Does any one of you fine gents have photographic evidence that you would be prepared to share that any BN2 Islander was ever operated on floats?
I would be amazed if there weren’t several out there but a trawl through the net Via Google brought only the suggestion that someone may have seen one being ferried on floats (possibly G-HEBR), but I have completely failed to find a single photograph. I am aware of the existence of a set of GA 3-views showing floats as an option but otherwise zip… can anyone help me out?
By: mike currill - 20th January 2011 at 21:04
From 12 Years on by BN Historians
Chris
I think it looks better like that than on wheels
By: Robert Whitton - 19th January 2011 at 16:29
In Images of Aviation, a BN history. It states that the float development was shelved. The floats fitted to the main u/c and to two bridge pieces running under the fuselage. Never flown.
John
Perhaps they just floated the idea rather than shelved it. 😀
By: John Aeroclub - 19th January 2011 at 12:55
In Images of Aviation, a BN history. It states that the float development was shelved. The floats fitted to the main u/c and to two bridge pieces running under the fuselage. Never flown.
John
By: eye4wings - 19th January 2011 at 10:27
So the upshot seems to be that there was never a flying Islander on floats and the Ross amphibian never got off the ground… or, water… in anything more than model form. And I have my doubts that the model was capable of flight too.
Disappointing really.
Rumours and pipe dreams!
Well, thanks everyone, that seems to be that cleared up.
By: wieesso - 17th January 2011 at 17:06
Perhaps the Ross alternative was under way at the time and thought to be the better option?
There are at least two photos of one in the water (the same one), so I imagine that was about how far that project progressed.
Guess this was only a small scale model!
By: eye4wings - 17th January 2011 at 15:06
Quite right Chris, so you did. To my shame I have to admit I was so interested in the arrangement that I omitted to read it!
Now that I look closer I see there is no starboard float either! (No shadow, no nosewheel) Hence no indication of what happens on the far side. The trestle under the tail should also have given the game away!
So were there no takers?
Perhaps the Ross alternative was under way at the time and thought to be the better option?
There are at least two photos of one in the water (the same one), so I imagine that was about how far that project progressed.
By: cthornburg - 17th January 2011 at 14:00
In posting the pix I included the description. It was just a mockup and never flew in that configuration he was looking for a operational aircraft which this is not.
Chris
By: eye4wings - 17th January 2011 at 13:44
The 3-view does in fact show just such a bridge structure running between the bows of the floats via support on the underside of the fuselage, but that does not look to be particularly strong. (assuming that the drawing is reasonably accurate, which is not neccessarily safe)
In view of the seating arrangements with a door on alternate sides of the normal Islander I wonder how access was provided. Someone stepping onto one of the floats would have to make a considerable stride to reach the fuselage which would be hazardous for the average man and hardly an attractive prospect for his wife!
The Ross amphibian is far more amenable and altogether conventional in this respect.
Chris’s photo does seem to show two wide sponsons (which appear to have a thin aerofoil section) suitable for gaining access to the two port side doors, but this still leaves the access on the other side in doubt. I see no corresponding structure on the far side. Could they have completely rearranged the seating?
It seems hard to imagine how that could have been done so as to allow the identical sponson arrangement on the starboard side.
By: longshot - 17th January 2011 at 13:17
Good find!
There would clearly have to be a bridge structure running under the fuselage under the cockpit area to stabilize the structure….could it be a retouched photo? or is it definitely a real world mock-up?
By: avion ancien - 17th January 2011 at 10:17
In an article dating back to 2005 they mentioned this:
“Britten and Norman left the business in 1974, but development continued with a 6,600-pound-mtow, amphibious BN-2A-30. Twin floats were attached to the undercarriage legs and the fuselage incorporated retractable landing gear.”
http://www.ainonline.com/ain-and-ainalerts/aviation-international-news/single-publication-story/browse/0/article/britten-norman-islander-celebrates-40th-anniversary-2278/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Bstory_pointer%5D=11&tx_ttnews%5Bmode%5D=1
It’s a great shame that the syntax, in article quoted, is so poor. In consequence it is impossible to know if the author of the article is saying (a) that the twin floats were attached to the undercarriage legs alone and that retractable landing gear was incorporated in the fuselage or (b) that the twin floats were attached both to the undercarriage legs and the fuselage and that the floats incorporated retractable landing gear. The image posted by Chris does not seem to resolve the issue – but that may be consequent upon my eyes being so poor -although I would have thought it improbable that the undercarriage legs alone could have been strengthened sufficiently to cope with the forces that would, I imagine, have been imposed upon them in the course of a landing on water.
By: eye4wings - 17th January 2011 at 07:45
Wieesso, thankyou for going to the trouble. That first was a very disappointing link. I did wonder if something in my browser was amiss as no Islander on floats appeared, but clearly you found the same as I did.
That first kheeley link shows a very ambitious conversion – almost a rebuild!
Chris, that is encouraging. At least I now know one exists – or existed.
I put in a request to BN Historians as the obvious place to start. Perhaps I’ll hear back soon.
By: cthornburg - 17th January 2011 at 00:43
From 12 Years on by BN Historians
Chris
By: wieesso - 16th January 2011 at 23:15
Never heard of a BN-2 on floats.
The sim community shows such conversions.
Also the rc community (here originates the 3-view draw)
If you make a quick google you can find this:
“Delivery Flights – Piston/Turbo-props –
Pilatus Britten-Norman BN-2B Islander, G-HEBR, Night stop between 29-30.11.10. c /n 2132, …. Equipped with floats.”
http://www.aviationinmalta.com/CivilGeneralAviation/Deliveries/DeliveryFlightsPistonTurboprops/tabid/430/language/en-US/Default.aspx
But using this spotter site you will only find Cessna 206 and 208 on floats –
and
Pilatus Britten-Norman BN-2B Islander, G-HEBR, Night stop between 29-30.11.10, c/n 2132, previously registered to Hebridean Air Services. Previous reg G-BJOP.
In an article dating back to 2005 they mentioned this:
“Britten and Norman left the business in 1974, but development continued with a 6,600-pound-mtow, amphibious BN-2A-30. Twin floats were attached to the undercarriage legs and the fuselage incorporated retractable landing gear.”
http://www.ainonline.com/ain-and-ainalerts/aviation-international-news/single-publication-story/browse/0/article/britten-norman-islander-celebrates-40th-anniversary-2278/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Bstory_pointer%5D=11&tx_ttnews%5Bmode%5D=1
And in 2006 the following:
“Britten-Norman’s Group Chief Executive, William Hynett, said “We are really pleased to have Jeremy Liber on board. Jeremy has some exciting plans that will bring a new impetus to the Islander and Defender aircraft, including cockpit and instrumentation upgrades as well as additional airframe features which we hope will extend to a floatplane variant.”
http://www.worldsecurity-index.com/pressdet.php?id=874
You can find this from the late 90s – thoughts of an Islander Amphibian from Ross Aircraft Company (RAC)
Their website is long gone (heeley.demon.co.uk/)
http://kheeley.tripod.com/rn.htm#SPEC
http://kheeley.tripod.com/rn_sub2.htm
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January 16, 2011 at 10:07 pm