Felixstowe F.5

The Felixstowe F.5 was a British First World War flying boat designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN of the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe.

Design and development
Porte had designed a better hull for the larger Curtiss H12 flying boat, giving the Felixstowe F.2a, which was greatly superior to the original Curtiss boat. This entered production and service as a patrol aircraft. In February 1917, the first prototype of the Felixstowe F3 was flown. This was larger and heavier than the F2, giving it greater range and a heavier bomb load, but poorer agility. The Felixstowe F5 was intended to combine the good qualities of the F2 and F3, with the prototype first flying in May 1918. The prototype showed superior qualities to its predecessors but the production version was modified to make extensive use of components from the F.3, in order to ease production, giving a lower performance than either the F.2a or F.3.

Operational history
The F5 did not enter service until after the end of the First World War, but replaced the earlier Felixstowe boats (together with the Curtiss machines), to serve as the Royal Air Force's (RAF) standard flying boat until being replaced by the Supermarine Southampton in 1925.

In 1920, the Canadian Air Board sponsored a project to conduct the first ever Trans-Canada flight to determine the feasibility of such flights for future air mail and passenger service. The leg from Rivière du Loup to Winnipeg was flown by Lieutenant Colonel Leckie and Major Hobbs in a Felixstowe F.3.

Felixstowe F5L
US built version of F5 with two Liberty engines numbers built:
 * Naval Aircraft Factory (USA): 137
 * Curtiss Aviation (USA): 60
 * Canadian Aeroplanes Limited (Canada): 30

Short S.2
In 1924 the Air Ministry invited tenders for two hulls of modern design to suit the wings and tail surfaces of the F.5. Short Brothers submitted a proposal for an all-metal hull built of duralumin, then a largely untried and untrusted material. The aircraft was first flown on 5 January 1925 and delivered to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe on 14 March, where it was subjected to a series of strenuous tests, including dropping the aircraft onto the water by stalling it at a height of 30 ft (9 m): the aircraft withstood all trials, and after a year an inspection revealed only negligible corrosion. This succeeded in overcoming official resistance to the use of duralumin, and led to the order for the prototype Short Singapore.

Gosport Flying Boat
One of the ten RAF aircraft built by the Gosport Aviation Company was civil registered as a Gosport Flying Boat in 1919 to appear at the First Air Traffic Exhibition at Amsterdam in August 1919.

Hiro H1H
(Also called Navy Type 15) An improved Japanese version. The Hiro Naval Arsenal first licence-built the Felixstowe F.5 for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), then produced their own variant, dubbed the H1H. The first version, Navy Type 15 was powered by either Lorraine W-12 or BMW VII engines, Type 15-1 had a longer wing span, whilst the Type 15-2 had four-bladed propellers. It was retired in 1938.

Operators


🇺🇸 🇯🇵 - (Post-war)
 * Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg Royal Air Force - generally formed from RNAS flights.
 * No. 230 Squadron RAF
 * No. 231 Squadron RAF
 * No. 232 Squadron RAF
 * No. 238 Squadron RAF
 * No. 247 Squadron RAF
 * No. 249 Squadron RAF
 * No. 259 Squadron RAF
 * No. 261 Squadron RAF
 * No. 267 Squadron RAF
 * Royal Naval Air Service
 * United States Navy
 * IJN 60 - licence built by the Hiro Naval Arsenal.