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Subject: Airco DH.9
Date: 3 Dec 2016 18:48:45 -0800
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airco_DH.9
The Airco DH.9 (from de Havilland 9) - also known after 1920 as the de Havilland
DH.9 - was a British bomber used in the First World War. A single-engined
biplane, it was a development of Airco's earlier, highly successful DH.4 and was
ordered in very large numbers for Britain's Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air
Force.
Its engine was unreliable, and failed to provide the expected power, giving the
DH.9 poorer performance than the aircraft it was meant to replace, resulting in
heavy losses, particularly over the Western Front. The subsequently-developed
DH.9A had a more powerful and reliable American Liberty L-12 engine.
The DH.9 was designed by de Havilland for the Aircraft Manufacturing Company in
1916 as a successor to the DH.4. It used the wings and tail unit of the DH.4 but
had a new fuselage. This enabled the pilot to sit closer to the gunner/observer
and away from the engine and fuel tank. The other major change from the DH.4 was
the choice of the promising new BHP/Galloway Adriatic engine, which was
predicted to produce 300 hp (224 kW) and so give the new aircraft adequate
performance to match enemy fighters.
While attempts were made to provide the DH.9 with an adequate engine, with
aircraft being fitted with the Siddeley Puma, a lightened and supposedly more
powerful version of the BHP, with the Fiat A12 engine and with a 430 hp (321 kW)
Napier Lion engine, these were generally unsuccessful (although the Lion-engined
aircraft did set a World Altitude Record of 30,500 ft (13,900 m) on 2 January
1919) and it required redesign into the DH.9A to transform the aircraft.
Role
Bomber
Manufacturer
Airco
Designer
Geoffrey de Havilland
First flight
July 1917
Introduction
1917
Retired
1920
Primary users
Royal Air Force
RNAS, RFC.
Number built
4,091
Variants
Airco DH.9A
Airco DH.9C
Westland Walrus
The DH.9's performance in action over the Western Front was a disaster, with
heavy losses incurred, both due to its poor performance and to engine failures,
despite the prior derating of its engine. Between May and November 1918, two
squadrons on the Western Front (Nos. 99 and 104) lost 54 shot down, and another
94 written off in accidents. Nevertheless, on 23 August 1918 a DH9 flown by
Lieutenant Arthur Rowe Spurling of 49 Squadron, with his observer, Sergeant
Frank Bell, single-handedly attacked thirty Fokker D.VII fighters, downing five
of them. Captain John Stevenson Stubbs managed 11 aerial victories in a DH9,
including the highly unusual feat of balloon busting with one.
Following the end of the First World War, large numbers of surplus DH.9s became
available at low prices and the type was widely exported (including aircraft
donated to Commonwealth nations as part of the Imperial Gift programme).
Specifications (D.H.9 (Puma Engine))
General characteristics
Crew: two
Length: 30 ft 5 in (9.27 m)
Wingspan: 42 ft 4? in (12.92 m)
Empty weight: 2,360 lb (1,014 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 3,790 lb (1,723 kg)
Performance
Maximum speed: 98 kn (113 mph, 182 km/h)
Service ceiling: 15,500 ft (4,730 m)
Climb to 10,000 ft: 18 min 30 sec
Armament
ring
Bombs: Up to 460 lb (209 kg) bombs
*
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