The Beardmore W.B.V was a prototype British single-engine shipborne biplane fighter of World War I developed by Beardmore.Taylor 1990, p.57. It was not successful, only two being completed.
Development and design At the same time as developing the Beardmore W.B.IV, G. Tilghman Richards, the chief designer of Beardmore, designed a second aircraft to meet an Admiralty requirement for a ship-borne fighter aircraft to be armed with a 37 mm Le-Puteaux quick firing gun in order to destroy airships.Bruce 1965, p.74. The resulting aircraft, the W.B.V, was a single seater two-bay tractor biplane powered by a 200 hp (149 kW) Hispano-Suiza engine. The wings folded for storage on board ship. The manually loaded Le-Puteaux gun was mounted between the cylinder banks of the V-8 engine, firing through a hollow propeller shaft. Unlike the W.B.V, the W.B.IV was not fitted with a buoyancy chamber, being instead fitted with inflatable flotation bags.Mason 1992, pp.127-128.
The first prototype flew on 3 December 1917.Bruce 1965, p.74. During testing, the Le Puteaux gun was considered dangerous by RNAS pilots, and the aircraft was re-armed with a more conventional synchronised Vickers machine gun together with a Lewis gun mounted on a tripod mounting. Development was abandoned shortly after the completion of a second prototype.
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