just watched silver spitfire return to England after prolonged trip around the world on bbc. the mos

I love the old warbirds. Especially the Spit, Lightning, and Mustang ..... not necessarily in that order.

It was not elegant, but the Mosquito was quite a design achievement ..... the first stealth bird!

And one must give credit where it is due .... the Zero, ME109, and Sturmaviks, were good warbirds.

As far as beauty, the Italians had a very pretty bird whose name escapes me. It never gained fame because nearly all were destroyed on the ground.

But nothing exceeds the sound of the V12 Merlin.

Slick

PS: I failed to mention the F6F Hellcat. Not pretty, not all that fast, but with a kill record of over 5000 .... no other warbird comes close.
 
Time Warp said:
I would assume being a twin engine plane by design they needed two engines, one on each side.

Not that it is relevant to this thread, the P38 was the first 400 mph fighter in history and surprisingly had a better thrust/horsepower than many single engine fighters of WW2 including the early Spitfires hence its higher top speed.
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I was messing about with the ref to spit and p38. it was a joke. but it's not so surprising that a plane that was 4 yrs after the spit with 2 engines and only 50% more weight would have a better power to weight ratio!
 
texasSlick said:
I love the old warbirds. Especially the Spit, Lightning, and Mustang ..... not necessarily in that order.

It was not elegant, but the Mosquito was quite a design achievement ..... the first stealth bird!

And one must give credit where it is due .... the Zero, ME109, and Sturmaviks, were good warbirds.

As far as beauty, the Italians had a very pretty bird whose name escapes me. It never gained fame because nearly all were destroyed on the ground.

But nothing exceeds the sound of the V12 Merlin.

Slick

PS: I failed to mention the F6F Hellcat. Not pretty, not all that fast, but with a kill record of over 5000 .... no other warbird comes close.
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f109 was years ahead when it came out.the f190 another leap. we had to file down the rivets on the spits to try and match their speed. as a kid I loved the gull wings and brutal looks of the chance vaught corsair myself. but nothing comes close to the beauty of a mk9 spitfire in flight for me
 
freddie1105 said:
f109 was years ahead when it came out.the f190 another leap. we had to file down the rivets on the spits to try and match their speed. as a kid I loved the gull wings and brutal looks of the chance vaught corsair myself. but nothing comes close to the beauty of a mk9 spitfire in flight for me
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fw190
 
If not mistaken one of the pictures on page 1 of the thread (I took them in the Soloman Islands 37 years ago) is a Hellcat.

I recall the Italian plane was the first to have a propeller that allowed it fly backwards at the flick of a lever.

The P38 was not only HP, it had low drag even though it has three fuselages and a 52 foot wing span, that was the key to its speed,low parasitic drag.

I think I might have posted this before, this was a plane I played in as a kid amongst many others and remember when it was towed to Auckland in 1971.
What the video does not say is the seller (a good friend of the family and drove a Chevrolet Impala that I recall) sold the Corsair to the museum at a low price thinking it was for a good cause, they in turn on sold it overseas at a grand profit (I seem to recall NZ$70k but not which transaction)



TS... I lived not far from the Ardmore airfield which was a Corsair (amongst other models) training camp in WW2, pilots were then sent on to the Pacific, it is still an active airfields and home to not only Warbirds but companies that restore them.
One of the planes based there when I was local was a 1946 (iirc) Hawker Sea Fury.

Big radials sound and go well too.



Not to mention the Wooden Wonder.

 
Time Warp said:
If not mistaken one of the pictures on page 1 of the thread (I took them in the Soloman Islands 37 years ago) is a Hellcat.

I recall the Italian plane was the first to have a propeller that allowed it fly backwards at the flick of a lever.

The P38 was not only HP, it had low drag even though it has three fuselages and a 52 foot wing span, that was the key to its speed,low parasitic drag.

I think I might have posted this before, this was a plane I played in as a kid amongst many others and remember when it was towed to Auckland in 1971.
What the video does not say is the seller (a good friend of the family and drove a Chevrolet Impala that I recall) sold the Corsair to the museum at a low price thinking it was for a good cause, they in turn on sold it overseas at a grand profit (I seem to recall NZ$70k but not which transaction)



TS... I lived not far from the Ardmore airfield which was a Corsair (amongst other models) training camp in WW2, pilots were then sent on to the Pacific, it is still an active airfields and home to not only Warbirds but companies that restore them.
One of the planes based there when I was local was a 1946 (iirc) Hawker Sea Fury.

Big radials sound and go well too.



Not to mention the Wooden Wonder.

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de havilland mosquito. ingenuity at it's best. and yes, olivia is part of that famous family. 1st proper plane to break the sound barrier? made by de havilland I think.
 
and before anyone mentions bell and chuck yeager, check out miles and bell and the so called share agreement. miles, forgive the pun. behind the british.
 
freddie1105 said:
de havilland mosquito. ingenuity at it's best. and yes, olivia is part of that famous family. 1st proper plane to break the sound barrier? made by de havilland I think.
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Break the sound barrier? It's a bit wooden for that, but nonetheless an amazing plane.
 
The gull wing Corsair was one of my favorites too.

Anyone know why the wings were bent? HINT: it had nothing to do with aerodynamics.

Slick
 
Yes - The Spit does it for me . Reginald Mitchell and his team largely worked it up privately from his Schneider Trophy racing aircraft because he knew his country was going to need it and sadly died before seeing it completed . England in particular and the Allies in general owe him a debt of gratitude.
 
Addendum - sorry I don’t know how to post a link but search YouTube for Alain DeCadenet Spitfire low pass - I think he had to change his knickers after the event .
 
Re the Mosquito, there was one that was rebuilt and went out on its madien flight in the 1980s before the internet, which unfortunately crashed. I cannot find anything out about this anywhere. Anybody on this website know?
 
Bernhard said:
Re the Mosquito, there was one that was rebuilt and went out on its madien flight in the 1980s before the internet, which unfortunately crashed. I cannot find anything out about this anywhere. Anybody on this website know?
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The only one I know of was at Barton, Manchester in 1996 (the only airworthy Mosquito at that time I believe?) but wasn't on its maiden flight.
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/18913

 
Yes that's the one I saw on local news. Thanks for that LAB. One WW2 Mosquito pilot stated that you have to be careful with these planes, as they will bite you back. Reading the crash report, i wonder was it fitted with that Tilly's orifice?
 
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