Boulton and Paul P.41 Phoenix

For a description of the format and data included in Production Tables, see here.

Contents

Type Description

• P.41 Phoenix I
• Two seat all wood parasol monoplane, designed by W.H. Sayers. One 40 h.p. ABC Scorpion powerplant. The foldable wing had a constant chord and square tips. It was mounted on a pair of substantial streamlined struts from the lower fuselage longerons to the front wing spar. These main struts each carried a pair of short, slimmer members from near the wing to the front and rear spars. Further complicated strutting joined the upper fuselage to the wing centre section: a pair diverged gently from ahead of the forward cockpit to the front spar, another strut joined that spar on the starboard side to the port upper longeron between the cockpits and yet another joined the rear spar to the fuselage in the opposite direction behind the rear cockpit. The aircraft was normally flown from the rear cockpit at the trailing edge of the wing, with a cut-out to improve visibility. The forward cockpit was under the wing. Behind the engine, the fuselage was of simple square cross section, flat on sides and top with a curved underside. The main wheels were mounted rubber-sprung main legs attached to the upper fuselage and on axles linked to the lower fuselage. On the ground, with its legs compressed the Phoenix sat with its belly close to the ground. The empennage was unusual in two ways. Both rudder and tailplane were all moving, with no fixed surfaces, and all three surfaces were interchangeable to lower the costs of spare stocks. The elevators were mounted at the extreme end of the fuselage, the rudder with its trailing edge level with the elevators' hinge.

• P.41 Phoenix II
• This used the same flight surfaces as the Phoenix I but had a spot-welded steel fuselage frame which, when covered, had much the same shape as the earlier wooden one. There were changes to the minor struts, including those at the centre section, with the struts ahead of the cockpits deleted. The most obvious alteration was to the undercarriage: the main wheels were now on wing-mounted vertical legs, each on a stub axle that had a pair of V struts to the lower fuselage, the revised aircraft now sitting higher above the ground. One 40 h.p. Salmson AD.9 powerplant.

Production Details

Production References

1. Boulton Paul Aircraft Since 1915, Alec Brew (Putnam, 1993)