Royal Aircraft Factory C.E.1

C.E.1
Role	Patrol flying boat
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Royal Aircraft Factory
Designer	William Farren
First flight	17 January 1918
Status	Prototype
Number built	2

The Royal Aircraft Factory C.E.1 (Coastal Experimental 1) was a prototype British flying boat of the First World War. It was a single-engined pusher configuration biplane intended to carry out coastal patrols to protect shipping against German U-boats, but only two were built, the only flying boats to be designed and built by the Royal Aircraft Factory.

Design and development

In February 1917, Germany restarted unrestricted submarine warfare against Britain, France and their allies, resulting in heavy losses to unescorted merchant shipping. There was a shortage of maritime patrol aircraft as the large Felixstowe F.2 flying boats had not yet entered large scale service, and the Royal Aircraft Factory, despite the fact that most of its aircraft were intended for land service with the Royal Flying Corps, decided to design and build a coastal patrol flying boat, the C.E.1 (Coastal Experimental 1) to help combat the U-boat menace.^[1]^[2]

Work started on the C.E.1, designed by William Farren, in July 1917, with two prototypes being built. It was a single-engined pusher, of similar layout to the pre-war Sopwith Bat Boat, but considerably larger, with a wooden hull featuring a single step, and the tail surfaces carried on tailbooms above and behind the hull. The aircraft's two-bay biplane wings folded rearwards for storage. The crew of two sat in tandem open cockpits, with a planned armament of up to three Lewis guns on pillar mountings, while bombs could be carried below the lower wings.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The first prototype, powered by a 230 hp (172 kW) RAF 3 V12 engine driving a four-bladed propeller was completed at Farnborough late in 1917, being sent to Hamble near Southampton for final assembly and initial flight testing on 25 December.^[5] The C.E.1 made its maiden flight, piloted by its designer, on 17 January 1918. After modifications to its controls it was sent to the Port Victoria Marine Experimental Aircraft Depot on the Isle of Grain for service trials in April, being quickly followed by the second prototype, which was powered by a 260 hp (190 kW) Sunbeam Maori engine. Trials showed that the C.E.1 was inferior to the larger and moree powerful twin-engine Felixstowe flying boats, and no production followed, the two prototypes being used for hydrodynamic experiments to validate test data obtained from model tests in a test tank at the National Physical Laboratory.^[2]^[6]

Specifications (Second prototype - Maori engine)

Data from The Royal Aircraft Factory^[7]

General characteristics

Crew: 2
Length: 36 ft 3 in (11.05 m)
Wingspan: 46 ft 0 in (14.02 m)
Height: 13 ft 4 in (4.06 m)
Wing area: 609 sq ft (56.6 m²)
Empty weight: 3,342 lb (1,516 kg)
Gross weight: 5,000 lb (2,268 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Sunbeam Maori water-cooled V12 engine, 260 hp (190 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 92 mph (148 km/h; 80 kn) at sea level
Endurance: 3 hrs 45 min
Service ceiling: 7,500 ft (2,286 m)

Armament

Guns: 3× mountings for machine guns^[8]
Bombs: racks for bombs under inner wings

Notes

↑ Hare 1990, p. 193.
1 2 3 London 2003, pp. 35–36.
↑ Hare 1990, pp. 193–194.
↑ Bruce 1957, pp. 387–388.
↑ Bruce 1957, pp. 388–389.
↑ Hare 1990, pp. 194–195.
↑ Hare 1990, pp. 195–196.
↑ Bruce 1957, p. 390.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal Aircraft Factory.

Bruce, J.M. British Aeroplanes 1914–1918. London:Putnam, 1957.
Hare, Paul R. The Royal Aircraft Factory. London:Putnam, 1990. ISBN 0-85177-843-7.
London, Peter. British Flying Boats. Stroud, UK:Sutton Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7509-2695-3.

Royal Aircraft Factory designed aircraft

Armoured Experimental	A.E.1 A.E.2 A.E.3

Blériot Experimental	B.E.1 B.E.2 B.E.3 B.E.4 B.E.5 B.E.6 B.E.7 B.E.8 B.E.9 B.E.10 B.E.11 B.E.12

Blériot Scout	B.S.1 B.S.2

Coastal Experimental	C.E.1

Farman Experimental Fighting Experimental	F.E.1 F.E.2 F.E.3 F.E.4 F.E.6 F.E.7 F.E.8 F.E.9 F.E.10 F.E.11 F.E.12

Night Experimental	N.E.1

Reconnaissance Experimental	R.E.1 R.E.2 R.E.3 R.E.5 R.E.7 R.E.8 R.E.9

Santos Experimental Scout Experimental	S.E.1 S.E.2 S.E.3 S.E.4 S.E.4a S.E.5 S.E.6 S.E.7

Tatin Experimental	T.E.1

Airships	Nulli Secundis Baby/Beta Gamma Delta Eta

Aviation in World War I

People and aircraft	Commanders Aces Aircraft of the Entente Powers Aircraft of the Central Powers Zeppelins

Campaigns and battles	Strategic bombing German Cuxhaven Bombing of cities Aerial reconnaissance Fokker Scourge Flight over Vienna Bloody April Battles

Entente Powers air services	British air services Royal Flying Corps Royal Naval Air Service Royal Air Force Australian Flying Corps Canadian Air Force (1918–20) French Air Service Imperial Russian Air Service Royal Italian Air Corps United States Army Air Service Greek air services Army Air Service Naval Air Service

Central Powers air services	Imperial German Air Service Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops Ottoman Aviation Squadrons Bulgarian Army Aeroplane Section

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Royal Aircraft Factory C.E.1

Design and development

Specifications (Second prototype - Maori engine)

See also

Notes

References