Britten-Norman BN-1
Encyclopedia
The Britten-Norman BN-1F was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
single-seat ultralight aircraft built in 1950.
Design and development
In 1951 John Britten and Desmond NormanDesmond Norman
Nigel Desmond Norman aircraft designer: born London 13 August 1929; co-founded Britten-Norman 1954; CBE 1970; chairman and managing director, AeroNorTec 1988-2002; married 1956 Anne Fogg Elliot , 1965 Boel Holmsen ; died of a heart attack on Basingstoke railway station, Hampshire 13 November 2002...
built and flew an ultra-light monoplane, their first aircraft, which made its first flight at Bembridge
Bembridge
Bembridge is an affluent village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to claims by residents that Bembridge is the largest village in England, and occasional claims that it is...
, Isle of Wight, on 16 May 1951. This machine crashed on an early flight, when the petrol supply to the 40 hp Aeronca JAP
JAP
Jap or JAP may refer to:* Journal of Applied Physics, scientific journal published by American Institute of Physics* Journal of Applied Physiology, scientific journal published by American Physiological Society...
J-99 twin cylinder air-cooled engine faded out. Modifications were made to the tail unit by adding smll ancillary fins to improve the directional stability, inset ailerons were fitted, the JAP engine was replaced by a 55-hp Lycoming
Lycoming
Lycoming Engines is a U.S. aircraft engine company, known primarily for its general aviation engines. For most of its history Lycoming has been part of the AVCO group as AVCO Lycoming. In 1987 AVCO was purchased by Textron to become Textron Lycoming...
horizontally-opposed twin and the undercarriage was replaced with braced arrangement with rubber bungee springing. It was first flown in this form in May 1951 and was withdrawn from use in 1953. It is now on exhibition in the Solent Sky Museum, Southampton, England, on loan from Michael Short of Austin Texas, USA.
The general arrangement of the BN-1 is similar to that of the Comper Swift
Comper Swift
-See also:-References:*Boughton, Terence. 1963. The Story of The British Light Aeroplane. John Murray*Meaden, Jack & Fillmore, Malcolm. . The Comper Lightplanes. Air-Britain Archive . Air-Britain. ISSN 02624923...
in particular G-ABUS, an aircraft that Desmond Norman was associated with along with fellow de Havilland Technical School apprentice, Tony Cole, that they jointly acquired in 1948 and restored to flying condition. In part this was an attempt to restart the club flying scene that had been prevalent in pre-war England. The BN-1 can be seen as the first steps towards making cheap aviation available to all as the BN-2 Islander was later to achieve for developing countries.
John Britten and Desmond Norman went on to form Britten-Norman
Britten-Norman
Britten-Norman is a British aircraft manufacturer owned by members of the Zawawi family from the Sultanate of Oman, making it the last remaining UK independent commercial aircraft producer....
Ltd which became well known for the BN-2 Islander and Trislander series of aircraft and which is still in business at Bembridge, Isle of Wight.