Hanriot | ||||||||||||||||||||||
HD.1 . |
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Photo: Robert
Deering 4/18/2015 National Museum of Naval Aviation NAS Pensacola (NPA) Pensacola, Florida |
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The first aircraft produced by
Hanriot-Dupont, a company formed at the
beginning of World War I, the HD-1 appeared
around the same time as the highly capable
SPAD VII. Thus, though over 1,000 HD-1s were
built, they did not see widespread service
with the French, instead flying in the hands
of Belgian and Italian pilots. One of the
former, Willy Coppen, achieved a string of
victories in the nimble fighter, while
Italian HD-1s shot down eleven German
fighters without losing one of their own
during the Battle of Istrana on 26 December
1917.
While the HD-1 achieved combat success over
European battlefields, U.S. Navy officers at
sea witnessed firsthand the tremendous
strides made by the British Royal Navy in
operating aircraft from ships during World
War I. This prompted these air-minded
officers to evaluate shipboard operations in
the months following the end of the Great
War. Realizing that wheeled-aircraft
provided more capability in speed and
maneuverability, the Navy procured a handful
of foreign-built aircraft for use in the
experiments, flying them from wooden decks
erected atop the gun turrets of battleships.
Among them were the Hanriot fighters.
Out of a batch of 26 French Hanriot HD-2
seaplanes, the Navy converted ten to
landplane configuration and designated them
HD-1s. Some outfitted the Ship Plane Unit
conducting experimental work at Langley
Field, Virginia, and others operated from
the battleship
Mississippi (BB-41) under the
command of Captain William A. Moffett, who
later was promoted to flag rank and became
the first Chief of the Bureau of
Aeronautics. Given their operations over
water, the HD-1s were equipped with
flotation bags beneath the wings that could
be inflated in the event of a water landing
as well as a hydrovane forward of the main
landing gear to prevent the aircraft from
nosing over when it hit the water. Hanriots
remained in the Navy's aircraft inventory
into the early-1920s. |
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