Orders for military aircraft ended in 1918 with the
First World War and the outlook for manufacturers considering the commercial market was made more gloomy by the large number of war surplus aircraft available. The publicity associated with the first non-stop Atlantic crossing, which came with the additional bonus of the £10,000 prize for the first such flight by a British aircraft on offer by the
Daily Mail since before the war, was sought by many companies. Thus in late 1918 and early 1919 the
Alliance Aeroplane Company,
Boulton & Paul,
Fairey Aviation Company,
Handley Page,
Martinsyde,
Short Brothers,
Sopwith and
Vickers Ltd were preparing competitors. The P.8 Atlantic was Boulton & Paul's entrant and was also intended to be the prototype for an airliner. The Atlantic had some similarity to the earlier
Boulton & Paul Bourges and indeed some structural commonality, for the Bourges Mk 1B was cannibalised to produce the first of two Atlantics. giving a design range of 3,850 miles (6,195 km). In an emergency the fuel could be dumped in 75 s and the empty tanks would help the aircraft float. The Atlantic used a split axle arrangement: on each side the short main leg extended from below the forward and innermost interplane strut. There was a second member back to below the aft interplane strut and an axle from the large single wheel upwards and inwards, hinged to the lower fuselage longeron. Shocks were absorbed by a combination of oleo-pneumatic and
bungee elastic components. The Atlantic had several features which fitted it for the crossing attempt. Like the Bourges, it handled well and could be trimmed to fly almost hands off, with only minor rudder nudges to hold direction. It was even possible, with the use of a cockpit lever to lock the elevators and ailerons and at the same time transfer rudder control to the wheel that normally operated the ailerons. Its cruising speed of 116 mph (187 km/h) was considerably higher than its competitors. After using two hours worth of fuel it could maintain height on one engine alone, or equivalently hold altitude on half power with two engines. The company had always seen the second Atlantic as a promising airliner prototype Knowing that some pilots preferred open cockpits, Boulton & Paul offered a choice of canopy or simple windscreen. The "Commercial" as it was sometimes known had windowed cabins for three in front of the wing and another for four behind. The cabins had two separate external doors. In between and below the wing the 100 Imperial gallons (0.45 m3) fuel tank was fixed in the upper part of the fuselage, partly to minimise trim changes and partly to allow the engines to be gravity fed. Despite the safety features provided by the two engines and the Atlantic's ability to hold altitude on one, plus its high cruising speed and (non-fuel) disposable load of 1,870 lb (848 kg), economics were against it when competing with the single Lion powered
de Havilland DH.18 which carried eight rather than seven passengers. Although 6 were planned, no orders came and no more Atlantics were built. ==Specifications==