Country of origin:

Australia

Description:

Two-seat training biplane

Power Plant:

One 134 kw (180 hp) Armstrong Siddeley Lynx seven-cylinder air-cooled radial engine

Specifications:

Armament:

One 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers machine gun; provision to carry one 51 kg (112 lb) bomb or four 9 kg (20 lb) bombs on racks under the fuselage

History:

In the late 1920s L J Wackett (later Sir) decided to design two aircraft for the RAAF, one to have a 149 kw (200 hp) radial engine, and the other to be a two-seat fighter with a 328 kw (440 hp) engine, to be known as the Warrigal I and Warrigal II.  They were to have many common features in order to expedite construction and maintenance.  Members of the British Aviation industry were at the time concerned with plans to build aircraft in Australia, as they considered the supply of machines to the British Dominions as a British preserve, the British mission to Australia stating “it is uneconomic to attempt to build aircraft in Australia”.

The Warrigal I was built at the RAAF Experimental Station at Randwick, NSW and, when completed, was painted in Spartan Cambridge grey lacquer with RAAF roundels but no RAAF allotted serial.  It was fitted with a 149 kw (200 hp) Armstrong Siddeley Lynx radial engine which, on testing, delivered 134 kw (180 hp) at 1,620 rpm.  The fuselage was constructed in four separate modules, each connected by metal fittings. One of the ideas of Wackett was that, having the fuselage in four sections, these could be changed as required to accommodate engines of varying power.

Tasmanian blackwood was used for the longerons and stringers, Blackwood being used for the plywood covering except for the front module which used Beech planking.  A Vickers machine gun was mounted in a trough on the port side of the fuselage and was operated by the pilot. Radio equipment was installed, and light bombs could be fitted to racks under the fuselage.  The wings were constructed from Blackwood box spars with Monet metal or rolled brass fittings, and were fabric covered.

The Warrigal I was successfully test flown at Richmond, NSW on 4 December 1928 in the hands of L J Wackett.  He reported “the machine behaved excellently in the air, showing a good rate of climb and attaining a max speed of 172 km/h (107 mph)”.  By 8 December it had made 14 flights.  On 29 January 1929 it was flown to Point Cook, VIC where, on the 31st, it was “christened” by Mrs Ettie Williams, wife of Sir Richard Williams, and was delivered to No 1 Flying Training School at Point Cook.  It was tested extensively but reports stated that, despite the fact it had many good features, it did not meet the requirements for which it was designed and a recommendation for its production and supply to the RAAF was not forthcoming.

Tests were made between the Warrigal I and a de Havilland DH.60 Moth, the report indicating “it would appear that the Warrigal fitted with a 149 kw (200 hp) engine consuming 45.4 litres (10 Imp gallons) of petrol an hour is less efficient from a preliminary training point of view than the Moth with Cirrus II consuming 18 litres (4 Imp gallons) of petrol per hour”.

Another problem at the time was the coming Depression and the need to reduce expenditure.  Sir John Salmon had been invited to come to Australia to report on the requirements of the RAAF and he indicated Australia’s requirements could be met from the United Kingdom; whereas Wackett accused him of being in league with the Society of British Aircraft Constructors which regarded the Australian and New Zealand markets as its private domain and conducted a campaign against his work.

Be that as it may, on 19 September 1929 the Warrigal I was carrying out a flight at Point Cook when it made a heavy landing which caused a bolt to shear in the centre bracket of the undercarriage, and this then collapsed.  The machine was taken to the workshops but the Air Board found that, as the machine was “on the whole unsuitable for the purpose for which it was designed”, it was not required any further and was written off, the Lynx engine being offered for sale.