFF FOR A NIGHT BOMBING RAID.

This one’s got me stumped. It shows a flight of RNAS twin-engined seaplane bombers, but I haven’t been able to find anything with the same profile. Any ideas?

Image source: Harry Golding, ed., The Wonder Book of Aircraft for Boys and Girls (London: Ward, Lock & Co, 1919), facing 56.

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  1. George Shaner’s avatar

    George Shaner on 10 June 2008 at 4:24 am

    To my eye it looks like a cross between a contemporary flying boat and some of the early floatplane torpedo bombers. I’d bet it’s a period flight of fancy.

  2. Ian Evans’s avatar

    Ian Evans on 10 June 2008 at 6:10 pm

    I agree with that assessment. There was a Short project design of 1919/20 (all metal) with a very similar layout, but rather more sophisticated floats.

  3. Brett Holman’s avatar

    Brett Holman on 14 June 2008 at 9:31 pm

    Thanks — the consensus over here is also that it’s not a real aeroplane. The idea didn’t even occur to me!

  4. Roger Horky’s avatar

    Roger Horky on 18 June 2008 at 2:40 am

    It looks like a Bristol F.2 Fighter on non-stepped floats. The vertical tail has the same rounded shape, but with a strake beneath. The fuselage is above the lower wing. The engine cowling has the same upsloped lower contour and level upper contour. It is clearly a two-seater (is that what you meant by twin-engined? “cos the painting clearly shows but one).

    Of course, the Biff was a two-bay biplane, and the aircraft depicted is a single-bay. But I find that many non-specialist illustrators are more interested in impression than accuracy (ever seen a Dornier Do28 with its main gear retracted?–only in paintings by the uninitiated) so the painter may have been working from a photo of a Bristol, to which he added the floats.

  5. Brett Holman’s avatar

    Brett Holman on 18 June 2008 at 3:11 am

    It is indeed reminiscent of a Brisfit, but if you click on the picture to get a higher-res version, I think you’ll see that it is actually a two-engined aeroplane. Well, actually I can only see one engine nacelle clearly, but as it’s in the middle of the wing (attached by a close grouping of 4 struts, which the Bristol didn’t have) I think it’s a reasonable inference that there’s a second one on the other side :) And there’s perhaps a hint of another one on the far side as well.