Porterfield 35-70 Flyabout

G-AEOK 20 August 1939

The Wyandotte High School, Kansas City KS, USA, built 2 or 3 Pup in 1932. The last one was sold to Porterfield Aircraft and introduced at the 1935 Detroit Air Show as the Porterfield Flyabout with a 70hp LeBlond.

The Porterfielf 35-70 was a tandem two seater powered by a 70 hp Le Blond radial engine.

The 35-70 was certificated in the USA in May 1935. Around 200 were built.

Engine: 5 cylinder 70hp radial
Seats: 2

Porterfield CP-50 Collegiate / FP-50 Collegiate / FP-60 Collegiate / CP-65 Collegiate / FP-65 Collegiate / Rankin Collegiate

CP-50

The 1937 CP-50 Collegiate (ATC 690) prototype was NC21953. Fifty were built, priced at $1,495, or $1,695 for the deluxe version with dual mags, brakes, tail wheel.

Porterfield CP-50 NC25576

The Porterfield CP-65 of 1940 (ATC 720) sold for $1,665, or $1,895 for the deluxe version with dual mags, brakes, tail wheel.

Porterfield CP-65 NC27270

Rankin Aircraft was founded to market an improved version of the prewar Porterfield CP-65, as Collegiate two-seat lightplane for $15,000 in 1984.

CP-50 Collegiate
Engine: 50hp Continental A-50
Wingspan: 34’9″
Length: 22’6″
Useful load: 436 lb
Max speed: 102 mph
Cruise: 91 mph
Stall: 32 mph
Range: 270 mi
Seats: 2

CP-65 Collegiate
1940 (ATC 720)
Engine: 65hp Continental A-65
Wingspan: 34’9″
Length: 22’8″
Useful load: 500 lb
Max speed: 110 mph
Cruise: 100 mph
Stall: 32 mph
Range: 300 mi
Seats: 2

FP-50 Collegiate
1941 (ATC 690)
CP-50 with 50hp Franklin 4AC.

FP-60 Collegiate
1941 (ATC 720)
FP-50 with 60hp Franklin 4AC
$1,560.

FP-65 Collegiate
1940 (ATC 720)
CP-65 with 65hp Franklin 4AC
$1,590.

Porte Super-Baby / Felixstowe Fury

Porte’s ultimate design was a triplane flying boat, unofficially nicknamed the ‘Porte Super Baby’, but officially designated Felixstowe Fury. With wings spanning 37.5 m (123 ft), the Fury was powered by five 360hp Rolls Royce Eagle engines, two as tractors and three as pushers. Flying controls, initially, were power assisted by servomotors. After successful flying trials, the Fury was in the last stages of preparation for a projected flight to South Africa on August 11, 1919, when it was wrecked in Harwich harbour. All work on a second Fury was then stopped and the Fury programme cancelled. In October 1919, John Cyril Porte, the man whose inventive genius had conceived the F series of flying boats, died in Brighton of tuberculosis.

Engines: 5 x 334 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VII
Span: 37.5 m (123 ft)
Length: 19.2 m (63 ft 2 in)
Height: 8.4 m (27 ft 6 in)
Maximum speed: 156 km/h (97 mph) at 609.5 m (2000 ft)

Porte F.2A America

The Admiralty placed orders for Curtiss H.4 and H.12 flying-boats in 1924-15 on the recommendation of Squadron Commander John Porte. When they arrived, Porte fitted some with much improved hulls of his own design, built at the Naval Air Station of Felixstowe and by private manufacturers.

The engines were also replaced by Rolls-Royce Eagles in the H.12’s, which were redesignated F.2A.

They featured three-bay biplane wings with two spar wood construction and fabric covering. The hull was wood with plywood covering. Conventional controls with ailerons on the top wings only. Stabilising floats were under each lower wing tip.

Normal defensive armament was four Lewis machine guns: one in the nose cockpit, one in the rear cockpit aft of the wings and one on each side of the fuselage. Sometimes the nose and rear positions were each fitted with two guns, and an additional gun could be mounted above the pilots’ canopy. Racks for two 230-lb bombs were under the wings.

Best known was the F.2A, which, in the last year of the war, formed the backbone of RNAS/RAF ocean activ¬ity. Carrying up to seven Lewis guns and two 220 lb bombs, it had a maximum weight of 11,000 lb, its two 345 hp Rolls¬Royce Eagles gave it a top speed of 95 mph and it could reach 2,000ft in 3.5min and 10,000ft in 39.5min. Despite its 120ft wingspan it was surprisingly agile. Gradually F.2s replaced H12s.

The F2A was basically a Porte II hull married to the wings and tail unit of the Curtiss H.12. Utilised by Britain during WW 1 and credited with shooting down Zeppelins L.22, L.43 and L.62.

F.2A
Engines: 2 x Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII, 345 hp
Propeller: 4 blade
Wingspan: 95 ft 7.5 in
Wing area: 1133 sq,ft
Length: 46 ft 3 in
Height: 17 ft 6 in
Empty weight: 7549 lb
MTOW: 10,978 lb
Max speed: 95 mph at 2000 ft
Service ceiling: 9600 ft
Endurance: 6 hr
Armament: 4-7 Lewis machine guns
Bombload: 2 x 230 lb

Porte II / Felixstowe F.2

By July 1916 first examples of a larger Curtiss flying boat design began arriving in England. Designated H.8, these were quickly modified to accept more powerful twin 250 hp Rolls Royce engines, and redesignated Curtiss H.12s, or ‘Large Americas’ as the RNAS crews usually referred to them. The Curtiss H.12 hull soon proved to be inadequate for its tasks, so Porte designed a new hull (the Porte II), resulting in all round improvement in performance. With a new tail unit added, the modified craft was designated Felixstowe F.2, and its general structure became a prototype for succeeding F boats.

Large scale production of the F.2 was ordered, and the type began to equip RNAS units in late 1917. Carrying a crew of four, and a bombload of approximately 272 kg (600 lb), the F.2a (its production designation) could achieve a maximum speed of some 145 km/h (90 mph), with an endurance of perhaps six hours. It was cumbersome to handle and slow in manoeuvre, yet gave formidable operational service for the rest of the war. With at least four machine guns in nose, tail, and flank locations, it also gave a good account of itself when engaged by German seaplanes. The F.2a’s main duty was antisubmarine hunting; an air deterrent which undoubtedly proved successful in the protection of Britain’s vital mercantile shipping.

Span: 29 m (95 ft 7.5 in) (upper), 20.8 m (68 ft 5 in) (lower)
Length: 14.1 m (46 ft 3in)
Height: 5.3 m (17 ft 6 in)
Maximum speed: 153.7 km/h (95.5 mph) at 609.5 m (2000 ft)