Name that Flying Machine
Gnome de PPRuNe
Join Date: Jan 2002
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Is it Antipodean?
Its bloody ugly for sure..................
It’s bloody ugly for sure..................
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Join Date: Jul 2007
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Gnome de PPRuNe
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Too close to Croydon for comfort
Age: 60
Posts: 12,616
Received 291 Likes
on
159 Posts
Gnome de PPRuNe
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Too close to Croydon for comfort
Age: 60
Posts: 12,616
Received 291 Likes
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159 Posts
Reminds me of the Hants and Sussex Herald on steroids...
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So I looked that up, and when I saw it had a tricycle undercarriage, I wondered what poor kid had had their tricycle stolen.
Is it time for a clue? Although may people think this aircraft would be a candidate for ugliest ever, it's not so bad, though it doesn't live up to its raptor name.
Is it time for a clue? Although may people think this aircraft would be a candidate for ugliest ever, it's not so bad, though it doesn't live up to its raptor name.
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Has anybody ever made an aeroplane called the Turkey? Or the Dodo--surely there must have been a Blackburn Dodo. But the name of this aircraft was rather the opposite of its appearance. Another, slightly later and very different machine from the same part of the world had the same name.
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There have been some odd avian names used for British aeroplanes - such as the Granger Archaeopteryx and the Alula Semiquaver - but things get better when it comes to mammalian names, such as the Martinsyde Elephant, Sopwith Wallaby, Blackburn Kangaroo, Parnall Possum (presumably the last three were intended for the Australian market), BAT Baboon, Westland Weasel, De Havilland Hyena, Hawker Hedgehog, Baynes Carrier Wing Bat and Armstrong-Whitworth Ape and Armadillo. Amphibians were not left out, ergo the Armstrong-Whitworth Tadpole. Nor were insects (Parmentier Wee Mite), fish (Bognor Bloater) or molluscs (Sopwith Snail). There were even legendary reptiles (BAT Basilisk). And that's just an overview of the British aircraft industry!
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Well, I had to look up Bognor Bloater to see if someone was testing my gullibility, but there it is, and not even looking bonkers. However, the aeroplane in the photograph was named after a much more appropriate creature, a bird; but a rather ambitious choice if you think of the speed of the aircraft. In what is really more of a trivia point than a clue: the bird which gives its name to this aircraft has been clocked at a speed very nearly twice the cruising speed of the machine.
Gnome de PPRuNe
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That's what I was thinking - was looking at a list of the fastest birds, surprised to see the Golden Eagle up at number two...