AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 10 / 136

Plate 10 of 136 · Great War · Single-seat fighter prototype

Wight Quadruplane

Wight Quadruplane, painted as N546, the Wight Quadruplane built by J. Samuel White & Co. at Cowes on the Isle of Wight: Howard Wright’s single-seat quadruplane scout of 1916 for the Royal Naval Air Service, four narrow staggered wings of 19 ft span on broad fabric-covered ‘plank’ interplane struts, a 110 hp Clerget rotary in an open-fronted aluminium cowling, a short wheeled chassis and a tall tail skid; shown as the replica at Solent Sky, Southampton, which follows the aircraft’s original 1916 form with ailerons on the three upper wings and a small fin and horn-balanced rudder, though the serial ‘N546’ was only given to its final 1917 rebuild: khaki-green PC10 fuselage, fin and upper surfaces over clear-doped linen undersides, cream plank struts, roundels on the fuselage sides and on top of the upper two wings, blue, white and red rudder stripes, white ‘N546’ on the rear fuselage and red wheel covers.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as N546, the Wight Quadruplane built by J. Samuel White & Co. at Cowes on the Isle of Wight: Howard Wright’s single-seat quadruplane scout of 1916 for the Royal Naval Air Service, four narrow staggered wings of 19 ft span on broad fabric-covered ‘plank’ interplane struts, a 110 hp Clerget rotary in an open-fronted aluminium cowling, a short wheeled chassis and a tall tail skid; shown as the replica at Solent Sky, Southampton, which follows the aircraft’s original 1916 form with ailerons on the three upper wings and a small fin and horn-balanced rudder, though the serial ‘N546’ was only given to its final 1917 rebuild: khaki-green PC10 fuselage, fin and upper surfaces over clear-doped linen undersides, cream plank struts, roundels on the fuselage sides and on top of the upper two wings, blue, white and red rudder stripes, white ‘N546’ on the rear fuselage and red wheel covers. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.4 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (replica); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Wight Quadruplane modelled here.

History

The Quadruplane

J. Samuel White & Co. of Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, built boats and seaplanes under the name Wight Aircraft. In 1916 its chief designer, Howard T. Wright, drew a small single-seat fighter for the Admiralty with four wings stacked one above another. Like the triplanes then being built by Sopwith, it set out to give a fighter plenty of wing area in a short span, for a fast climb and a good view for the pilot between the narrow wings. It had a 110 hp Clerget rotary engine and was built of wood and fabric.

The first version flew in the summer of 1916. It had broad fabric-covered ‘plank’ interplane struts, ailerons on the upper three wings and a small fin and rudder, and it was hard to get off the ground and short of directional control. Wright rebuilt it with a deeper fuselage, a bigger tail, plain struts and a taller undercarriage, and in February 1917 it went to the testing station at Martlesham Heath, where its flights were disappointing.

A third rebuild followed, with wings of reducing span from top to bottom and ailerons on the top two only, and it was tested again at Martlesham in July 1917. Its control was still judged unsatisfactory. By then the Sopwith Camel was in service and the quadruplane offered nothing better. The Admiralty took it on charge as N546, but it crashed into a cemetery in February 1918 and the project was abandoned. Only one was built.

This airframe

Quadruplane “N546”

N546The airframe modelled

No part of the Quadruplane survives. The aircraft at Solent Sky in Southampton, close to where it was built, is a full-size replica (BAPC.164), hung from the roof of the museum’s hall. It copies the original 1916 form, with plank struts and ailerons on three wings, but carries the serial N546, which the real aircraft only received after its final rebuild. The model shows it as displayed: khaki-green fuselage and upper surfaces, clear-doped undersides, cream plank struts, an open-fronted aluminium cowling, roundels on the fuselage sides and on top of the upper two wings, a striped rudder and red wheel covers. Its proportions come from photographs of the replica and of the 1916 aircraft, since the only published three-view drawing shows the final form; the shape of the tail is based on oblique photographs alone.

See it at Solent Sky

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Quadruplane in one UK collection. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 136 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.