BAT F.K.23 Bantam

[Varese2002]

On 15 July 2007 I made a picture study of the beautiful BAT (British Aerial Transport Company) F.K.23 Bantam which is to be seen in the Aviodrome museum in Lelystad (Netherlands).



This is the only example of this machine in existance. You can look at all 14 pictures in the original size here.

Kees

[EdStevens]

Thanks for that, Kees -- great shots of a beautiful aircraft.

Odd airscrew shape with the pointed tips, isn't it? I wonder what prompted that; less torque than earlier engines, perhaps?

It must have been fairly tricky getting into the cockpit by the look of it. Overhead view was great, but the view during landings must have been awful. Trying to duck your head under the upper wing cutout to see the ground during touchdown or takeoff (if that was even practical) would have been quite an exercise by the look of it. The wide-track undercart probably came in very handy.

Twin Vickers were mounted on the cockpit floor (clearing a jam doesn't bear thinking about) and fired out between the lower pair of engine cylinders -- I take it there's no sign of this in this civil version?

It's a beautiful restoration. Is it airworthy?

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by EdStevens

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It's a beautiful restoration. Is it airworthy?

The machine is not airworthy. Per haps it could fly, but certainly not with an original ABC Wasp inside, which was already troublesome in 1917 - 1918. I think the restauration group worked about 10 years to get the heap of scrap they received into this state. A quite remarkable feat of endurance and perseverance.

The painting with the early British civil marking K-123 was based on this machine, when it was used as a racer.



Your remarks about the riskiness of flying these things are very right, but I have the idea it took a lot of courage to fly a Sopwith Dolphin, Camel or the French and German regular types. Don't even think about flying some of the prototypes which were thought up by some designers

Kees

[Sreiko]

Nice airplane Interesting that I have a lot of images of airplanes preserved in your country but did not have any of this one.

[Varese2002]

Just imagine the gigantic restoration work when you see this picture, when the remains of the BAT F.K.23 arrived from England in Schiphol, Amsterdam in 1991.



The whole restoration story is here.

Kees

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by EdStevens

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Odd airscrew shape with the pointed tips, isn't it? I wonder what prompted that; less torque than earlier engines, perhaps?

---

I think this is one question for the propeller specialists on the forum or someone with an aerodynamic background. Although I cannot find it, I do remember to have seen more propellers in the form of this one. This is certainly no run-of-the mill propeller, but a high-tech one for 1918.

Perhaps Yavor can have a go at this propeller.

Kees

[EdStevens]

Perhaps it could fly, but certainly not with an original ABC Wasp inside, which was already troublesome in 1917 - 1918.

I found this quoted description of the Wasp in Kenneth Munson's "Fighters 1914-1919" pretty amusing:

"The mettlesome Was engine, whose sound was likened by one observer to 'thousands of empty wooden boxes falling on a stone floor', was still giving trouble, and its development was ultimately abandoned."

[YavorD]

Originally Posted by Varese2002

...
Perhaps Yavor can have a go at this propeller.

Kees

You overestimate my knowledge, Kees!
For me, the propeller is wrong. My knowledge of turbine blades, compressors and fan impellers say there is wrong chord selection and, possibly, angle of attack distribution along the blade. I do not know what the reason was! The proper theoretical background was developed during the war and entered university curriculum just after the war. During early 1920s propeller design was becoming science, not art. Obviously, not elsewhere ...
Regards,
Yavor

[YavorD]

How this plane was evaluated by contemporary aviation expert: Flight magazine May 22, 1919.

http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPD...20-%200662.pdf
http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPD...20-%200663.pdf
http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPD...20-%200664.pdf
http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPD...20-%200665.pdf
http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPD...20-%200666.pdf
http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPD...20-%200667.pdf

Regards,
Yavor