A.D. Type 1000
F.Manson British Bomber Since 1914 (Putnam)
Air Department Type 1000
The brainchild of the eccentric engineer, Harris Booth, the massive A.D. 1000 possessed a wing span only marginally less than that of the Wight Twin, but was certainly much heavier. The Admiralty's Air Department was, in 1914, headed by Capt Murray Fraser Sueter, who had been an influential advocate of the aerial bomb and torpedo, and who gave his authority for the design of a large seaplane capable of carrying a single 810 lb 14in naval torpedo or an equivalent weight of bombs.
Booth's design, like Howard Wright's Wight Twin, was of the twin-fuselage configuration, but in other respects differed radically. Unlike the Twin the A.D. 1000 was conceived as a seaplane from the outset, and therein lay the likely reason for its manufacture being undertaken by J Samuel White, whose boat-building factory was equipped to handle large craft and possessed slipways to a sheltered anchorage. Moreover, if nothing else, Booth recognised the importance of providing engines of sufficient power for his huge aeroplane (where others had failed), and selected three 310hp Sunbeam twelve-cylinder water-cooled engines - then the most powerful under development. Thus the A.D. 1000 theoretically possessed more than twice the power of the Wight Twin.
The A.D. 1000 was an all-wooden, four-bay biplane with unequal-span wings, kingposts being used for wire-bracing the upper wing extensions which carried single-acting ailerons; the choice of this layout clearly demanded a very heavy internal wing structure. The big engines were located at the forward ends of the twin fuselages and at the rear of the central nacelle. The latter structure also accommodated the five-man crew, its nose resembling a domestic conservatory with upwards of forty panes of glass, and no concession to drag limitation. The torpedo or bomb load was to be suspended from the lower wing which passed beneath both the fuselages and the central nacelle. The twin main floats were attached by struts to the lower longerons of the fuselages, as were the twin tail floats. There was little to suggest that this float gear would have been adequate to support the enormous machine on any but the calmest water.
The A.D. 1000 was completed at Cowes in the spring of 1915, but was never flown. The Sunbeam engines (later to become the Cossack) were installed with their four-blade propellers. At that time, however, the engines had never flown, and doubt must have been expressed about the efficiency of the cooling system and its extraordinarily cumbersome radiator installation, to say nothing of the float structure's strength. The aircraft was transported to Felixstowe and was almost certainly broken up there in 1916.
Type: Four-bay, five-crew bomber/torpedo-bomber biplane seaplane with one pusher and two tractor engines, central crew nacelle, twin main floats and twin tail floats.
Manufacturer: J. Samuel White & Co. Ltd., Cowes, Isle of Wight, to the design of Harris Booth of the Air Department, Admiralty.
Powerplant: Three 310hp Sunbeam (later named Cossack) 12-cylinder water-cooled inline engines driving four-blade propellers, two driving tractor propellers at the front of the twin fuselages, and one driving a pusher propeller at the rear of the central crew nacelle.
Dimensions: Span, 115ft.
Armament: Designed to carry a bomb load of approximately 800 lb, or one 810 lb 14in Admiralty torpedo.
Prototype: Seven examples ordered, but only one. No 1358, completed and delivered to Felixstowe, but not flown. No production.
P.Lewis British Bomber since 1914 (Putnam)
Among the new types to appear in the course of 1915 was the A.D. Seaplane Type 1000, the result of an Admiralty requirement for a floatplane to operate as a bomber or a torpedo launcher. The design of the 155 ft. span biplane, the largest British-built machine at the time of its conception, was the work of Harris Booth of the Air Department of the Admiralty. J. Samuel White and Company were commissioned to build the massive machine, of which seven appear to have been ordered under the designation A.D. Type 1000 derived from the first serial number allocated. 1358 was the sole example to emerge eventually from the Cowes works. The Type 1000 represented a gigantic leap forward in size from previous British seaplanes and accordingly demanded relatively high power, being given three 310 h.p. Sunbeam engines. These were disposed as two tractors - one each in the nose of the pair of fuselages forming a prominent feature of the design - and a pusher installed at the rear of the centrally situated cabin for the crew, whose quarters contained a lavish amount of glazing. The twin fuselage frames were simple rectangular-section structures lacking any attempt at refinement, the same feeling being expressed by the angularity evident in the cowlings shrouding the Sunbeams. The upper planes overhung the lower surfaces, and the fuselages terminated at the rear in well-rounded twin fins and rudders. To support the heavy machine on the water, twin floats were employed both at the front and at the rear. Success was not forthcoming for the A.D. Type 1000, and 1358 is believed to have been abandoned at Felixstowe after its sojourn at the East Coast marine aircraft base during 1916. As a design the machine embodied a comparatively novel layout and represented an essay into the field of very large aircraft at an early period of evolution and at a time when engines of advanced power ratings, coupled with attendant reliability, were not forthcoming. These factors and a lack of manoeuvrability may well have militated against acceptance of the Type 1000 as an aircraft suitable for use in war, a situation to be encountered many times in the future by designs which made a radical departure from conformity.
J.Bruce British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 (Putnam)
A.D. Seaplane Type 1000
BRITISH experiments in dropping torpedoes from aircraft began in 1913, and had from their inception the blessing of Captain Murray F. Sueter (later Rear-Admiral Sir Murray Sueter, C.B.), the Director of the Air Department of the Admiralty.
In 1914, Harris Booth of the Air Department designed an enormous twin-float seaplane which was intended to be used as a bomber or torpedo-carrier. When it appeared it was the largest aeroplane of any type which had been built in Britain. It was powered by three 310 h.p. Sunbeam engines, two of which were installed as tractor units at the forward ends of the twin fuselages. The third engine was mounted at the rear of the central control cabin (which was much too imposing a structure to be called a mere nacelle) and drove a pusher airscrew. All three engines had cowlings which were remarkably ugly and cumbersome. The control cabin looked uncommonly like a domestic greenhouse, and was little better streamlined. The machine was to have had a crew of five.
The serial number 1000 was provisionally allotted for the type which, in accordance with the Admiralty practice of the time, thereupon became known as the Type 1000.
It is believed that seven examples were ordered, but only one, No. 1358, was completed. Construction was undertaken by J. Samuel White & Co., Ltd., of Cowes, the makers of the Wight seaplanes; and consequently the A.D. 1000 has been wrongly described as a Wight type.
It was not a success. Its clumsy appearance rightly betokened excessive structural weight, and its floats were too flimsy: they were unable to withstand even a slight sea.
The A.D. Type 1000 was abandoned, and probably ended its days at Felixstowe. It was there in the summer of 1916. In his book From Sea to Sky, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore wrote of it:
“Another boat of weird design had been delivered some time before; it looked like a floating conservatory with two floats and a double fuselage and three engines; but it was evidently not very popular for it had stayed in its shed ever since.”
Manufacturers: J. Samuel White & Co., Ltd., Cowes, Isle of Wight.
Power: Three 310 h.p. Sunbeam.
Dimensions: Span: 115 ft.
Serial Numbers: 1000: ordered under Contract No. C.P.01516/14. 1355-1360. No. 1000, Nos. 1355-1357 and Nos. 1359-1360 were not delivered.
H.King Armament of British Aircraft (Putnam)
A.D. Type 1000. Although this very large three-engined floatplane of 1915-16 was intended to carry one or more torpedoes or a load of bombs it appears never to have been armed, and as a flying machine it was not successful. Armament must have influenced the design greatly, leading to the adoption of twin fuselages and twin independent floats beneath them. This arrangement would allow the projectiles, especially the torpedo or torpedoes, to fall freely. In terms of pilot view for sighting a torpedo, the type was probably never rivalled by any subsequent aircraft, for the frontal portion of the central structure housing the crew was glazed.
It has been stated that one intended weapon was a 12-pounder gun, for use against airships. The Navy did indeed have such a gun in their armoury, known as the '12 pdr 12 cwt'. If, then, a 12-pounder was indeed intended, it must be hoped for the crew's sake that this was to be of the Davis recoilless type.