Seaplane
Wight Type 840 on anti-submarine patrol 1915
Role	Biplane floatplane Type of aircraft
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	J Samuel White & Company Limited (Wight Aircraft)
Designer	Howard T Wight
Introduction	1915
Retired	1917
Primary user	Royal Navy
Number built	52

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.

Design and development

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.^[1]

Operational history

The Wight Seaplane served with the RNAS at Dundee Felixstowe, Scapa Flow and Gibraltar, being used for anti-submarine patrols between 1915 and 1917.^[2]

Operators

 United Kingdom

• Royal Navy
  • Royal Naval Air Service

Specifications (Seaplane)

Data from The British Bomber since 1914 ^[1]

General characteristics

• 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.