Douglas DT
| Douglas DT | |
|---|---|
 DT during torpedo release |
|
| Type: | Torpedo bombers |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
November 1921 as a land plane |
| Production time: |
1921 to 1929 |
| Number of pieces: |
101 (including export versions and 5 copies of DWC ) |
The Douglas DT was a torpedo bomber made by the US manufacturer Douglas in the 1920s .
history
On April 14, 1921, the Davis-Douglas Company, which had only been founded nine months earlier, received its first order worth 115,850 US dollars to build three single-seat DT-1 torpedo bombers. In the same month, however, the company was dissolved and the Douglas Company was founded. This company then built both these three and another 54 copies of different variants. The DT was supposed to replace the obsolete Naval Aircraft Factory PT- 1 and PT-2.
The basis for the development of the DT was the civilian Douglas Cloudster , the only type of aircraft built by the Davis-Douglas Company. Douglas submitted his design to the Navy’s Bureau of Construction and Repairs in 1921 , who were then looking for a suitable torpedo bomber. The aircraft were built in the Goodyear airship hangar near Los Angeles , where the Cloudster was also built. The first aircraft (s / n 101; Navy serial number A6031) was completed in October 1921. It was powered by a water-cooled Liberty engine with 400 hp, the radiator of which was attached to the sides of the fuselage. The first flight took place in early November 1921 with test pilot Eric Springer from Goodyear Field. On November 10, the aircraft was transferred to the Naval Air Station in San Diego , where further testing and acceptance took place. There it was tested with the land landing gear , but also with floats .
Despite the good results, the pilots were not satisfied with the aircraft, especially because it could only be flown in a single seat. After the completion of the test, the machine remained on the NAS San Diego, where it was destroyed on March 8, 1922 in a watering accident . Douglas had already received the order to modify the second and third machines (A6032 and A6033) as two-seater. The pilot's seat was moved forward under the upper wing ; the observer / shooter now sat in a separate cockpit behind the upper wing trailing edge. He also operated the single movable 7,62 mm machine gun .
In the two-seater DT-2, the power of the Liberty engine was increased to 450 hp to compensate for the additional weight. The radiators on the side of the fuselage of the DT-1 have now been relocated to the front of the engine. The first DT-2 was destroyed in a landing accident on July 19, 1922 after only about six hours of flight time.
Even before field testing of the second DT-2 at the Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron One (VT-1), the Navy had due to the previously very good test results already granted the contract for series production. The DT-2 was then mass-produced by Douglas and at the Naval Aircraft Factory , Dayton-Wright and Lowe-Willard-Fowler-Wright.
construction
In contrast to the Cloudster, which was made of wood, the DT was designed as a mixed construction. The fuselage consisted of welded steel tubes with aluminum cladding on the front and middle part of the fuselage. The rest of the trunk was covered with fabric. The wings were a pure wood construction with fabric covering, as was the vertical stabilizer. The tailplane, on the other hand, was made of tubular steel with fabric covering. The wings could be folded onto the fuselage of the aircraft to save space.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| use | Torpedo bomber prototype |
| crew | 1 |
| length | 11.48 m |
| span | 19.24 m |
| height | 4.60 m |
| Wing area | 65.68 m² |
| Empty mass | 1981 kg |
| Takeoff mass | 3128 kg |
| Wing loading | 47.6 kg / m² |
| Power load | 7.8 kg / hp |
| Top speed | 163 km / h at sea level |
| Ascent time to 1524 m | 15.6 min |
| Service ceiling | 2650 m |
| Range | 373 km |
| Armament | no |
| Payload | 832 kg torpedo |
| Engine | 1 Liberty with 400 PS (294 kW) |