XB-42 Mixmaster

[Nige321]

Don't remember seeing this before...

XB-42 Mixmaster (https://oldmachinepress.com/2017/08/05/douglas-xb-42-mixmaster-attack-bomber/)


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1200x710/image_113dbfe4131febe58a8937fe3a38fb3a2758e5e4.png


To eliminate the danger the propellers presented to the crew during a bail out, a cord of explosives (cordite) was threaded through holes carefully drilled around the gearbox mount. Before bailing out, the crew could detonate the explosives, which would separate the gearbox and propellers from the aircraft.

[sycamore]

And change the C of G massively in the process...

[meleagertoo]

And change the C of G massively in the process...

That's hardly going to concern anyone baling out, is it?

[dook]

It might do if there was a sudden nose-down pitch.

[oxenos]

sudden nose-down pitch.
A bit of negative G to help you on your way???

[dook]

I do not know what type of seat the aeroplane had.

If it was equipped with a face-blind handle only (which I suspect) it could possibly make it difficult to pull under negative g.

This problem killed a friend and colleague of mine - he could not pull the handle.

[oxenos]

First flew '44, last flew '47 - unlikely to have had any sort of ejection seat.

[dook]

I am not sure, but ejection seats were fitted from the late 1940s and the first American live ejection was in 1946.

edit: I think you are correct. Why else were they fitted with a prop and gearbox jettison system.

[TCU]

What I love about this H&N section is discovering aircraft one has never heard of or seen before, so thanks Nige321 for this one...and with the bonus of the DC-8 Skybus. What a remarkable beast that would have been.

As an aside worth noting that the WW2 vintage Do-335 had an ejector seat and explosive bolts on the rear propeller and dorsal fin mounts. In his book Wings on My Sleeve, Eric Brown describes the loss of a 335 at Farnborough post war caused by a fire burning through the flight controls.

[dook]

And I know an aeroplane which Winkle flew but few people know that he did.

[TCU]

Come on dook, that's teasing!

[chevvron]

And I know an aeroplane which Winkle flew but few people know that he did.
Zaunkoenig?

[Asturias56]

maybe he moonlighted for Ryanair?????