What aircraft was first to use landing flaps?

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Ladies and Gentlemen:
* * What aircraft was probably the first to use trailing edge landing flaps to assist in in landing?
1. Aircraft? 2. When? 3. Where?
* * * * * * *Happy New Year,
* * * * * * * * * *Dan-San

[Volker_Nemsch]

Hello Dan San!

The earliest use of landing flaps I found was in the following aircraft:

1. aircraft: * DH. 1 (first prototype only)
2. when: * * first half of 1915
3. where: * *the Hendon factory of de Havilland

The device was called AIR BRAKE and looked like a little wing, mounted between the upper and the lower wing and between the fuselage and the inner bay (correct explanation or words?). The first aircraft I know with landing flaps as we know them today was the Breguet XIV.

Probably others know more ...

[MikeW]

Fairey Hamble Baby

April 1917

Used on Anti submarine patrols from coastal stations at home and in the Mediterranian and Agean. Also from the seaplane carrier Empress against Turkish installations in Palestine.

The original Hamble Baby was a heavily modified Sopwith Baby, the Fairey patent camber gear used trailing edge flaps to increase lift. The flaps extended along the entire trailing edge of each wing and were also used as ailerons (flaperons?)

Depends on whether it's flaps or 'airbrakes'. I believe the Sopwith LCT One-and-a-Half-Strutter might qualify in the tractor-type division, if you consider the UPWARD-lifting 'flaps' set into the lower mainplane inner trailing edges to act as airbrakes to shorten the approach and landing run as such.

Otherwise, I'm inclined to go for the RAF FE2a 'pusher' of early 1915, with its airbrake surface located between the upper tailbooms on the upper mainplane?

Whatever, I bet the truth will be far, far stranger . . .

Happy New Year, all - cheers!

(8;¬)}

Simba.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Simba:
It is the F.E.2a in 1915 at Farnsborough. I came up with this and the parachute question while researching the F.E.2 question on another thread. I thought it was tnteresting.
Happy New Year,
Dan-San

[MikeW]

I think we have a difference in vocabulary here, I rather stupidly thought the original question was about proper landing flaps, not a hinged board raised or lowered into the slipstream to act as an air brake.

Flaps alter the characteristics of the wing section allowing greater lift at a slower speed - air brakes just slow everything down without providing extra lift.

In the case of the FE2a you got less lift by losing the contribution from the centre section. I imagine that's why they discontinued it.

[AchimEngels]

Hi Dan,

What about the Fokker Spider Reinhold Platz mentioned in one of his letters to Alfred Richard Weyl.

He claimed to recall a Spider having Ailerons on the underside wing surfaces only.

Perhaps this was the "first" to use some kind of "flaps" back in 1912 at Johannisthal allready.

Happy new year!

Achim