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Wight Type 840 Seaplane

The Wight Seaplane was a British twin-float seaplane produced by J Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft).

It was also known as the Admiralty Type 840.

Designed by Howard T Wright and built by the aircraft department of the shipbuilding company J Samuel White & Company Limited, the Wight Seaplane was a slightly smaller version (61 ft (18.59 m) span) of the Wight Pusher Seaplane.

The aircraft was a conventional two float seaplane with tandem open cockpits and a nose mounted 225 hp (168 kW) Sunbeam engine.

Fifty two aircraft were built and delivered, and an extra 20 were produced as spares production being undertaken by Portholme Aviation and William Beardmore & Co., Ltd

The Wight Seaplane served with the RNAS at Dundee Felixstowe, Scapa Flow and Gibraltar being used for anti-submarine patrols between 1915 and 1917.

Specifications

Crew

2

Length

41 ft 0 in (12.50 m)

Wingspan 

61 ft 0 in (18.59 m)

Wing area

568 sq ft (52.8 m2)

Empty weight

3,408 lb (1,546 kg)

Gross weight

4,810 lb (2,182 kg)

Powerplant

1 × Sunbeam 225hp, 

V-8 water cooled piston engine,

225 hp (168 kW)

Propellers

2 bladed fixed pitch propeller

Performance

Maximum speed

81 mph (130 km/h, 70 kn)

Armament

Bombs

1x 810 lb (367 kg) Whitehead Mk.IX 14 in (356 mm) aerial torpedo

Or

Equivalent weight in bombs.

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