Supermarine Nighthawk

{{good article}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Use British English|date=November 2017}} {{Short description|British-designed prototype for an anti-Zeppelin quadraplane aircraft}} {{About|the 1917 British fighter|other aircraft named Nighthawk|Nighthawk (disambiguation)#Aircraft}} {{Infobox aircraft | name = Nighthawk | image =Supermarine P.B.31E Nighthawk.jpg | image_size =220 | alt = photograph of the Nighthawk | image_caption = | long_caption = | other_names =P.B.31E | aircraft_type ={{Plainlist| * Anti-Zeppelin fighter * Night fighter}} | aircraft_role = | national_origin =United Kingdom | manufacturer =Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. (originally Pemberton Billing Ltd.) | design_group = | designer = | builder = | issuer = | owners = | service = | major_applications = | proposals = | prototypes = | number_built =1 | requirement = | flights = | total_hours = | total_distance = | construction_date = | introduction = | first_flight = February 1917 | first_run = | initiated = | developed_from =P.B.29E "Battle Plane" | in_service = | last_flight = | retired = | concluded = | developed_into = | preservation = | fate = Scrapped (July 1917) | predecessors = | successors = | related = }}

The '''Supermarine Nighthawk''' or '''P.B.31E''' was a First World War British aircraft, designed by Noel Pemberton Billing and built at Woolston, Southampton after Pemberton Billing's company became Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. The P.B.31E, as with its predecessor the P.B.29 "Battle Plane", was an anti-Zeppelin night fighter. It was operated by a crew of three to five, and was designed to fly for 9 to 18 hours. The prototype of the P.B.31E flew in February 1917. It quickly became obsolete when it was found that Zeppelins could more easily be destroyed by igniting their hydrogen bags using explosive bullets. Only a prototype aircraft was built.

==Background== The Nighthawk was developed to counter the threat of bombing raids by German Zeppelins against the UK during the First World War.{{sfn|Andrews|Morgan|1981|pp=14, 19}} In 1916, the British Member of Parliament and aviator Noel Pemberton Billing published ''Air War: How To Wage It'', which included promotion of the use of aircraft as a defensive measure against Zeppelins.{{sfn|Pegram|2016|p=15}} He wrote:{{sfn|Goodall|2014|p=34}}

{{Blockquote |text=[Each machine must].. also carry a searchlight driven independently of the engines. It must have at least a speed of 80 m.p.h. [130km/h] to overtake airships... It must be able to carry fuel for 12hr cruising at low speed to enable it to chase an airship to the coast. It must be able to climb to 10,000ft in not more than 20min... The engines must be silenced. The pilots must have a clear-view arc of fire above, in front and below. All the above requirements are within the capacity of any competent aeroplane designer. |source=''Air War: How To Wage It'' (1916)}}

[[File:Pemberton Billing PB-29.jpg|thumb|The Pemberton Billing PB-29 at NRAS Chingford in 1916{{sfn|Goodall|2014|p=36}}]]

Pemberton Billing, who owned the small aircraft company based at Woolston, Southampton, was asked by the British government to design and build a slow aircraft capable of attacking an airborne Zeppelin.{{sfn|Andrews|Morgan|1981|pp=14, 19}} He responded to the government's request by personally designing a quadruplane aircraft according to the recommendations of ''Air War: How To Wage It'', which was designated as the P.B.29E.{{sfn|Pegram|2016|p=15}}{{efn|"E" stood for 'experimental'.{{sfn|Goodall|2014|p=35}}}} The quadruplane configuration was required because the wing surface area needed to be large enough to lift the aeroplane to the same altitude of a Zeppelin.{{sfn|Shelton|2015|p=22}} It had two cockpits (in front and behind the wings) that had dual controls, as well as a tailplane and three rudders. The two propellers were driven by {{convert|90|hp|adj=on|lk=on}} Austro-Daimler engines. A crew member armed with a Lewis gun was in an enclosed position above the third wing.{{sfn|Goodall|2014|p=35}}

The P.B.29E was delivered to the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) station at Chingford, Essex, where it underwent tests on 1 January 1916 and received a somewhat critical report.{{sfn|Goodall|2014|pp=35, 37}} Shortly after the completion of the RNAS trials, the aircraft crashed at Chingford. After it was written off, the wreckage was returned to Woolston.{{sfn|Shelton|2015|p=22}} The design of the P.B.29E was thought by the RNAS to be good enough to be developed further and an order to construct two improved machines was given.{{sfn|Goodall|2014|p=37}}

==Design and development== [[File:Supermarine Nighthawk at Woolston.jpg|thumb|The P.B.31E at the Supermarine works at Woolston, Southampton. R.J. Mitchell, who was to succeed as the company's chief designer, is standing fourth from the left.]] The improved version of the P.B.29E was called the P.B.31E.{{sfn|Andrews|Morgan|1981|p=21}} Drawings of the new aircraft dating from July to November 1916 have the initials of Reginald Mitchell, who became its chief designer.{{efn|The drawings, which are dated 18 September 1916, include those concerned with one of the nacelles, and of gun mounts.{{sfn|Shelton|2015|p=21}}}} Mitchell is best known for designing racing seaplanes such as the Supermarine S.6B and for leading the team that designed the Supermarine Spitfire.{{sfn|Andrews|Morgan|1981|p=196}}{{sfn|Price|2002|pp=15–18, 223}}

The P.B.31E incorporated the quadraplane wings and tailplane of its predecessor.{{sfn|Goodall|2014|p=37}} It was powered by two {{cvt|100|hp}} Anzani 9-cylinder radial engines.{{sfn|Roussel|2013|p=24}} It was designed for long-lasting flights, with patrols occurring at low speeds whilst a Zeppelin was being hunted.{{sfn|King|1953|p=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150623232816/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%201306.html 462]}} It had a trainable nose-mounted searchlight to detect enemy aircraft. A 1½-pounder (37 mm) Davis gun was mounted above the top wing with 20 shells and it carried two .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis guns. Power for the searchlight was provided by an independent petrol engine-driven generator made by ABC Motors, possibly the first instance of a recognisable airborne auxiliary power unit.{{sfn|Andrews|Morgan|1981|p=21}} The comfort of the crew was considered in the design; the cockpit was enclosed and heated and sleeping quarters were provided in the form of a bunk.{{sfn|Roussel|2013|p=25}} The Admiralty ordered two aircraft of the type but only number ''1388'', was built.{{sfn|Andrews|Morgan|1981|p=21}}

==Operational history== [[File:Supermarine-Nighthawk-propeller.jpg|thumb|upright|The Nighthawk propeller at Solent Sky]] The Nighthawk (as it became known) first flew in February 1917, eight months after Pemberton Billing Ltd. had been sold to the airman and entrepreneur Hubert Scott-Paine and renamed the Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. The aircraft was tested by the American test pilot Clifford B. Prodger.{{sfn|Shelton|2015|pp=21–22}} During trials at Eastchurch, Kent, Prodger managed to reach a speed of {{cvt|75|mph}} and attained a landing speed of {{cvt|35|mph}}.{{sfn|Andrews|Morgan|1981|p=21}}

The Nighthawk's lack of power meant that it took an hour to attain an altitude of {{convert|10000|ft}}.{{sfn|Shelton|2015|p=22}} It finally became obsolete when it was found that Zeppelins could be destroyed using explosive bullets fired from a more lightly armed aircraft, which caused the oxygen-rich hydrogen bags to ignite.{{sfn|Shelton|2015|p=22}} The Nighthawk was scrapped in July 1917.{{sfn|Jarrett|2007|p=105}} One of the aircraft's propellers is preserved at Solent Sky, an aviation museum in Southampton.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

==Specifications (prototype)==

{{Aircraft specs |ref=The British Fighter since 1912{{sfn|Mason|1992|p=60}} |prime units?=imp  |crew=4 (2 pilots, 2 gunners) |length ft=37 |length in=0 |length note= |span ft=60 |span in=0 |span note= |height ft=17 |height in=8.5 |height note= |wing area sqft=962 |wing area note= |aspect ratio= |airfoil= |empty weight lb=3677 |empty weight note= |gross weight lb=6146 |gross weight note= |max takeoff weight lb= |max takeoff weight note= |fuel capacity= |more general=  |eng1 number=2 |eng1 name=Anzani 10-cylinder |eng1 type=air-cooled radial piston engines |eng1 hp=100 |eng1 note=

|prop blade number=4 |prop name=fixed-pitch propellers |prop dia ft= |prop dia in= |prop dia note=  |max speed mph=75 |max speed note= |cruise speed mph= |cruise speed note= |stall speed mph= |stall speed note= |never exceed speed mph= |never exceed speed note= |minimum control speed mph= |minimum control speed note= |range miles= |range note= |combat range miles= |combat range note= |ferry range miles= |ferry range note= |endurance=9 hours normal ; 18 hours maximum |ceiling ft= |ceiling note= |climb rate ftmin= |climb rate note= |time to altitude={{cvt|10000|ft|0}} in 60 minutes |lift to drag= |wing loading lb/sqft= |wing loading note= |fuel consumption lb/mi= |power/mass= |more performance=  |guns= 1 × 1½-pdr Davis gun and 1 × Lewis gun above upper wing, 1 × Lewis gun in the nose }}

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Charles Ferdinand |last2=Morgan |first2=Eric B. |title=Supermarine Aircraft since 1914 |date=1981 |publisher=Putnam |location=London |isbn=978-03701-0-018-0}} * {{cite journal |last1=Goodall |first1=Michael H. |title=Pemberton Billing and the Four-Winged Farrago |url-access=registration |via=Archive Foundation |url=https://archive.org/details/issue-31/Issue%2008/page/32/mode/2up |journal=The Aviation Historian |issue=8 |date=2014 |location=Horsham |pages=32–39 |issn=2051-1930}} * {{cite book |last1=Jarrett |first1=Philip |author-link=Philip Jarrett |title=The Colour Encyclopedia of Incredible Aeroplanes |date=2007 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |location=London |isbn=978-14053-1-767-2 |url-access=registration |via=Archive Foundation |url=https://archive.org/details/colourencycloped0000jarr/page/n5/mode/2up}} * {{cite magazine |last=King |first=H. F. |title=Sires of the Spitfire: A Forty-Year Record of Supermarine Achievement |magazine=Flight |date=2 October 1953 |volume=LXIV |issue=2332 |pages=461–480 |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%201305.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150624152801/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%201305.html |archive-date=24 June 2015}} * {{cite book |last=Mason |first=Francis K. |title=The British Fighter since 1912 |year=1992 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, MD |isbn=978-1-55750-082-3}} * {{cite book |last=Pegram |first=Ralph |title=Beyond the Spitfire: The Unseen Designs of R. J. Mitchell |date=2016 |publisher=The History Press |location=Cheltenham |isbn=978-0-7509-6515-6}} * {{cite book |last1=Price |first1=Alfred |title=The Spitfire Story |date=2002 |publisher=Arms and Armour Press |location=London |isbn=978-0-85368-861-7 |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/spitfirestory0000pric/page/n5/mode/2up |url-access=registration |via=Archive Foundation}} * {{cite book |last=Roussel |first=Mike |title=Spitfire's Forgotten Designer: The Career of Supermarine's Joe Smith |location=Brimscombe Port |publisher=The History Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-7524-8759-5}} * {{cite book |last1=Shelton |first1=John K. |title=From Nighthawk to Spitfire: The Aircraft of R. J. Mitchell |date=2015 |publisher=History Press |location=Stroud |isbn=978-07509-6-550-7}} {{refend}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last1=Gunston |first1=Bill |title=Night Fighters: A Development & Combat History |date=1976 |publisher=Scribner |location=New York |url-access=registration |via=Archive Foundation |url=https://archive.org/details/nightfightersdev0000guns_c6k0/page/19/mode/1up?q=%22PB+31E%22 |isbn=978-0-684-14842-7|ref=none}}

==External links== {{commons category}} * [https://aviadejavu.ru/Site/Crafts/Craft32659.htm Pemberton Billing P.B.29 / P.B.31 Nighthawk] from Avia DejaVue * [https://plane-encyclopedia.com/ww1/pb-29e-pb-31e-supermarine-nighthawk/ PB.29E & PB.31E Supermarine Nighthawk] from Plane Encyclopedia

{{Supermarine aircraft}} Category:Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United Kingdom Category:1910s British fighter aircraft Category:Quadruplanes Nighthawk Category:Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft Category:Aircraft first flown in 1917