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Pemberton-Billing P.B.23 & P.B.25

The Pemberton-Billing P.B.25 was a First World War British single seat scout aircraft built by Pemberton-Billing Limited, later Supermarine Aviation Works Limited.

The P.B.23 was designed in 1915 as a single seat biplane scout, with a fuselage nacelle strut-mounted between the wings.

The nacelle had an open cockpit for the pilot at the front and at the rear an 80 hp (60 kW) Le Rhône 9C engine driving a pusher propeller.

 Twin fins and rudders were mounted on a wide span tailplane with an elevator attached, all connected to the wing structure with four tail booms.

The P.B.23 failed to gain an order after it first flew in September 1915, but twenty of an improved version, the P.B.25, were ordered by the Royal Naval Air Service.

The P.B.25 had swept-back wings, a modified landing gear and a revised fuselage nacelle and although originally powered by a 110 hp (82 kW) Clerget rotary engine, the 20 RNAS aircraft were fitted with Gnome Monosoupape 9 Type B-2 rotary piston engines.

Specifications

Crew

1

Length

24 ft 1 in (7.34 m)

Wingspan

33 ft 0 in (10.06 m)

Height

10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)

Wing area

277 sq ft (25.7 m2)

Empty weight

1,080 lb (490 kg)

Gross weight

1,576 lb (715 kg)

Powerplant

1 × Gnome Monosoupape 9 Type B-2, 

9 cylinder air cooled rotary piston engine,

100 hp (75 kW)

Propellers

4 bladed fixed pitch pusher propeller

Performance

Maximum speed

99 mph (159 km/h, 86 kn) at sea level

Range

200 mi (320 km, 170 nmi) (approx.)

Time to altitude

6,000 ft (1,829 m) in 8 minutes 30 seconds

Armament

Guns

1× Forward Firing 0.303 in (7.70 mm) Lewis machine gun

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