Planes
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@jegga Oh and Tim crashed twice from memory. Ran out of fuel in the first one, the second one was the serious one on landing.
A pilot told me the Griffon was quite different to the merlin to fly and he must have mentally switched into Merlin landing mode and the Griffon owned him.
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The griffon engined spitfires were supposed to be brutal things to fly,
Actually most of those high powered late WW2 things were. That amount of thrust and asymmetric power rotating around a tail tragger required some skill.
What was the deal with contra rotating propellors? The last spits had them , was that to try and minimise the effects of the increased power?
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A pilot told me the Griffon was quite different to the merlin to fly and he must have mentally switched into Merlin landing mode and the Griffon owned him.
Yeah I had heard that too.
What was the deal with contra rotating propellors? The last spits had them , was that to try and minimise the effects of the increased power?
Yes. Torque effect and a spiral of airflow around the fuse.
There is also an aerodynamic affect when you lift the tail in a dragger (name escapes me right now). It is a balance to apply power and maintain directional control. Not enough power you don't get airborne, too much and the thing can flip on it's back.Fun ay.
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@Snowy Yeah contra rotating still exist in helis, either twin hub rotor like Chinook or single hub like the Ka-50, though for slightly different but similar reasons. Ka-50 is the only heli with an ejection sat that I know of, which was always a joke when I was a kid like waterproof teabag or chocolate fireguard. They're not allowed to fly in most countries as when the handle is pulled the rotor head detonates and the blades fly off - as you can imagine that would be pretty catestrophic anywhere near people!
Early jets, even into Hawk T1s, had noticeable delay on jet engine reactions. One of my mates had the joy, when landing solo as a stude to blow a tyre. He probably had the tow brake engaged but they could never prove it! So he instictively slammed the throttle to full (jet started winding up) realised the drill was to go idle and com,plete the landing. So he went to idle but jet was still winding up, and started to wind down. End of the runway was coming up, he was obviously rather stressed and this was very short time frame, so he changed his mind again to take off (I think, I can't remember if he thought the engine was not responsive) Anyway he slammed the throttle forward, thought he was going to crash so ejected. The engine going full bore and without the weight of the seat meant he had the horrifying moment of coming to after the ejection, in his chute, with the hawk taking off and flying away without him. Thankfully it did a slow roll and ended up plowing into the ground. Worst moment of his life.
Now flies around the world as a private jet pilot, little do they know!
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Have any of you read/listened to this?
Last year my father was given a copy of his memoirs/diary from a work colleague so I took the chance to read it too. That document listed all of the airfields he had landed/taken off from as well as the planes he had flown (also in this link), not to mention the war stories. There was also a section about the VIPs he had flown during the war.
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Have any of you read/listened to this?
Last year my father was given a copy of his memoirs/diary from a work colleague so I took the chance to read it too. That document listed all of the airfields he had landed/taken off from as well as the planes he had flown (also in this link), not to mention the war stories. There was also a section about the VIPs he had flown during the war.
Thats a hell of a list, the ones in bold...
Tiger Moth
Gipsy Moth
Moth Minor
Moth Major
Puss Moth
Miles Hawk
Miles Magister
Vickers Vincent
Vickers Vildebeest
Vickers Walrus
BA Swallow
Fairey Seal
Fairey Seafox
Gloster Gladiator
Fairchild Argus
Fox Moth
Hawker Hurricane Ic, IIC, IId, IVc, IVe
Westland Lysander
Westland Wapiti
Wacko
NA Harvard III
Vultee Vengeance I & II
Harlow
Curtiss P35 Hawk
Supermarine Spitfire I, II, Vc, VIII
Hawker Audax
Fairey Battle
Auster III
Percival Proctor
Lockheed Hudson III, V, VI, IIIa
Vickers Wellington III
Bristol Blenheim IV
Bristol Bisley
North American B-25 Mitchell
Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Douglas C-47 Dakota
Avro Anson
de Havilland Dominie
de Havilland Mosquito VI
Airspeed Oxford
Lockheed 12A
Percival Q6
Lockheed Electra -
Watched Richard Hammond's Big last night on the C5-M Super Galaxy Plane. Fascinating stuff watching and learning about how it works and watching people put it through manoeuvres.
Most fascinating fact ... it's quite old now, so for every hour in the air, there is a WEEK of maintenance!!!
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I did my instrument rating at Canterbury aero club and they used to have the C5's next door, before they went down to the ice. Yep, they land them at Williams - McMurdo.
With the nose open it felt like I could have taxied a Piper Archer right through the things ( I couldn't, and didn't try).
The cargo hold is also just a bit longer than the Wright brother's first flight.
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@MajorRage said in Planes:
Watched Richard Hammond's Big last night on the C5-M Super Galaxy Plane. Fascinating stuff watching and learning about how it works and watching people put it through manoeuvres.
Most fascinating fact ... it's quite old now, so for every hour in the air, there is a WEEK of maintenance!!!
The Germans pioneered the big cargo hauler with the me 321 glider and me 323 powered version. Basically just a massive target that needed a decent sized escort to protect it .
The allies never had something like that though they had something similar in the works by the Wars end . The allies did figure out how to squeeze a Jeep into a c47 though . Judging by the photos it looks as awkward as hell .
Those things were legend for their toughness, during the war they bolted a dc2 wing to a dc3and despite the dc2 wing being 5 feet shorter it flew
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I did my instrument rating at Canterbury aero club and they used to have the C5's next door, before they went down to the ice. Yep, they land them at Williams - McMurdo.
With the nose open it felt like I could have taxied a Piper Archer right through the things ( I couldn't, and didn't try).
The cargo hold is also just a bit longer than the Wright brother's first flight.
I remember loading one of those things with a CAT, a Huey and a few other things after only ever working on Hercs (and the odd Andover & 727) I couldn't stop laughing at all the space. I had previously loaded a Starlifter C141(?) and that was massive compared to a Herc.
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@Hooroo Yes, Starlifter is C141, and what they usually took down to the ice. Galaxy was only once or twice a year I think.
Have seen the big Antonovs at various places around the world. The AN124 a few times, the AN225 only once and that was years ago - not even sure if it still flies (think they only built one)? The 124 is seriously big but the 225 is ridiculous.
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@Machpants said in Planes:
@Snowy They delivered a couple of Tornados to the Falklands whilst I was there, very impressive!
In the 225? I have just learned that they did only build one of them and it was to launch the Russian space shuttle thing like NASA used to do with a 747.
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@Machpants said in Planes:
@Snowy They delivered a couple of Tornados to the Falklands whilst I was there, very impressive!
In the 225? I have just learned that they did only build one of them and it was to launch the Russian space shuttle thing like NASA used to do with a 747.
No I think it was the 124
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Gotta love the Soviet cockpit (and tank etc) internal colour scheme, everything is this colour
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Polet_Antonov_An-124_cockpit_Pashnin.jpg -
@Machpants said in Planes:
Gotta love the Soviet cockpit (and tank etc) internal colour scheme, everything is this colour
Haha. Love it. Assume it was supposed to be - calming, or something? Or they just bought baby blue in bulk for a good price., bright red might have been more appropriate - angry Russians going to war.
The two little black bits (at the front) for people who are actually driving the thing and are supposed to see out of...nice design. It is actually is a bit tank like.
The other four people that were in control of the circuit breakers (and probably vodka) seem to have a nice job. Read a book, listen to some music, comfy chair.
Episode 106 – Don Mackenzie AFC
Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant - Wikipedia
