Time Period: Pre-WW1
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Type: Monoplane, Trainer Aircraft
Manufacturer: Bristol Aeroplane Company
Bristol Coanda Monoplane Aircraft Overview
The Bristol Coanda Monoplane, also known as the Bristol Type T.B.8, was a British experimental aircraft designed by the Romanian engineer Henri Coanda in collaboration with the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1912.
The Coanda Monoplane was notable for its unconventional design, which included a curved wing surface that was intended to create lift through the Coanda effect, a phenomenon in which a fluid or gas flowing over a curved surface tends to follow the curvature of the surface.
The aircraft had a wooden monocoque fuselage and was powered by a 50 horsepower Gnome rotary engine. It had a wingspan of 7.5 meters and a length of 8 meters. The Coanda Monoplane was capable of a top speed of around 80 kilometers per hour and could fly for up to 45 minutes.
The Coanda Monoplane made its first flight in December 1912, but the Coanda wing design did not provide the expected lift, and the aircraft was difficult to control. The project was eventually abandoned, and the Coanda Monoplane was the only aircraft built using this design.
Despite its lack of success, the Bristol Coanda Monoplane was an important experiment in the development of aviation technology, and Henri Coanda’s work on the Coanda effect would later be applied to the development of jet engines.
Bristol Coanda Monoplane Specifications
- Crew: 2
- Length: 29 ft 3 in (8.92 m)
- Wingspan: 37 ft 8 in (11.48 m)
- Wing area: 450 sq ft (42 m2)
- Empty weight: 970 lb (440 kg)
- Gross weight: 1,665 lb (755 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Gnome Lambda 7-cylinder air-cooled rotary piston engine, 80 hp (60 kW)
- Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller.
Bristol Coanda Monoplane Performance
- Maximum speed: 65–70 mph (105–113 km/h, 56–61 kn)
- Endurance: 5 hours
- Time to altitude: 3,000 ft (914 m) in 11 minutes.
Bristol Coanda Monoplane Armament
- Guns: Some were equipped with a 7.92 mm (0.312 in) calibre machine gun
- Bombs: 12 x 10 lb (4.5 kg) light bombs.
Bristol Coanda Monoplane Image Gallery
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