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The Parnall Peto was a small seaplane designed to the British Air Ministry's specification 16/24 in the early 1920s for use as a submarine-carried reconnaissance aircraft.
Design and development
Two examples were designed and built by George Parnall and Company and were given serial numbers N181 and N182. The first prototype, N181, crashed at Gibraltar and was rebuilt as N255 before being lost with the submarine HMS M2 when her hangar flooded. The Peto was one of the most challenging design projects that the Parnall company undertook, because of the very small hangar in which the aircraft had to fit.
Of mixed wood, fabric, aluminium and steel construction, it had unequal span, Warren-braced folding rectangular wings. The first aircraft, N181, was powered by a 128 hp Bristol Lucifer engine and had mahogany plywood "Consuta" type floats. Performance was generally satisfactory but following crash damage, improvements were made and the machine was rebuilt with new wings, metal floats and a 169 hp Armstrong Siddeley Mongoose engine. Tests both on the sea and in the air showed that designer, Harold Bolas, had met the requirements and it was officially judged to be exceptionally good.
The aircraft was launched using a compressed air catapult mounted on the forward casing of the submarine and recovered using a crane.
With the loss of M2, the Royal Navy abandoned submarine-launched aircraft, although most other navies also experimented with the concept in the interwar years.
Aircraft
The two aircraft built were:
;N181
:Prototype which was wrecked at Gibraltar on 11 February 1930 and rebuilt as N255 with improved floats and lost with HMS M2.
;N182
:Which crashed 29 June 1930 at Stokes Bay. It was acquired by F.C.H. Allen and prepared for civil use at Ford aerodrome in Sussex between 1933 and 1934.
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General characteristics
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|height ft=8
|height in=11
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|wing area sqft=174
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|empty weight lb=1300
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|gross weight lb=1950
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Powerplant
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|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Armstrong Siddeley Mongoose IIIC
|eng1 type=5-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine
|eng1 hp=135
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|prop blade number=2
|prop name=fixed-pitch propeller
|prop dia ft=<!-- propeller aircraft -->
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Performance
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|max speed mph=113
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|ceiling ft=11300
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|climb rate ftmin=600
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See also
Notes
</references>
References
External links
- Flight 1929 archive pictures
- Flight 1929
- Parnall Peto – British Aircraft Directory
- Gulls of War, October 1931 article Popular Mechanics