The Parnall Prawn was an experimental

Experimental aircraft

An experimental aircraft is an aircraft that has not yet been fully proven in flight. Often, this implies that new aerospace technologies are being tested on the aircraft, though the label is more broad....

 flying boat

Flying boat

A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...

 from 1930 with its single-engine in the nose, built in the UK to see if a combination of tilting engine and small propeller would make this configuration practical.

Design and development

The Prawn was a small, single-engined flying boat built by Parnall's as a one-off to an Air Ministry

Air Ministry

The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...

 contract. Single-engined flying boats are common, but the very unusual feature of the Prawn was that its engine was in the nose. There are obvious aerodynamic efficiencies, chiefly low drag, in putting the engine of a propeller driven landplane or floatplane in its nose, but flying boats sit low on the water and propeller clearance is a problem even when the aircraft is stationary. Once moving, spray also becomes a problem. The Prawn was built to see if these issues could be overcome. It combined two approaches: use a small propeller and make the engine mounting hinge so that the propeller is above the prow, not at it, when the aircraft is on the water.

Apart from its engine installation, the Prawn was a conventional small flying boat, using a good deal of stainless steel in its construction. It had a fabric covered

Aircraft fabric covering

Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures, the de Havilland Mosquito being an example of this technique....

 parasol wing with a straight leading edge but pronounced outboard taper on the trailing edge. The lift struts, a pair on each side, sloped up to the wing from low on the hull. The wing was supported over the fuselage with steel inverted V cabane strut

Cabane strut

The cabane struts of a biplane aircraft support the upper wing over the fuselage and work in conjunction with other wing components such as spars and flying wires to transmit flight loads....

s. There was a generous cut-out in the trailing edge centre section to improve the view from the single open cockpit. Outboard, there were broad chord ailerons and below the wings a pair of stabilising floats mounted on N type struts and braced inboard by another parallel pair.

The Prawn had a single step all-metal hull with conventional empennage

Empennage

The empennage , also known as the tail or tail assembly, of most aircraft gives stability to the aircraft, in a similar way to the feathers on an arrow...

. The fin had a rounded leading edge and was quite tall, carrying an unbalanced rudder. The tailplane was squarer and mounted just above the top of the fuselage, struts braced to the fuselage below and wire braced to the fin above. The aircraft was powered with a 65 hp (48 kW) water-cooled Ricardo-Burt engine, driving a four-bladed propeller with a diameter of only about 4 ft 6 in (1.35 m). Fuel was gravity-fed from a prominent tank on top of the wing centre section. The inline engine was contained in a slender, slightly pointed cowling of its own, and hinged at the rear. A bulky, largely rectangular radiator sat on top of the engine cowling, rather spoiling the otherwise neatly streamlined installation that resulted when the engine was in its in-flight position. At take-off, it could be raised through as much as 22^o to clear the water.

Very little is known about the career of the Prawn. It left Parnall's works at Yate

Yate

Yate is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, at the southwest extremity of the Cotswold Hills, 12 miles northeast of the city of Bristol. At the 2001 census the population was 21,789. The town of Chipping Sodbury is continuous with Yate to the east...

 in 1930 and went to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment

Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment

The Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment was a British military research and test organisation. It was originally formed as the Marine Aircraft Experimental Station in October 1918 at RAF Isle of Grain, a former Royal Naval Air Service seaplane base, to design, test and evaluate seaplanes,...

 at Felixstowe

Felixstowe

Felixstowe is a seaside town on the North Sea coast of Suffolk, England. The town gives its name to the nearby Port of Felixstowe, which is the largest container port in the United Kingdom and is owned by Hutchinson Ports UK...

 bearing RAF serial S1576 for trials and then for experimental purposes, but for how long and with what success seems not to be known. Even its dimensions are not precisely recorded.

Specifications