Breguet's Aircraft ID Challenge # 876
 

Breguet's Aircraft ID Challenge # 876

There was no flying boat for some time, so again one for your attention. Please give all information of it that you have available.

Kees


Previous challenges: Aeroplanes 1914 - 1918* -* Breguet's Aircraft Challenge* --

Score at the start of Challenge #876

151.40 Varese2002 ¤¤
119.20 Dave_Kent ¤¤
104.70 Rbailey ¤
44.40 richard B ¤
33.30 Cruze ¤
31.25 Aquilius ¤
29.55 Lodzermensch ¤
24.40 YavorD
22.55 Froggy
16.90 Flamingo
14.80 Rod Filan
12.00 Breguet
10.45 GregE
10.30 Patrick
09.70 Dan-San
09.70 FOKKERJ Feuchtwanger
09.50 matte_kudasai
08.40 JohnMacG
07.70 EdStevens
07.60 trp81
07.10 Colin A. Owers
07.25 Ermeio
06.70 Ampovandak
06.70 Berman
06.10 joegertler
06.00 Eric Goedkoop
05.90 Doc
05.70 AROTH
05.70 dpolglaze
05.60 ercoupepilot
05.30 Crimso
05.30 Der Grüne Flieger
05.30 HoHun
05.20 Maze
05.20 Gilles
05.10 bshatzer
05.00 Old Man
05.00 Tom L
05.00 sobrien .......................... have to wait 12 hours

04.75 SCMc ............................ may start immediately
04.40 Ross Moorhouse
04.30 edmondthieffry
04.20 Rufe
04.00 greenknight
04.00 John McKenzie
04.00 Luf-Rick
03.90 Brad
03.50 '14-'18aviationcollector
03.00 AL FORBES
03.00 Catfish
03.00 Linhawk
02.50 Gregoire
02.50 Rexee
02.30 ckingh5
02.10 Crankcase
02.00 albatros1234
02.00 austin08
02.00 Rickenbaron
01.70 Kilian
01.60 airplane176
01.60 sergio_vitalio
01.50 Albatros_Ace
01.30 Cigogne
01.20 Ransom E. Olds
01.00 Cliff
01.00 cubsfan4life
01.00 gregorydquist
01.00 Mike Westorp
01.00 paolomiana
01.00 Peter Zambori
01.00 rammjaeger
01.00 SL DIII
01.00 Tripehound
00.90 Stig Jarlevik
00.80 Machinbird
00.80 Mad Mac
00.80 tbstreet
00.80 toxisch
00.60 Sreiko
00.50 Douglas7
00.50 Martin Irvine
00.40 Vilkata
00.30 albapfalzd30
00.30 Miroslav Pokorny
00.30 Nieuport14
00.20 Paul_J._Fisher

Rules:

1. The thread title must be "Breguet's Aircraft ID Challenge #......"
2. The score board, link and rules must be copied to the beginning of each thread, so that we know where we are. The score board and the correct answer to the challenge must also be placed at end of each thread.
3. The completed aircraft must have been either; designed, built or have left the ground during the '14-'18 period and be identifiable by the poster.
4. The photo must show the whole aircraft - from whatever angle, or at least 2 views of a 3 view drawing (photo by preference).
5. Challenges which depict a machine already earlier presented are disqualified (always check the list at Aeroplanes 1914 - 1918* -* Breguet's -Aircraft Challenge* -- when in doubt !).
6. If there is any doubt as to the eligibility of an aircraft for the challenge details should be PM'd to Breguet BEFORE the aircraft is submitted.
7. Once someone has got 5 correct answers under their belt they become an ACE. Once they become an ACE they must wait 12hrs after the posting of the new challenge before they can post an answer.
8. To be eligible for correct ID an answer must include at least one characteristic of the aircraft that helped in its identification.
9. The first person to ID the challenge correctly gets to post the next challenge. If this can not be done for any reason Breguet himself will post the next challenge.
10. If an ace gives the correct answer too early, the challenge is over, he gets no point but has to post the next one. In lieu of the fact that the "novices" have in effect been "cheated" of their "exclusive" time that next post should be a relatively easy one. Anyone repeating the correct answer at the right time gets neither a point nor the right to post the next challenge.
11. The final arbiter in relation to questions about the rules is BREGUET.

Based on the wing bracing and over-wing tank, this is the 2 place flying boat built for the B. Stevens & Sons company of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, by Fred C Chanonhouse in 1915 or 1916. It was powered by a 105 hp Sturtevant pusher motor. Chanonhouse had been or was the production superintendent at Sturtevant.

Dave

Stephens (or maybe Stevens) flying boat, identifiable by the 3-bladed propeller and the fuel tank above the center section. Built by B. Stephens and Sons, Woonsocket RI., as shown in Aerial Age Weekly 1915 (in a couple of places). Powered by a 12 cyl. 105 hp air cooled Ashmusen Motor. See flying boat | pusher biplane | 1916 | 0416 | Flight Archive for details.
However, Aerofiles gives it as one of two machines ascribed to B. Stevens & Sons, with a 105hp Sturtevant motor and “constructed “ (presumably meaning designed) by Fred Chanonhouse, production superintendent at Sturtevant Co., in 1915-16.
Aerial Age 1916 shows the first Aerophiles type as a Chanonhouse design and also gives the construction to B. Stevens. The Stevens spelling is repeated in American flying boats and amphibious aircraft

If the challenge machine is a variant of the first, as suggested by Aerofiles, there is quite a variation.
I haven’t been able to find independent source for the proper spelling for the name of the company, so that remains uncertain. The “v” seems to have the edge.

I had not thought this rarely known flying boat would have been identified that quickly :)

But ... Rbailey brings in a difference of names for the same builder of this flying boat.

To summarize, we have in the Stephens 'camp'

(1) The Stephens Flying Boat constructed by B. Stephens & Sons, of Woonsocket, R.I., and equipped with a 12-cylinder 105 h.p. air cooled Ashmusen motor

(2) The Stephens' Flying Boat (Jack McGee, pilot) equipped with 100 h.p. Ashmushen Motor, at Oakland Beach, R.I.

(3) Views of the Stephens flying boat with 12-cyl. plant

(1) Aerial Age Weekly, April 19, 1915, p.110
(2) Aerial Age Weekly, August 23, 1915, p.544
(3) Flight, May 18, 1916, p.416

In the Stevens 'camp', we have

(4) B Stevens & Sons, Woonsocket RI.1915, 1916 = 2pOBFb; 105hp Sturtevant pusher. No other data found. George Armitage, constructed by Fred Chanonhouse, production superintendent at Sturtevant Co.

(5) Quoted as a Stevens flying boat (on authority of Rbailey, have not seen it myself)

(4) American airplanes: St - Sz, Aerofiles viewed on April 13, 2011
(5) Johnson, E. R. 2009. American flying boats and amphibious aircraft: an illustrated history

I could not find any reference (as quoted by Rbailey) in Aerial Age year 1916 for a Stevens flying boat. References are all about the early aviator Leo A. Stevens, but not in combination with a flying boat.

To resolve the matter I found out the following

(6) A Rhode Island Aeroplane Company
Articles of incorporation for the Stephens Aeroplane Company were filed in the office of the Rhode Island Secretary of State recently. The incorporators are Bruneau Stephens, Arnold B. Stephens and Lorne E. Stephens, all of Providence, and they plan to engage in the buying, selling and operating of agencies of air craft. The capital stock of the company is placed at $100,000.

(7) Stephens Aeroplane Company $ 100 00

(8) B.Stephens & Son Co Aeroplane Company Rhode Island - Woonsocket. Stephens (B) 1915 Flying Boat.

(6) Aviation and aeronautical engineering Volume 1 (1916/17), November 15, p. 262
(7) Annual report of the General Treasurer [State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations] January 1 to December 31, 1916, p.56
(8) Directory of Airplanes Smithsonian NASM viewed on Horizon Information Portal viewed April 13, 2011

Given the evidence I can conclude that their was only one 'aviation' company in Woonsocket - Rhode Island, which was named (officially) as the Stephens Aeroplane Company and (unofficially) as the B. Stephens & Son Co.

The quoted name of Stevens is given by only two recent sources and I have found no contemporary evidence in books or magazines of that period. Also the name of Fred Chanonhouse as the designer of this Stephens flying boat could not be verified in contemporary literature.

Given the absence of references in Aerofiles or probably the quoted 2009 book (have not seen it), there can only be concluded that the machine is the Flying boat built by the Stephens Aeroplane Company located at Woonsocket - Rhode Island.

Kees

Correct identification

Flying boat built in 1915 by the Stephens Aeroplane Company located at Woonsocket - Rhode Island.

Score at the end of Challenge #876

151.40 Varese2002 ¤¤
120.20 Dave_Kent ¤¤
105.00 Rbailey ¤
44.40 richard B ¤
33.30 Cruze ¤
31.25 Aquilius ¤
29.55 Lodzermensch ¤
24.40 YavorD
22.55 Froggy
16.90 Flamingo
14.80 Rod Filan
12.00 Breguet
10.45 GregE
10.30 Patrick
09.70 Dan-San
09.70 FOKKERJ Feuchtwanger
09.50 matte_kudasai
08.40 JohnMacG
07.70 EdStevens
07.60 trp81
07.10 Colin A. Owers
07.25 Ermeio
06.70 Ampovandak
06.70 Berman
06.10 joegertler
06.00 Eric Goedkoop
05.90 Doc
05.70 AROTH
05.70 dpolglaze
05.60 ercoupepilot
05.30 Crimso
05.30 Der Grüne Flieger
05.30 HoHun
05.20 Maze
05.20 Gilles
05.10 bshatzer
05.00 Old Man
05.00 Tom L
05.00 sobrien .......................... have to wait 12 hours

04.75 SCMc ............................ may start immediately
04.40 Ross Moorhouse
04.30 edmondthieffry
04.20 Rufe
04.00 greenknight
04.00 John McKenzie
04.00 Luf-Rick
03.90 Brad
03.50 '14-'18aviationcollector
03.00 AL FORBES
03.00 Catfish
03.00 Linhawk
02.50 Gregoire
02.50 Rexee
02.30 ckingh5
02.10 Crankcase
02.00 albatros1234
02.00 austin08
02.00 Rickenbaron
01.70 Kilian
01.60 airplane176
01.60 sergio_vitalio
01.50 Albatros_Ace
01.30 Cigogne
01.20 Ransom E. Olds
01.00 Cliff
01.00 cubsfan4life
01.00 gregorydquist
01.00 Mike Westorp
01.00 paolomiana
01.00 Peter Zambori
01.00 rammjaeger
01.00 SL DIII
01.00 Tripehound
00.90 Stig Jarlevik
00.80 Machinbird
00.80 Mad Mac
00.80 tbstreet
00.80 toxisch
00.60 Sreiko
00.50 Douglas7
00.50 Martin Irvine
00.40 Vilkata
00.30 albapfalzd30
00.30 Miroslav Pokorny
00.30 Nieuport14
00.20 Paul_J._Fisher

Next one is for Dave

Kees

My source for Stevens was:


American flying boats and amphibious ... - Google Books

quite a nice site

Dave