The Mystery Aeroplane Quiz With No Pictures

[BEagle]

Not the X-15
Not rocket or jet powered
Didn't enter military service.

[Bre901]

Me-209V-1 (D-INJR)

[pedantic ON]

(aka Me 109R for propaganda reasons) world speed record 755.14 kph (469.22mph) on April 26, 1939
just a couple of days after the Heinkel He 100 V8, 746.606 km/hr (463.919 mph) on March, 30 1939.

Heinkel was barred from pursuing the race by the RLM see here (http://www.luftwaffe-experten.com/aircraft/day/me109_text.html), although the He-100 was probably superior and used a rather standard engine (the Me-209's one had 500 more hps and was kaputt after 30 minutes)

The record held until 1989 when it was beaten by a re-engined (4000hp) and re-profiled Bearcat (Rare Bear) 850.26 kph (528.33 mph)

[pedantic OFF]

[BEagle]

Yes - 'twas indeed the Me 209-V1 D-INJR!

But the record lasted 30 years before being broken in August 1969 by Darryl Greenamyer's modified Bearcat 'Conquest 1'. That record was later broken by 'Rare Bear' - which has become faster and faster ever since, smashing several records at Reno over the following years.

For more on the Me-209, see http://www.esparacing.com/Air%20Racing%20History/aircraft/MESSERSCHMITT%20Me%20209%20V1.htm


You have the helm!!

[treadigraph]

In between Conquest 1 in '69 and Rare Bear in '89, the record was also broken in '79 by Steve Hinton in the Griffon 57 powered P-51 "Red Baron" - 499 and some odd 10ths mph! :ok:

[Bre901]

Thanks BEagle

Have to admit I mixed up those Bearcats, probably because of the late hour :O
As we say in French, la nuit tous les chats sont gris ...

Here we go (an easy one) :

I was not exactly the last of my kind, but surely one of the nicest.

[BEagle]

"......la nuit tous les chats sont gris!"

Which loosely translates as "In the dark, all pussies look the same"

:E :E

[Bre901]

At this stage, I could point out that the French word for the female cat (chatte) and some other affectionate synonyms have the same meanings as pussy.

But this would be considered as thread drift (or even forum drift) :E

And BTW this is not a clue for the current quizz.

[Tim Inder]

To bring this back to the top again:

Was it an European design?

[Bre901]

Nope

[Tim Inder]

Oh, that's a shame!

Err, was it a merc'un?

[Bre901]

Yep

[Archimedes]

Military?

Jet?

[Bre901]

Thanks for dropping in Archimedes, t'was getting a bit ghostly in here.

That's two nopes for you, I'm afraid

[Tim Inder]

Pre - WW II design?

[Bre901]

Five days without a question, must be some sort of record :p
Just let me cleanup the spiderwebs ; I'll be right back.

Oh, before I forget, the answer to your question is yes

[pigboat]

American, pre WW2, piston, civilian, not the last but the nicest.
Boeing 314 fills 'em all. ;)

[Bre901]

Sorry, pigboat

Wrong tribe

[NinjaBill]

Twin Engined?

NinjaBill

[Bre901]

Not twin-engined either

[Archimedes]

Single engined or multi?

[Bre901]

1

;)

[BEagle]

Did you have a high wing?




.

[Bre901]

Yes
but ...

[BEagle]

Piper Cub?

[Bre901]

No
I have a high wing, but that doesn't mean I don't have ...

[BEagle]

Are you a biplane?

A staggeringly nice looking one?

[Archimedes]

....but slightly....well... er...backward looking?

[NinjaBill]

you wouldnt, by any chance, happen to look a bit like this would you?


http://www.rareaircraft.com/images/forsale/DSC02223.JPG

[Bre901]

Mr BEagle
yes
and yes
Are you thinking of a specific hairyplane, per chance ? ;) ;)

Archimedes
:confused: :confused:

NinjaBill
the title of the thread is :
The Mystery Aeroplane Quiz With No Pictures
just in case you didn't notice :p

[BEagle]

I reckon you're the Beech 17 Staggerwing!

[Bre901]

BEagle

Yes indeed, I am the beautiful Beech 17 Staggerwing.

Over to you.

[Archimedes]

Bre - I was being simplistic about the distinguishing feature of said aircraft (perhaps 'negative' would've been less opaque :\ )

[Bre901]

:ok:

[BEagle]

I shared the same designation and decks as a much more famous, but totally different friend. Which confused an infamous politician amongst others.....

[Peter Barron]

SR-71 Blackbird.

[BEagle]

Nope - right country though.

[CoodaShooda]

F4 Corsair/Phantom?

[BEagle]

I don't think that even a politician could confuse those two....

But you're partly right!

[Archimedes]

Well, MacNamara confused the F4H Phantom and the F-110 Spectre (leading to the post-1962 nomenclature for US aircraft), believing them to be two different aircraft.

So assuming that the Phantom is the right beast, are we referring to the pre- or post- 1962 designation as being the one that was shared (i.e. F4H or F-4)?

If the post-1962 designation is the shared one, then lateral (and wrong) thinking suggests maybe the Boeing F4B?

:confused:

[Saab Dastard]

Boeing F4B (Boeing P12 to the USAAF), or F4 Wildcat?

With F4-U Corsair

SD

Hey Archi, we both thought of the Boeing at the same time!

[BEagle]

Archimedes almost has it.......

[Wunper]

You have to be the A-4 Skyhawk that shared the same decks with the F-4 Phantom!

Failing that the F4D Skyray as opposed to the F-4D Phantom

Are you allowed two stabs for the price of one?

Wunper:ok:

[BEagle]

Which are you going to plump for?

[Wunper]

Well the Skyhawk would have shared the decks with the Phantom for a longer time than the Skyray , thereby exposing it to more opportunity for being misidentified by "air minded" politicians!

Skyhawk!

W

[Archimedes]

Whereas I'd have leaned the Skyray (on the grounds of the similar designation and having rejected the Curtiss F4C in the process...).

However, I don't think that the Skyray and Phantom ever went to sea aboard the same carrier and thus shared the same deck.

[Tim Inder]

Whilst we're on the theme of American carrier-borne aircraft wtih the number 4 in their designations; what about the AD-4 Skyraider? (later changed to A1-H)

[Archimedes]

Or the A-4D Skyhawk - the Skyhawk that didn't exist to prevent confusion with the AD-4?


I think the AD-6 was the A-1H (the AD-5 was the A-1E, and the rather illogical letter designation applied to rebuilds of the F-8 didn't apply to the 'Spad')

[BEagle]

Achimedes, close enough. The F4 so confused MacNamara (he couldn't work out that the two F4s, the Skyray and the Phantom, were totally different ac) that in 1962 the revised designation scheme came into being. The two F4Ds both used USN decks, though admittedly not together.

Last 'Ford' was operated by NACA/NASA, retiring in 1969. Must have been fun to fly with a spectacular rate of climb - and was a real interceptor unsullied by being used for much in the way of air-to-mud work.

You have the helm....

[Wunper]

"The two F4Ds both used USN decks, though admittedly not together."

which therefore is not the same as

"I shared the same designation and decks"

Refereeeee!?

Wunper:D

[BEagle]

Any runway used by the USN is always a 'deck'....so, tough udder but Archy was first!

;)

[Wunper]

First pop at this lets see if it’s in the right sort of mindset....

I was a flying boat, a light aircraft and a helicopter.

[BEagle]

Actually, you were more correctly an amphibian, a light aircraft and a helicopter, Mr Widgeon!

Archi's go!!

[Wunper]

:mad: Strewth B! Out for a Duck so to speak

Over to you Archi

W

[Archimedes]

Ok...

I wore a woggle in Latin America.

[treadigraph]

That's a new one on me - a Dib Dib Dib...

Scout? Not Westland or Bellanca... Hmmm...

[Wunper]

Would I be correct in thinking that this woggle wearing was not your usual line of business?

W

[Archimedes]

Wunper, as treadigraph notes, woggles are customary business apparell for your Scout!

[Wunper]

Do you have a "T" tail?

[Saab Dastard]

But then woggles are worn by beavers and cubs (and brownies, rainbows and guides too, I suppose).

Dear oh dear, I'm now starting to think of Brazilian Beavers - or is that a contradiction in terms :D

SD

[Archimedes]

No 'T' tail.

Not from Brazil.

Although (part of) my name is Latin American, I am not from the Americas.

[LowNSlow]

Archimedes Are you military?

[Archimedes]

I am indeed a military type.

(well, the aeroplane is )

[LowNSlow]

Are you pre-WW2, WW2 or post-WW2?

[Archimedes]

Most definitely pre-WW2.

[John Farley]

Have you more than two wings?

[Archimedes]

I'm a good, old-fashioned biplane.

[Bre901]

Found 4 WWI biplanes named "Scout", but none has a South American name :{

[Archimedes]

I'm an interwar type, Bre.

There were very few of me, but I was highly regarded by my pilots.

[Wunper]

Is your powerplant liquid cooled?

W

[Archimedes]

No, I'm air cooled....

[Bre901]

Are you the Vickers Type 143 "Bolivian Scout" per chance ?

[Wunper]

Are you a product of Weybridge operating in Bolivian warpaint?

Too quick on the draw for me there Bre, well done

[Archimedes]

:ok: You have control, Bre.....


(for brief details of the war career of the six aircraft, see here (http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v1/v1n3/chaco.html))

[Bre901]

Thanks Archimedes

I had a long and windy career.

PS : I'll be off for internet-free holidays starting at the end of the week, this means that the answer will be posted here Friday morning, unless someone finds out before, of course.

[LowNSlow]

Are you the Westland Whirlwind helicopter Bre ?

[Bre901]

LowNSlow

No, that would have been too easy ;)

[LowNSlow]

I guessed as much as I hit the return key ;)

How about Auster (a light Southerly wind in Roman terms)??

[Saab Dastard]

By the same token I suppose Hurricane, Typhoon and Tempest are also too easy? As is Tornado

Or is it to do with windy like winding around something - snakes, for instance. Airacobra?

SD

Just thought of Chinook!

(and I don't think there was a Fairey F*rt) ;)

[Bre901]

LowNSlow & Saab Dastard

None of those, and not winding like a snake.

Yet, there is the start of some kind of faint clue in one of SD's propos@ls ;)

[Saab Dastard]

Ah, of course, the Fairey Flatulence!

:D

SD

[Bre901]

SD
this is just "the start of some kind of faint clue" ;)

Out of sheer curiosity, which Fairey hairyplane got this so poetic nickname ? I tried some Googling, but to no avail.

[Saab Dastard]

I'm afraid I just made it up!!

It seemed so ... right!

[Peter Barron]

SD.

Is the Fairey Flatulence the same sort of aircraft as the Bristol Botty Burp, ie both used for the same thing !!!!;) .

Peter.

[Bre901]

Clues of the day (answer posted tomorrow morning) :

Military, post WW2

[NinjaBill]

Are you the WC-130 Weather research aircraft?

NinjaBill

[Bre901]

Sorry, no

[BEagle]

Le Fouga CM 175 Zephyr avec 35 years of service, perhaps?

[Bre901]

No, a few years more.

but I fink zat we 'ave anozer clue in zere :ok:

[Archimedes]

Dassault Ouragan?

[Bre901]

Wasn't aware it had a long career. ;)

[Archimedes]

I was thinking of those sold on to El Salvador in the 1970s, and which were still flying (just!) in the early 1980s. Some were still in reserve in 1999, I believe (according to, I think, World Air Power Journal from about that time) - hence my (wrong) guess!

[Saab Dastard]

Are you a Vampire?

Ah pardon, monsieur, c'est a dire un Sud-Est 535 MISTRAL?

M. SD

[BEagle]

Non. Je pense que vous etes le Breguet Alize (c'est a dire << Tradewind >> pour les Rosbifs!).

http://www.vectorsite.net/avalize.html

[Bre901]

And Ze winner is (once again) Mr BEagle :ok:

The link he very gracefully provided (the very one I was intending to provide) explains one of the clues.

More than 40 years in service, not bad indeed

Off to the mountains for a week. Over to you Mr BEagle

[BEagle]

Tiens!

I could have given my air force a sting, but I don't think my navy would have needed me!

Whee...whee...whee...whee!!

[Biggles Flies Undone]

Hornet (or something longer to fill in enough letters)

[LowNSlow]

Are you the Tsetse, the Mosquito variant with a whoomping cannon in the front?

[BEagle]

Neither Hornet, Mosquito, Moskito nor Tsetse!

My smaller brother was named after the weapon used by a famous historical member of my nation!

[LowNSlow]

BEagle is your brother the Beech Queen Air Excalibur 800? That would make you the Beech King Air???

[BEagle]

No, I'm European....

And the weapon in question was not a sword/sabre/scimitar or similar choppy-choppy thing...

[dodgylanding]

Would you be Swiss?


N-20 Aiguillon (Sting)

and your smaller scale brother the Arbalete (Crossbow)

[BEagle]

Mais d'accord, I was indeed the N-20 from the land of yoghourt, mauve cows and cuckoo clocks:
http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v2/v2n2/switzers.html

Vous avez control!

[dodgylanding]

Sorry about the delay.......

But here we go...


Definitely Dame Edna's favourite aeroplane!

[Wunper]

Parnall Possum, mayhap?


W

[dodgylanding]

Absolutely


1923 postal* triplane with a single engine buried in the fuselage, and twin props on the centre wings.

http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/aircraftpage.php?ID=538


Your turn!




*since when did Postman Pat need front and rear lewis guns? Is Greendale really that rough?

[Wunper]

Ok

My namesake was the star of a childrens puppet show

[Peter Barron]

Tempest, as in Troy Tempest in Stingray.

Anything could happen in the next half hour, dum diddle dum diddle dum diddle dum:D

Peter.

[Archimedes]

Or Fireball as in Ryan FR-1 Fireball and Fireball XL5 if we're not talking about the puppets....?

[Silas Blattner]

Naaah, it's "I wish I was a spaceman in Fireball XL 5" - as in Ryan.

It was of a suitable level for me - but Archi beat me.

The spaceship wasn't the star ?

[BEagle]

Supermarine Sooty?


(Or should that be Supermarionation....?)

[dodgylanding]

Hawker Hector?


Douglas Dougal?
Fairey Florence?


Bae Brian? :D

[Wunper]

dodgylanding , you are correct but guilty of carpet bombing , nominate one at a time please:E

You have the chair

W

[dodgylanding]

In my defence, I was sure it was the Tempest.

Who'd have thought there was a Bae Brian?


Right then.

My dad was on his summer holidays when I was conceived.

[LowNSlow]

Was your dad Barnes Wallace?

[dodgylanding]

Nope.

Not Barnes Wallis. Of that general era though.

[NinjaBill]

Is my dad A V Roe?

[dodgylanding]

Not A V Roe either


Neither he nor Barnes Wallis were up early enough!

[Biggles Flies Undone]

Reginald Mitchell?

[dodgylanding]

No

Dad's holiday was a bit more enforced than Uncle Reggie's

And some time after.

[Gary Halliday]

Are you a Russian ?

Tvoi Papa arestant majet biet ?

[Wunper]

Are you the "Colditz Cock" Glider by any chance?

W

[NinjaBill]

Are you a creation of AnTupalov, from the period where he was on holiday in Siberia, which would be somewhere between 1937 and 1938.

Making you possibly the TU-2 bomber?

NB

[dodgylanding]

Not Russian

Not Colditz glider

Dad did do time though, but I'm from his time on probation, rather than inside.

[Archimedes]

HA-200 Saeta?

(Yes, yes, this needs to be 15 characters long....)

[dodgylanding]

That's me!

Dad is Willi Messerschmitt.


http://www.eads.net/frame/lang/en/1024/xml/content/OF00000000400004/5/17/543175.html

Over to you, Mr A

[Wunper]

Very interesting one that Dodgyldg


W

[dodgylanding]

Hi W

Must admit I didn't even know of its existence until looking for an interesting/obscure aircraft for this thread. Found the Saeta, then found the EADS website.

Interesting mirror of the piston Provost/JP/Strikemaster progression.


DL

[Archimedes]

I was the first of my type, with a foreign father and a link to Prospero...

[Final 3 Greens]

Are you a Hawker Hurricane, 1st RAF monoplane fighter, (father Harry Hawker, Australian), same family as the Tempest, also the title of Shakespeares play featuring Prospero?

[Archimedes]

Not me!

(although that's actually a much better answer to the clue than the aircraft I'm thinking of!)

[Saab Dastard]

How about the Stearman Ariel A?

I was going to suggest Henson and Stringfellow Ariel of 1843, but both of them were English.

But more likely the Sud-Ouest SO-1120 "Ariel III" - first French jet-powered helicopter.

[Archimedes]

And that's another better answer, but not me!

I was rather warlike, and my owners were very proud of me because I was their first baby to go this quickly...

[LowNSlow]

Archimedes are you the Bristl Blenheim by any chance?

[Archimedes]

'fraid not.

I'm jet propelled...

[LowNSlow]

The Gloster Meteor perchance?

[Archimedes]

No, I'm later than that.

I'm not British either (or American!).

[Wunper]

Are you Kurt Tanks' HAL HF-24 Marut fighter-bomber?

W

[Archimedes]

Bingo!

Hindustan (http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/Aircraft/Marut1.html) Marut (http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/Aircraft/Marut2.html) details in these two links

Over to you, Wunper.:ok:

[Wunper]

Ok here goes

I had a few novel landing gear configurations in my short life but my father was famous for several much more profound contributions to aviation

[NinjaBill]

Are you the Europa kit aircraft?

NB

[Saab Dastard]

Me 163 Komet? Dolly, skid, tricycle gear?

SD

[Wunper]

NJB 'fraid not, far too recent

SD on the right lines with the landing gear but,, No


W

[Saab Dastard]

Military?

German?

WWII?

Piston?

[Wunper]

Primarily Military but demonstrated as Civil

Not German

Not WWII

Piston

[Saab Dastard]

Amphibious?

British?

Pre-WWII?

[Wunper]

SD


No (Just about everything but though!)

No (although I got involved in politics in GB)

Yes!

[dodgylanding]

Lockheed Hudson/Electra?

Dad being Clarence Johnson, British politics in that it was the first non-British aircraft in the RAF?

Damned if I can figure out the landing gear though...

[Saab Dastard]

So -

American?

Between the wars?

Single engine?

[Wunper]

Dgldg Nope

SD Yes Yes Yes

[Saab Dastard]

Wunper,

SD Yes Yes Yes

I wish that's what women said! :D

Back to the serious stuff...

Are you a GeeBee sportster?

Belay that last,

Shirley you must be the Piper Cub! (and stop calling me surely)

SD

[Wunper]

SD

I predated the GB racers by about 10 years

I'm not a Cub

My creator has patents flying in just about every aircraft in the world

[Saab Dastard]

Curtiss, then - but which one...

Jenny?

[CoodaShooda]

Something from the Sperry stable?

[Wunper]

SD Not Curtiss but very closely related to my creator, Glenn Curtiss taught him to fly

CS You are very warm indeed (well you would have to be in Darwin)and I like the play on "stable"!

[dodgylanding]

British Politics...

In terms of my chosen field of endeavour,

and also my preferred engine?

[Saab Dastard]

From the clues you've given, it must be Lawrence Sperry.

His M-1 Messenger "landed" on an airship by attaching a hook on it's upper wing to a trapeze suspended from the D-3 Army Air Service airship in the first successful contact between an airplane and an airship while in flight.

SD

[Wunper]

SD I am indeed a Sperry Messenger you are in the Chair!

http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/sperrymes.htm


DGLDG

Ref the British politics:

Lawrence Sperry used Messenger G-EBIJ to campaign for both the Conservatives and the Liberals in 1923 shortly before losing his life in it whilst enroute to Holland 13/12/1923

Here's the book ref

Gyro! : The life and times of Lawrence Sperry
• By: William W Davenport
• Publisher: New York : Scribner, ©1978.
• ISBN: 0684157934

W

[Saab Dastard]

Good one, Wunper - we had to work hard for that. :ok:

This is so corny it sounds like it'll give you the hump!

[LowNSlow]

Surely the Sopwith Camel would be too obvious?

[Saab Dastard]

Yes, it is too obvious, and stop calling me Shirley ;)

SD

[pigboat]

Boeing 747??
Don't come much humpier than that. ;)

[Simtech]

Curtis C-46 Commando??
Used to fly over the Hump (Himalayas) during WW2.

[Saab Dastard]

Simtech and pigboat -

Sorry gentlemen, neither of those.

SD

[Archimedes]

Henri Mignet HM-3 Dromedary?

[pigboat]

PZL Dromedar???

[Saab Dastard]

Pigboat,

Affirm, the PZL-Mielec M 18 Dromader cropduster is wot I is!

Over to you.

[pigboat]

Oops! Just noticed I'd guessed correctly. :O

Ok, I'm kind of new at this.
I began on the drawing board as royality, but entered production as something more mundane.

[CoodaShooda]

Are you amphibious?

[pigboat]

I certainly could be.

[Wunper]

Do you have 4 engines?

[pigboat]

No. Just the one.

[treadigraph]

Were you born in Southampton?

[CoodaShooda]

Do your early models have a radial engine?

[pigboat]

Treadigraph no, Cooda yes.

[CoodaShooda]

T'wouldn't be the venerable DH Beaver would it?

[pigboat]

Close, but no seegar. :D

[dodgylanding]

Fairchild Argus/Forwarder?

DL

[pigboat]

No and no.

[Silas Blattner]

The DHC-3 --- originally the King Beaver ?.

[pigboat]

That's the one. :ok:
DHC-3 Otter aka the stoneboat.
It's all yours.

[Silas Blattner]

Named after a philanthropist and kid's babble. It came second.

[LowNSlow]

Are you an American 30's air racer?

[Silas Blattner]

30s - yes just.

air racer - no, but a competitor none the less.

American - no, but the winner was.