Sage Type 3

Sage Type 3
Role Trainer aircraft
National origin United Kingdom
Manufacturer Frederic Sage & Co. Limited
First flight 5 January 1917
Number built 2

The Sage Type 3 (also known as the Sage N3 School[1]) was a prototype British biplane training aircraft of the First World War. It was unsuccessful, only two examples being built.

Development and design

In 1916, the British Admiralty placed a contract with Frederick Sage & Co, a Peterborough based woodworking company which had become an aircraft contractor for the Royal Navy, to design and build a primary trainer for the Royal Naval Air Service. It was required to be robust, with a low landing speed and good visibility. The resultant design, the Sage Type 3, was a two-bay tractor biplane powered by a Rolls-Royce Hawk engine. In order to prevent the aircraft overturning during landing, it was fitted with an additional pair of wheels ahead of the mainwheels.[2][3]

The first prototype Type 3 flew on 5 January 1917. It proved to be slow, even for a trainer, and was modified with smaller tail surfaces and reduced weight, becoming the Type 3b (with the original design retrospectively designated Type 3a), which slightly improved performance.[4] However, after a second aircraft was built, the contract was cancelled, and the remaining aircraft of the contract for 30 Type 3s were unbuilt.[1] The type did form the basis for the Sage Type 4 floatplane, which was ordered into production but cancelled due to the end of the war.[5]

Specifications (Type 3b)

Data from British Aeroplanes 1914-18 [4]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 2
  • Length: 32 ft 10 in (10.01 m)
  • Wingspan: 34 ft 6 in (10.52 m)
  • Height: 10 ft 9 in (3.26 m)
  • Wing area: 330 sq ft (30.7 m²)
  • Empty weight: 1,390 lb (632 kg)
  • Loaded weight: 1,980 lb (900 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Hawk 6-cylinder liquid-cooled inline piston engine, 75 hp (56 kW)
  • Propellers: two bladed propeller, 1 per engine
    • Propeller diameter: 8 ft (2.44 m)

Performance

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Notes

  1. 1 2 Uppendaun 2004, p.69.
  2. ↑ Bruce 1957, p.463.
  3. ↑ Flight 24 July 1919, p.974.
  4. 1 2 Bruce 1957, p.464.
  5. ↑ Bruce 1957, pp.464, 466.
  6. ↑ Flight 24 July 1919, p.973.

References

  • Bruce, J.M. British Aeroplanes 1914-18. London:Putnam, 1957.
  • ""Milestones" The Sage Machines". Flight, 24 July 1919. pp. 971–975.
  • Uppendaun, Bob. "Sage-Like Thoughts:The Products of Frederick Sage & Co". Air Enthusiast, No.110, March/April 2004. pp. 68–69.
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