Michel Radosevic Canton de Geneve / Switzerland, OTH | (Same comments for the H-2)
In the late autumn of 1916, the US Navy framed a requirement which, issued on 17 November, called for a float-equipped single-seat fighting scout with a max speed of at least 95 mph (153 km/h) and an endurance of 2.5 hrs. It was envisaged that a 165 hp Gnome Mono-soupape 9N rotary engine would be used. To meet this requirement, W Starling Burgess of the Burgess Company of Marblehead, Mass, a division of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation, produced the HT-B
which was demonstrated to the N avy Department on 19 May 1917. A fabric-covered wooden sesquiplane in which close attention had been paid to aerodynamic cleanliness, the HT-B had fabric-covered K-type interplane struts, the short floats embodying shock absorbers. The intended armament comprised a single 0.3-in (7,62-mm) machine gun, but the rotary engine being unavailable, the HT-B was fitted with a water-cooled Curtiss OXX-2 of 100 hp. With this it was underpowered, max attainable speed being 85 mph (137 km/h).
Nevertheless, the Navy considered the HT-B to possess
excellent aerodynamic and hydrodynamic qualities, placing a contract for six examples (later amended to include two additional aircraft). Known unofficially as the Speed Scout, the first HT-B was delivered to Squantum on 11 September 1917, and the second to Pensacola in the following month, neither carrying armament.
These were followed by six more of a slightly modified version known as the HT-2, all being delivered by the end of 1917. No details of the subsequent career in US Navy service of the HT-B are available, but this is understood to have been brief and did not long survive the demise of the Burgess Company in November 1918.
Max speed, 85 mph (137 km/h) at 1,000 ft (305 m). En-
durance, 2.0 hrs. Span, 34 ft 4 in (10,46 m) Length, 22 ft
3 in (6,87m) Height, 10 ft 9 in (3,28 m)
11/03/2001 @ 19:42 [ref: 3553] |