Aircraft General Discussion

[NJHParticipant @njh]

 

Hi Bill

No mine was a 900 – built like the proverbial brick "out" house but the problem I think WAS with the cylinder head . It was Ok when cold but if driven and then parked up for a while starting was impossible. Being in funds at the time I changed it for the 93 which had just been introduced – I still have it ! – a great car which is well behaved and gives a comfortable ride , has a bit of "grunt" when needed and, with the back seats folded down, will take loads of "stuff" . Incidentally I also had a Triumph Toledo at one time which rusted like crazy!

Cheers

Norman

Edited By NJH on 01/04/2017 20:33:21

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Posted by Cornish Jack on 01/04/2017 17:57:47:

Norman – if yours was a 99, I bought similar in 73 in Cyprus. Drove it back to Uk and also had engine problems. The engine in the 99 was a badged Triumph Toledo with an ali crankcase and (from memory) was VERY fussy about the anti- ice additive used. When mine eventually went for 'fixing', the cylinder head was attached to an overhead hoist and the whole car hung on it for four days before it started to release!! As you say, built like the proverbial but Triumph did them no favours!!

No it's the badly designed OHC Dolomite engine, not the OHV Toledo lump. At least Saab managed to build the bloody thing properly.

[DrDaveParticipant @drdave]

Airlander is out of its Shed again. It is a beautiful day for photography, for those that are that way inclined. I hope to see it fly this time…

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Dr Dave, I hope they have sorted out how to fly the thing.

Ian S C

[DrDaveParticipant @drdave]

Posted by Ian S C on 08/04/2017 11:24:26:

Dr Dave, I hope they have sorted out how to fly the thing.

Ian S C

Rule 1 of flying: "avoid the ground". A quote from a Chief Test Pilot with whom I worked with some years ago.

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

Bomb-aimer to pilot of WWII heavy bomber, in cloud, on a training flight from Lincolnshire, "Cap, we just flew over a grassy mountain at a height of about 6 feet" "B… H…..! We're 3000 feet up, I thought it was all flat around here…"

Geoff

Edited By Geoff Theasby on 08/04/2017 13:41:30

Edited By Geoff Theasby on 08/04/2017 13:43:54

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

Intercom 'patter' in a Whirlwind 10 on exchange visit to the French Armee de l'aire at Chamonix in mid 60s …"2 feet under the starboard main, 8,750 feet under the port!" We were doing a spot of mountain flying with our French opposite numbers and the difference in territory (ours was Snowdonia) was quite striking!! There was also a notable difference in the packed lunch provided for our return flight – it included a couple of bottles of strong red! 'Auntie Betty's Flying Club' would definitely not approve.

rgds

Bill

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Posted by DrDave on 08/04/2017 07:55:52:

Airlander is out of its Shed again. It is a beautiful day for photography, for those that are that way inclined. I hope to see it fly this time…

On my way back from a bring and buy this afternoon I could see the Airlander moored at the rear of the hangers from the Bedford Bypass, my wife and I spent the afternoon in our yard and didn't hear the roar of engines apart from the odd light aircraft, we only live a couple of miles away, and our Daughter lives even closer and is on full phone standby should anything happen .

Martin P

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by Geoff Theasby on 08/04/2017 13:36:29:

Bomb-aimer to pilot of WWII heavy bomber, in cloud, on a training flight from Lincolnshire, "Cap, we just flew over a grassy mountain at a height of about 6 feet" "B… H…..! We're 3000 feet up, I thought it was all flat around here…"

Geoff

Edited By Geoff Theasby on 08/04/2017 13:41:30

Edited By Geoff Theasby on 08/04/2017 13:43:54

There is the remains of a USAF Liberator on Kinder Scout in Derbyshire, all crew walked away as the slope of the hill is quite gentle at that point and it did a wheels up landing. Didn't do the plane much good

**LINK**

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

There are little monuments all over the Pennines commemorating such encounters with 'stuffed clouds'. Notably on  Great Whernside, I believe.

Geoff

Edited By Geoff Theasby on 09/04/2017 08:43:38

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

With the highest point in Lincolnshire being 551 feet above sea level Geoff's tale seems a bit less than verbatim reporting. You need to get to North Wales, the Lake District or Scotland to get any peaks near to or over 3000 feet high. Situated between Waddington and Scampton Lincoln's cathedral high up at the top of Lindum Hill was the biggest hazard but all crews took care to avoid.

Martin C.

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

Ahem! Flying NW from Lincolnshire gets you into land over 3000 feet in places… A training flight, remember?

Geoff

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

How long was the flight time to get there? 45 minutes straight and level at top speed? Round here and Lincolnshire were mentioned. You could have said I thought Great Britain was flat.

Martin C.

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

Martin, it matters not. I didn't intend my note to be taken literally. In essence, yes, a flight of 45 minutes or more from Lincolnshire could put you over the Lake District, where there are peaks of 3,000 feet plus. There's no need to analyse it in depth.

Regards

Geoff

[JAParticipant @ja]

In a similar vein, there was a story told many years ago at Cranfield air field about a pupil at the local fly school. He was coming to the end of the course and had to do a solo cross country flight. The route was out to an air field near Harwich, air field hopping, and then a non-stop return flight using the River Stour as a sign post. An hour after leaving Harwich he radioed in saying he was lost. Everyone else knew where he was and all hell was breaking loose. He had mistaken the River Blackwell for the River Stour and was directly over Heathrow.

JA

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Geoff Theasby on 09/04/2017 09:43:25:

Ahem! Flying NW from Lincolnshire gets you into land over 3000 feet in places… A training flight, remember?

Geoff

 

Never mind training. Air navigation in WW2 was a chancy business, at least before centimetric radar and advanced radio navigational systems came in later on.

The Luftwaffe were 200 miles off course when they bombed Dublin by mistake during a raid on Swansea. This happened more than once after disoriented pilots mistook St Georges Sea for the Bristol Channel. Analysis of British target photography in 1941 showed that only about 3% of bombs were dropped within 5 miles of the intended target. The US military were very confident that their first class training, advanced aircraft and the Norden Bomb Sight would let them accurately hit specific targets. Unfortunately European weather isn't as cooperative as that in the US, wartime conditions made navigation much harder than expected, and any cloud destroyed the Norden's accuracy. Their actual performance wasn't any better than other air-forces.

I'd guess being shot at wouldn't help either! You can only admire their courage even if most of the bombs landed on civilians.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 09/04/2017 13:23:40

[Anonymous]

Just watched an aircraft being put through its paces. Everything from high speed dives and rolls to engine throttled back, flaps and undercarriage down. The downer is that I've miserably failed to identify the type.

The wing was tapered with rounded tips but not elliptical, so not a Spitfire. The rudder was rounded, so definitely not a Mustang, and it didn't have the characteristic whine of a Mustang at high speed. The engine was loud and throaty, and banged and farted like there was no tomorrow when throttled back. As far as I could see through binoculars it wasn't a radial engine. It looked just like a Hawker Typhoon, but I didn't think any of those were airworthy?

Andrew

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

Andrew, the Typhoon had a large 'chin' below the engine. Could your a/c have been a Me 109?

Geoff

[Anonymous]

Posted by Geoff Theasby on 29/04/2017 19:00:25:

Andrew, the Typhoon had a large 'chin' below the engine.

Which I thought I could see, and is what made me think of the Typhoon. I also got the impression that the undercarriage was wide track, like a Hurricane rather than narrow like the Spitfire. I'm not familiar with the noise a Me109 makes but this engine was loud and raucous. During the first descent with throttle closed the aircraft must have been 2000+ feet and several miles away but the engine could clearly be heard banging and clattering, pressumably as unburnt fuel ignited in the exhaust. The mystery deepens.

Andrew

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

There are 28 Curtis Warhawks still flying and more on the way.

Neil

[AESParticipant @aes]

Long time since I was on this Forum, and I'm well out of touch with the aviation resto theme in UK too.

But could it have been a Hawker Sea Fury (there USED to be one at RNAS Yeovilton). I appreciate the comment about the "chin" rad/intake, but from certain angles the "big round" engine of the Sea Fury (Bristol Centaurus I think) COULD look a bit like a chin. The bit about a semi-eliiptical wing and the "banging and spluttering" (presumably on throttle closure) certainlyboth fit as I remember seeing and hearing a Sea Fury (and other Hercules and Centaurus-powered aeroplanes) a L O N G time ago now.

AES

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

"banging and spluttering" was much more associated with a throttled-back merlin than the Herc and Centaurus. Having flown the Valetta (Hercs) and Beverley (Centaurus) we would never have been aurally mistaken for a Merlin. Sleeve valves are so much less obtrusive!

rgds

Bill

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

A restored 109 would most likely be fitted with a Merlin, as there are no DB601 engines around these days.

Geoff

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Andrew,

Yesterday afternoon my wife and I had just got home around 14:00 when I heard what sounded like a Harvard, a quick look towards Old Warden and I spotted what you had seen with a chase plane which by its position, starboard and to the rear, was taking photographs. where they went I don't know as they didn't appear to return to Old Warden. I thought it had a radial from what I could see.

Martin P

[Anonymous]

I'd be disappointed at my recognition skills if the aircraft was indeed a Sea Fury. It seems there is an airworthy Sea Fury at Duxford, alhough I don't recall seeing it when I visited in January. I believe that the RNHF has at least one airworthy Sea Fury; although I don't think the Sea Fury that suffered a catastrophic engine failure a few years ago has been rebuilt yet.

The last I saw of the aircraft it was heading SE towards Duxford, so I'm not sure if it subsequently visited Old Warden?

I think our esteemed editor has hit the nail on the head. Looking at the drawings of the Curtis Warhawk a lot of the features I saw tally. And there are two airworthy examples at Duxford.

Andrew

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