Armstrong Whitworth Armadillo

The Armstrong Whitworth Armadillo was a British single-seat biplane fighter aircraft built by Armstrong Whitworth.

Development and design

The Armadillo was designed in 1917 by Armstrong Whitworth's new chief designer, Fred Murphy, as a private venture single-seat fighter powered by a Bentley BR2 rotary engine. While the design met the requirements of Air Board Specification A1(a) for a replacement for the Sopwith Camel, it was principally produced to test the abilities of Armstrong Whitworth's new design team, and was not considered a serious competitor for the requirement.^[1] Despite this, Armstrong Whitworth was granted a licence in January 1918 to allow construction of two prototypes.^[2]

The aircraft was a two-bay biplane with a square section fuselage. The engine in the nose was enclosed by a circular cowl with a deep hump above the cowl housing two .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns.^[2]

The first prototype made its maiden flight during April 1918.^[3] The type was not subject to formal evaluation by the Air Ministry, with the poor view from the cockpit being criticised.^[4] By the time the Armadillo appeared the Sopwith Snipe, powered by the same engine and faster was already in large scale production and Murphy had started work on the more advanced Ara fighter, so the Armadillo was abandoned, the second prototype not being completed.^[5][6]

Specifications

Data from War Planes of the First World War:Volume One: Fighters ^[5]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 18 ft 10 in (5.74 m)
• Wingspan: 27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)
• Height: 7 ft 10 in (2.39 m)
• Wing area: 232 ft² (21.6 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,250 lb (568 kg)
• Gross weight: 1,860 lb (845 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Bentley BR2 rotary engine, 230 hp (172 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 125 mph (201 km/h)
• Endurance: 2 hours  45 min
• Service ceiling: 24,000 ft (7,300 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,500 ^[7] ft/min (7.8 m/s)

Armament

• 2 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Sopwith Snipe
• Boulton Paul Bobolink
• Nieuport B.N.1

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Armstrong Whitworth aircraft.

• Bruce, J.M. (1965). War Planes of the First World War:Volume One: Fighters. London: Macdonald. 
• Mason, Francis K. (1992). British Fighters since 1912. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-082-7. 
• Tapper, Oliver (1988). Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft since 1913. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-85177-826-7. 
• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1990). Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I. London: Studio Editions. p. 49.