Naval Aircraft Factory PN
| Naval Aircraft Factory PN | |
|---|---|
|
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| Type: | Flying boat |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
1925 |
The Naval Aircraft Factory PN was a biplane - flying boat and was in 1922 for the US Navy built. It served as a reconnaissance aircraft and to combat submarines .
Shortly before the end of the First World War , the Naval Aircraft Factory began to build replicas of the British Felixstowe F.5 flying boats. These received new 330 hp Liberty engines. The US Navy designated this as Type F.5L . A total of 137 F.5L were built.
From 1922 the machines were referred to as PN-5 . The machines remained in service until 1931. The PN-5 was followed by around ten modified machines, the PN-6 - P-12 , the most famous of which was the PN-9 . She was supposed to try the first non-stop flight to Hawaii .
On May 1 and 2, 1925, the US Navy lieutenants Clarence H. Schildhauer and James R. Kyle set a new record for endurance flights over Philadelphia with a PN-9 with 28 hours and 35 minutes. This flight was considered preparation for the Hawaii flight. Two PN-9s and one Boeing PB-1 were scheduled to fly to Honolulu .
The start date of the three machines was set for September 1, 1925. The PB-1, however, suffered from various engine problems and had to be deleted from the flight program. Only the PN-9 No. 1 and PN-9 No. 3 from San Francisco towards Honolulu .
The PN-9 No. 3 had to abort the flight after a short flight distance due to engine problems. So the PN-9 No. 1 under Commander John Rodgers and Lieutenant Byron Connell alone in the direction of Hawaii. About 725 km before Hawaii, the machine ran out of fuel. Rogers had to make an emergency landing in the Pacific.
Rogers decided to come to Hawaii by sail. He had cut the makeshift sails out of the wing covering. However, the food and water reserves were very small. The US Navy decided to do one of the largest searches in the Pacific.
The PN-9 was lost in the Pacific for nine days. In the meantime, Rogers had sailed or drifted within 10 miles of Nawiliwili Bay on the island of Kauai . The submarine R-4 discovered him there . Rodgers and his crew were welcomed like national heroes in Hawaii. For example, the main building of Honolulu International Airport is still called John Rodgers Terminal today . Two US Navy destroyers were named USS John Rodgers (DD-574, DD-983).
Licensed buildings
Since the production capacities of the Naval Aircraft Factory were limited, the US Navy had 98 PN-12 built by Douglas (25), Keystone (18) and Martin (55) under license from 1927. The Hall-Aluminum Aircraft Corporation built 44 all-metal flying boats known as Hall PH from 1930 onwards, which had been developed from the PN-11. The licensed constructions of the PN-12 were flown until 1938, the Hall PH until 1944.
variants
- PN-5
- From 1922 the US Navy designated the F.5L as the PN-5 type
- PN-6
- two F.5L were revised on the vertical part of the tail unit and renamed F.6L, these machines received the Navy designation PN-6 .
- PN-7
- it had new 525 HP Wright T2 engines (2 copies built), and the Boeing PB-1 was derived from it
- PN-8
- it had new 475 hp Packard 1A 2500 engines (2 of which were built)
- PN-9
- revised PN-8 with new engine mount and new tail unit (2 copies built)
- PN-10
- improved PN-9 (2 copies built)
- PN-11
- revised boat hull and tail unit (1 copy built)
- PN-12
- 2 copies built, one with 525 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet and one with Wright R-1750 cyclone engines
- Douglas PD-1
- by Douglas in license-built PN 12, 25 were built.
- Keystone PK-1
- of Keystone in license PN-12 built with double tail unit, 18 were built.
- Martin PM-1
- PN-12, 30 built under license by Martin were built.
- Martin PM-2
- PN-12 built under license by Martin with double tailplane and closed cockpit, 25 were built.
Military users
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data Naval Factory PN-9 |
|---|---|
| crew | 4th |
| length | 14.98 m |
| span | 22.20 m |
| Wing area | 113 m² |
| height | 5.11 m |
| Empty mass | 4080 kg |
| Takeoff mass | 8221 kg |
| drive | 2 × 12-cylinder V-engines Packard 1A-2500 with 475 HP each (approx. 350 kW) |
| Top speed | 180 km / h |
| Range | 4103 km |
See also
literature
- Gordon Swanborough, Peter M. Bowers : United States Navy Aircraft since 1911. 2nd ed., Putnam, London 1976, ISBN 0-370-10054-9 .
Web links
- Naval Aircraft Factory F.5L - PN-7 (PDF file; 1.1 MB)
- Naval Aircraft Factory PN-9, PN-12 (PDF file; 974 kB)
- John Rogers Hawaii State Home