Westland-Hill Pterodactyl

The Westland-Hill Pterodactyl was a series of experimental aircraft designs starting in the 1920s named after the pterosaur.

They were designed by Geoffrey T. R. Hill and built by Westland Aircraft. The first (Pterodactyl lA and lB) were high wing tailess monoplanes with fully moving wingtips for control built to overcome the issue of stalling and spinning. In some designs the monoplane wing was supported by struts from a stubby lower wing giving them some of the appearance of an unequal span biplane (sesquiplane). Later designs included fighter and transport aircraft.

The designs were credited as being inspired by observation of seagulls and used fully moving outer wingtips for control. If both tips were moved in the same way they functioned as elevators, in opposite ways then as ailerons

Aircraft

• Pterodactyl I

Glider, built by G T R Hill in 1924; fitted with engine as Mk.IA in 1925

• Pterodactyl IA

Bristol Cherub engine

• Pterodactyl IB

Armstrong Siddeley Genet

• Pterodactyl IV
• Pterodactyl V

Fighter design with a 600 hp Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine and 2 Vickers machine guns.

• Pterodactyl VI.

Designed to Specification F.5/33 for a 2 seater fighter aircraft with front mounted turret. Pusher engine design with powered, front-mounted, gun turret.

• Pterodactyl Mk VII

Designed to Specification R1/33. Flying boat with two tractor and two pusher engines

• Short Brothers-Hill Pterodactyl VIII

Proposed Flying wing transatlantic passenger aircraft with 5 pusher Rolls-Royce Griffon engines.

The Pterodactyl 1A of 1925 is held by the Science Museum London

See also

Comparable aircraft

• Granger Archaeopteryx

References

• British Aircraft directory 9 February 2007
• Intriguing aircraft 9 February 2007
• Westland history 9 February 2007

External links

• Tailless British aircraft designs modelled

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Westland-Hill Pterodactyl".