[1] In 1916, G. Tilghman Richards, the newly appointed chief designer of the aviation department of the Scottish shipbuilder William Beardmore, designed his first aircraft for Beardmore, the W.B.1.
This was to be a single engined bomber for the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), which was intended to carry out long gliding attacks to achieve surprise.
[2] It was powered by a 230 hp (172 kW) BHP engine and first flew in early 1917.
[4] By this time however, the larger and more capable Handley Page O/100 was in production and the W.B.1 was rejected by the RNAS.
Data from Mason, The British Bomber since 1912 [3]General characteristics Performance Armament