is the challenge German?

Verdammt, nicht!

Looks like it was designed by the Farnborough chaps?

A Bloater?


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ae5cbc938c.jpg

That must rate as one of the worst-named aircraft ever

Noyade has it.

Cheers Mel.

Try this.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d67b42370f.jpg

OK I’ll start. The front end and engines looks like a Kangaroo, but not the back end.

It certainly does have a Joey-like pouch up front for the pilot and one passenger. The tail can fit six more passengers. Smaller than it looks with a wingspan of only 38'.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6af2aec559.png

Is it Australian then?

Not this time.

38’ wingspan for eight people and two motors? That’s some wing loading, even with two.
In spite of the peaky blinders they look American?

Yes - American.
Small motors.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b6608e46f5.jpg

Oh well that narrows it down to a few thousand!

A big name like Curtiss or a couple of obscure guys working in a garage somewhere?

Let me try and narrow it down for you. :)

Check out this guy - Jake Moellendick - apparently a bit of a dick in real life, but he funded an aeronautical company with a few "obscure guys" who later branched out on their own and eventually became big names in American aviation.
The machine above with the twin OX-5 engines, was involved in a crash with Walter Beech flying it - eventually re-engined with a single 300 hp Packard. All this was somewhere around 1921.

https://airbornerambler.wordpress.co...e-air-capital/


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....5fa5288096.png

Thanks for the hint and the link - Jake did indeed know a few “obscure guys” who went on to better things. I found the machine in question (and two became one!) but again will let others play for a while while I do Other Stuff today.

It's the Laird Limousine, designed by Emil Laird in a company financed and part-run by Moellndick. Though highly innovative it was grossly underpowered with two Curtiss OX5s, fared little better when remodeled with a 250Hp Liberty, and same again with the final engine, a 300Hp Liberty

In twin OX5 mode

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....aac519bc0a.png

In interim Liberty mode
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e19fdf2558.png

:ok:
Over to you Mel.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....438a1f42d5.png

not a glider then...............

Turned out to be a bit of a 'bomb' during the test phase.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9150cf9e1b.jpg

I'm not sure why Gunston captioned it "recoverable" - my impression is it hits the ground with 1,000lbs of explosive - nothing remains?


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c08dee0d41.jpg

https://www.designation-systems.net/...sperry-fb.html

Well, that challenge seems pretty comprehensively demolished! As if the damn thing needed any help!

Noyade mon brave, à toi!

Thank you Mel.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....53696d2436.jpg

looks like passenger windows behind the gentleman in the black hat?

French?

It's described (my source) as an "eight-place transport."
Not French.

I have this nagging feeling I've seen it before but WHERE??

Is it something to do with TravelAir out of Wichita??

A Different Mann
 

When a gap allows, would the mods permit, in the interests of accuracy, a reference back to post #4229 , concerning the designer of the Mann & Grimmer M. 1? That 'Mann' was not the Mann and Edgerton Mann, who was a Gerald, but one of the two people who designed and sold early A-frame twin pusher rubber-powered model aircraft "guaranteed to fly at least a quarter of a mile" in Surbiton just before WW1. The south-west suburbs of London seem to have been quite a centre of activity for both model and full-sized aviation around that time; as well as Mann and Grimmer, Sopwith was based at nearby Kingston as was Clarkes, whose main product was aircraft propellers, as well as Britain's first ready-to-fly model aircraft.

The subject and a lot more is covered in detail in A Century of British Free Flight, published by the British Model Flying Association. Is a link allowed? https://shop.bmfa.org/product/a-cent...ee-flight-book

From Cleveland. Not Travel Air.

I'm sure you've seen this machine a thousand times before - in its military guise. :)

Ah! Cleveland's a bit of a giveaway. It's a Glenn Martin TG1, an unsuccessful civvie version of their T4M torpedo bomber.

edit. I suspect the pic below is the Great Lakes built TG2 with a Wright 1820 Cyclone instead of the original P & W engine.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....5c04e71150.png

That'll do me Mel.:ok:
Back to you.

Martin had moved out by then and Great Lakes acquired the factory. Aerofiles have dubbed it thus...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6c489cbe6e.png

I originally made sure to crop that torpedo accommodating undercart. :)

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....bd014992c4.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....eecbcf6709.png

Cheers!

Did it carry torpedoes attached to the horizontal bar at the u/gear? and how was the rear part of the torpedo suspended?

Torpedo was closely underslung on the Martin, and maybe the extra strutting was to prevent snagging as it fell away. Can’t work out what those eight vertical “hooks” next to the wheels are for though? The Great Lakes still has the mountings and what looks like a control cable.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9ab8ded8b.jpeg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9b209ba5f3.png

The multiple Hooks are explained here thnarg -

Ah thanks ‘ron. Thought they might be something to do with arresting but surely you’d end up staring at the deck! Sorry mel, now back to your puzzle…

Is the challenge Russian - interesting front end..................

Interesting front end indeed.
And no, not Ruzzian.

Looks like a Rotax 2 cyl 2 stroke; fan cooled; the 'things' on the side of the cowling being the covers for the carbs at the top and exhaust pipes below..
End plates on the wingtips.
Course I'm probably talking b0ll0cks.

doesn't even look like English to us non-mechanical types......................... :uhoh:

Sho' are.
That's a good honest C90, not some nasty 2-stroke thing.

For some reason I am no longer able to access a past post to edit it.
Asturias, it isn't English because we don't make aircraft that ugly.