Any monoplane alternatives to the Hawker Nimrod?

[Admiral Beez]

The Nimrod clone of the RAF's Hawker Fury replaced the Fairey Flycatcher, entering FAA service in 1933. If the Air Ministry had instead asked for a monoplane for introduction in 1933, what was available?

Options may include the Armstrong Whitworth A.W.21 that we discussed recently. Others, such as the Bristol Type 133 and Supermarine Type 224 arrive too late. There is the Bristol Type 127.

 

[Fatboy Coxy]

Were Naval air forces wed to the monoplane at that time, does a biplane give you more lift, and hence a shorter flight deck required?

 

[ThomasP]

There was a monoplane Hawker designed to meet the same AM Specification F.7/30 which resulted in the Fury/Nimrod biplane, but I do not know what the project designation was. It was basically a Fury shaped fuselage mated to an externally-braced monoplane wing, powered by a Kestrel engine. I do not have any information on the expected performance except for the speed which was predicted to be "at least 10 mph faster" than the various competing biplane designs. It never went beyond the design stage and was apparently dropped in favor of a biplane design.

 

[Shortround6]

Hawker Nimrod.....................................................................................................................................................Bristol 133

Length: 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m)..........................................................................................................Length: 28 ft 0 in (8.53 m)
Wingspan: 33 ft 7 in (10.24 m).................................................................................................Wingspan: 39 ft 0 in (11.89 m)
Wing area: 300 sq ft (28 m2)....................................................................................................Wing area: 247 sq ft (22.95 m2)
Empty weight: 3,110 lb (1,411 kg).........................................................................................Empty weight: 3,332 lb (1,509 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 4,050 lb (1,837 kg)............................................................................Gross weight: 4,738 lb (2,149 kg)

The Bristol had a fixed wing, it had a higher wing loading. Granted it was carrying 4 guns and not 2.
Nimrod was stressed for catapult take-offs.
The Supermarine type 224 with a wing area of 295 sq ft and weight of 4,743 lbs landed 10mph higher than specification requested and that was for land use.

A monoplane that won't do the job is not a way to advance the state of the art.
The 224 had flaps but at the time flaps were not used to increase lift, they were used to increase drag (like and air brake) and increase the rate of decent.
It also took a while to figure out how to make a monoplane wing as strong as a biplane wing of roughly the same area and for close to the same weight.
The biplane with it's braced wings formed a box like structure and the top and bottom resisted bending much better than a plank like monoplane wing.
This is why many monoplanes of 20s and early 30s used a variety of braces or wires. Airfoils were often thin and it took a while for designers to figure out that a thick airfoil with no external braces could be as strong and have less drag than the braced monoplane.
You need some of this stuff to come together for the monoplane to really show dominance over the biplane.
The French were building a lot of monoplanes that showed little or no advantage in performance over the Hawker biplanes.

Trying to land one of these on carrier might have been more excitement than most pilots wanted

 

[Graeme]

There was a monoplane Hawker designed to meet the same AM Specification F.7/30 which resulted in the Fury/Nimrod biplane, but I do not know what the project designation was.

Hi Thomas.
Possibly this monoplane project?

Source...

The Dreamy Dodo | Aviation Rapture.

 

[ThomasP]

Hey Graeme,

I think that the image you posted above is a later design. The one for the 1930? competition had an externally-braced wing (ie some sort of strut from the fuselage to the wing) as opposed the cantilever wing in this image. Also, the 1930 competition preceded the Goshawk engine (I think).