Editing AD Navyplane (section)

{{Short description|1910s British float plane project}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox aircraft
 |name=AD Navyplane
 |image=
 |caption=
 |type=Reconnaissance aircraft
 |manufacturer= [[Air Department]]/[[Supermarine]]
 |designer=Harold Bolas
 |first_flight=August 1916
 |introduction=n/a
 |retired=1917-09-27
 |status=Cancelled
 |primary_user=[[Royal Naval Air Service]]
 |more_users=
 |produced=January 1916
 |number_built=1
 |unit cost=
}}
The '''AD Navyplane''' was designed by the [[British Admiralty]]'s [[Air Department]] as a [[reconnaissance aircraft]] for use during [[World War I]].  Performance of the [[prototype]] was so disappointing that plans to produce it were cancelled almost immediately.

The Navyplane was designed by the Admiralty's [[Harold Bolas]] with the assistance of [[R.J. Mitchell]] of [[Supermarine]].  It was a pusher [[floatplane]] [[biplane]] with the pilot and observer being seated ahead of the wings in a streamlined lightweight [[nacelle]] mounted in the gap between the upper and lower sets of wings.  A [[Smith Static]] [[radial engine]] and a [[pusher propeller]] were installed behind them.<ref name="Andrews super p25">Andrews and Morgan 1987, p.25.</ref>

Two examples were ordered in 1916 for the [[Royal Naval Air Service]] (RNAS).<ref name="Andrews super p26">Andrews and Morgan 1987, p.26.</ref>  Serial numbers were allocated for seven Navyplanes (9095-'96, N.1070-'74) but just one prototype (9095) was completed.<ref name="Bruce p9">Bruce 1957, p.9.</ref>  Tests of this Supermarine-built prototype commenced in August [[1916 in aviation|1916]] (flown by Lieutenant-Commander [[John Seddon (aviator)|John Seddon]]) but proved seriously underpowered and unsatisfactory.  The engine was replaced with an AR.1 [[rotary engine]] (which was later redesignated the BR.1 for Bentley Rotary 1) and retested in May 1917.  However, even without a military load and observer, the Navyplane's performance still proved to be poor,<ref name="Mason bomber p65">Mason 1994, p.65.</ref> and the design was abandoned on 27 August 1917,{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} with no second prototype being produced.

Supermarine attempted to design an improved version to replace the [[Short 184]], the design, the Supermarine Patrol Seaplane, being powered by a 200&nbsp;hp (149&nbsp;kW) Sunbeam engine. While contracts for six aircraft were placed, work was abandoned before a prototype was built, the Short 184 proving adequate in the patrol role.<ref name="Andrews super p26"/><ref name="Mason bomber p65"/>