Exeter NH.
USA
Airplane builder circa 1931.
Inter-Wars
Wight Gliding Club
A primary type glider was built by the Isle of Wight Gliding Club in 1931.
A second machine was built in 1946 using the remains of Spartan Arrow G-AAWT c/n 51 and Spartan Three Seater II G-ABAZ c/n 53.
WNF Wn 16 / Meindl-van Nes A.XV / Meindl M.15
The WNF Wn 16, designed by Erich Meindl in 1937-1938, originally built as the Meindl-van Nes A.XV (aka Meindl M.15), was an Austrian experimental aircraft built in the late 1930s for tricycle undercarriage research. It was a swept wing tandem two-seater, with a pusher configuration engine and twin-boom fuselage. Its cantilever low wing had straight edges and 18.33° of sweep at quarter chord. The wing was in three parts, with a twin spar, steel tube framed centre section welded to the central fuselage which supported the tailbooms on its upper surfaces at their outer ends. The ribs were also formed from steel tube. The forward part of the centre section was plywood covered, with fabric aft. The outer wing panels were ply covered, each with a single wooden single spar. There was a split flap over the whole centre section trailing edge and slotted ailerons which filled the trailing edges of the outer panels.
The short fuselage was also a welded steel tube structure, alloy skinned front and rear but with a fabric covered central section that contained the tandem seats under a continuous, multi-framed canopy which merged into the rear fuselage. The Wn 16’s pusher configuration, 37 kW (50 hp) Salmson 9Ad nine cylinder radial engine was installed within a Townend ring cowling at the rear of the fuselage beyond the wing, driving a two blade propeller. The Wn 16 was later re-engined with a 45 kW (60 hp) Walter Mikron.
The Wn 16’s tail-booms were wooden monocoques. The rectangular tail-plane and elevator was on top of them, with oval vertical tails acting as end-plates; the fins had ply covered wooden frames and the rudders had fabric covered steel frames.
Its tricycle gear was fixed, all units with bungee cord shock absorbers. Both legs and wheels were enclosed in streamlined fairings. The nosewheel was steerable via the rudder pedals.
After the Anschluss of Austria, it was further developed by Wiener Neustadt Flugzeugwerke (WNF). The Wn 16 flew for the first time on 23 September 1939, carrying on board the German registration code D-ECAB. Development continued into World War II and the first flight with the Walter engine was on 7 August 1942.
The aircraft was tested in Germany, where it was later re-equipped with the Walter Micron engine (60 hp). The WN-16 successfully flew until the autumn of 1942, and then it was transferred to the Technical School in Stuttgart for further tests. There it remained until September 1944, until it was destroyed during an air-raid.
Engine: 1 × Salmson 9Ad, 37 kW (50 hp)
Propeller: 2-bladed
Length: 7.27 m (23 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: 9.84 m (32 ft 3 in)
Height: 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Wing area: 13.50 m2 (145.3 sq ft)
Empty weight: 350 kg (772 lb)
Gross weight: 550 kg (1,213 lb)
Fuel capacity: 38 l (8.4 imp gal; 10 US gal)
Maximum speed: 160 km/h (99 mph; 86 kn) at sea level
Cruise speed: 145 km/h (90 mph; 78 kn)
Range: 400 km (249 mi; 216 nmi)
Service ceiling: 2,800 m (9,200 ft)
Rate of climb: 2.2 m/s (430 ft/min)
Landing speed: 65 km/h (40 mph)
Crew: Two
Wiener-Neustadter / WNF
Wiener-Neustadter Flughafen Betriebs GmbH
Wiener-Neustadter Flugzeugwerk GmbH
Germany
Originally Wiener-Neustadter Flughafen Betriebs GmbH, after the Anschluss of 1938 was amalgamated with Hirtenberg, whose manufacturing department it absorbed under the name Wiener-Neustadter Flugzeugwerk GmbH. Light two-seat biplane in production 1937, later undertook subcontracts on Bf 109. In 1943-1944 built the world’s first tip-jet helicopter, designed by team under Friedrich von Doblhoff. Four built and tested. Conventional piston-engine provided compressed air which, mixed with fuel, was fed to tip-mounted combustion chambers through rotor blades. System adopted by other designers.
Wibault-Penhoet 28T / Breguet 28T
An early airliner used by Air France.
Wibault-Penhoet
France
A new company formed in 1931 by a merger of Avions Michel Wibault with Chantiers de St Nazaire Penhoet, which built a number of single- and multi-engined airliners in the 1930s. Taken over by Breguet.
Wibault 10
Only one prototype was constructed as pilots seemed to prefer the contemporary Nieuport-Delage 29 during World War 1.
Engine: Hispano-Suiza, 220 hp
Wingspan: 25 ft 9 in
Length: 21 ft 6 in
Height: 7 ft 10 in
MAUW: 1975 lb
Max speed: 148 mph
Seats: 1
Wibault 2BN2
As the military description BN.2 indicates, the Wib 2 was designed as a two-seat night bomber, but the designer, Michel Wibault, had hopes of a passenger carrying derivative. As it was structurally an all-metal aircraft it had, by the standards of the times, a low structural weight and, as a consequence, a high useful load of 1,406 kg (3,100 lb) making the suggested capacity of thirteen passengers plausible. In addition to its metal construction, contemporaries noted other unusual design features, in particular the position of the wings well back along the fuselage, Flight speculated the idea being to distribute the passenger (or bomb) load symmetrically about the centre of pressure and over a greater longitudinal distance than usual, rather than along the span. The pilot sat quite close to the tail with the gunner (in the bomber version) in a separate, gun mounting equipped cockpit immediately behind him. Its span was large for a biplane with only a single set of struts and its upper wing had a shorter span than the lower.
The wings of the Wib 2 were rectangular in plan and mounted without stagger or dihedral. The single bays were defined by parallel pairs of inward leaning interplane struts, assisted by crossed flying and landing wires from the bases of the struts to the fuselage. Cabane struts supported the upper wing above the fuselage. The wings had thick, high lift coefficient sections, constructed around deep single spars built up from Duralumin sheet; the ribs were formed from cross-braced metal tubes. Ailerons were mounted only on the lower wing.
The fuselage was metal framed and fabric covered, with a straight edged, wire braced tailplane carrying divided elevators mounted on top. Its vertical tail was low and broad, with a curved leading edge; the rudder was deep and aerodynamically balanced. The Wib 2 was powered by a 600 hp (447 kW) water-cooled V-12 Renault 12 M engine completely enclosed within a smooth cowling and drove a two-blade propeller. Small radiators projected out on either side of the cowling. The undercarriage was of the fixed conventional type, with the mainwheels on a rigid axle supported by V-struts and assisted by a tailskid.
Built by Lavasseur, the Wib 2 flew for the first time on 29 October 1921 but only one, in bomber configuration, was built.
Powerplant: 1 × Renault 12 Ma, 450 kW (600 hp)
Propeller: 2-bladed fixed pitch
Wingspan: 16.92 m (55 ft 6 in)
Wing area: 96.2 m2 (1,035 sq ft)
Length: 12.75 m (41 ft 10 in)
Height: 5.00 m (16 ft 5 in)
Empty weight: 2,096 kg (4,620 lb)
Gross weight: 4,286 kg (9,450 lb)
Maximum speed: 201 km/h (125 mph, 109 kn) at 1,980 m (6,500 ft)
Range: 600 km (370 mi, 320 nmi)
Endurance: 4 hr at full throttle
Service ceiling: 4,000 m (13,000 ft)
Wing loading: 44.6 kg/m2 (9.13 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.048 kW/m² (0.063 hp/lb)
Crew: Two
Wibault 280 T / 281 T / 282 T / 283 T
The Wibault 280-T was a French 12-passenger civil airliner produced by Wibault backed by money from the Penhoët shipyards and also known as ‘Penhoët Wibault’.
The prototype Penhoët Wibault 280-T first flew at Villacoublay in November 1930 with the development backed by funds from the Penhoët shipyards of St Nazaire. It was an all-metal low-wing cantilever monoplane powered by three 300 hp (224 kW) Hispano-Wright 9Qa radial engines although these were soon replaced by three Gnome-Rhône 7Kb and the aircraft was redesignated the Wibault 281-T.
A second aircraft was built to the 281 standard but then it was converted to a Wibault 282-T with three 350 hp (261 kW) Gnome-Rhône 7Kd engines and room for 12 passengers, seven further aircraft were built as 282s. Some of the 282s were operated by Air Union on the Paris-London Voile d’Or (“Golden Clipper”) service in 1933.
Air France replaced its LeO 21 biplanes with a fleet of Wibault 282s, which in turn gave way to Bloch 220s.
In 1934 Air France took delivery of the first of ten Wibault 283-Ts which had an increased fuel capacity and modified tail. Some of the 282s were converted to 283 standard. Some of the commercial aircraft were later taken over as military transports.
Accidents and incidents
On 9 May 1934, Wibault 282-T F-AMHP of Air France crashed into the English Channel off Dungeness, Kent, United Kingdom, killing all six people on board.
On 19 May 1934, a Golden Clipper of Air France crash-landed on a cricket pitch adjacent to Croydon Airport, Surrey, United Kingdom, due to fuel exhaustion. Only one of the ten people on board was injured.
On 24 December 1937, Wibault-Penhoët 283.T12 (c/n 11) F-AMYD of Air France crashed near Zhůří (currently part of Rejštejn), Czechoslovakia, due to a navigational error. The aircraft was supposed to land at Prague, but was directed by controllers to fly south and crashed in foggy, snowy and dark conditions after 120 km (75 mi). Two pilots and a single passenger were killed.
Variants
Penhoët Wibault 280-T
Prototype
one built converted to a 281 and then to a 282.
Engines: three 300 hp (220 kW) Hispano-Wright 9Qa
Wibault 281-T
Prototype
One built as such and one converted from 280-T.
Both converted to 282-Ts.
Engines: three 350 hp (260 kW) Gnome-Rhône 7Kd
Wibault 282-T
10-passenger production variant
cowlings around the wing-mounted engines
Six built from new plus two converted prototypes.
Engines: 3 x Gnome-Rhône 7Kd
Wibault 283-T
Production variant for Air France
NACA cowlings, increased fuel capacity, higher weights and a modified tail
ten built.
Engines: three Gnome-Rhône 7Kd
283-T-12
Powerplant: 3 × Gnome-Rhône Titan Major 7Kd, 260 kW (350 hp) each
Wingspan: 22.61 m (74 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 64.4 m2 (693 sq ft)
Length: 17.0 m (55 ft 9 in)
Height: 5.75 m (18 ft 10 in)
Empty weight: 4,266 kg (9,405 lb)
Gross weight: 6,350 kg (13,999 lb)
Maximum speed: 251 km/h (156 mph, 136 kn)
Cruise speed: 230 km/h (140 mph, 120 kn)
Range: 1,000 km (620 mi, 540 nmi)
Service ceiling: 5,200 m (17,100 ft)
Crew: 2
Capacity: 10 passengers
Wibault, Michel
Established in Paris. Wibauit’s first aircraft, a single-seat fighter, appeared too late to see service in First World War. Subsequently designed night bombers and fighters for the Armee de I’Air, as well as civil aircraft. Produced an allmetal aircraft in 1921 and changed from biplane to monoplane configuration 1923. In 1924 flew the prototype of a monoplane fighter, the Wibault 7, produced from 1925 and built under license by PZL and Vickers.
All Aero 