Ten worst British Aircraft.
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Slight drift ...
BEagle, Tourist ...
Doesn't the Argentinian Pucara have the same Turbomeca Astazou as the Jetstream ? Anyone know if they experienced the same engine handling/management issues ?
Maybe our Member who got to evaluate the captured Pucara might offer a view ?
There have been some reports that the Argentinians plan to re-engine their Pucara's with the P&W PT6A-62 ... when they can afford it that is !
BEagle, Tourist ...
Doesn't the Argentinian Pucara have the same Turbomeca Astazou as the Jetstream ? Anyone know if they experienced the same engine handling/management issues ?
Maybe our Member who got to evaluate the captured Pucara might offer a view ?
There have been some reports that the Argentinians plan to re-engine their Pucara's with the P&W PT6A-62 ... when they can afford it that is !
There have been some reports that the Argentinians plan to re-engine their Pucara's with the P&W PT6A-62 ... when they can afford it that is !
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I flew very happily next to it in the Jetstream and underneath it in the Gazelle. My only issue is the slight hearing loss, and that is returning over time....
Brilliant little simple engine. Better than the Garret at low level, though less good at altitude. Completely idiot proof handling. Slam the power levers around all day long, and a simple push forward for extra power for takeoff.
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Maybe worst but....
Great thread with lots of interesting memories. 30's 10 million rivets flying in close formation took us from Bahrain to Sharjah many times for APC but the saddest thing is we made them all together with the best as well. Now ??
Check out "Farnborough the Golden Years 1949-1959". If that doesn't bring a tear or two nothing will. Spectators in jackets, ties and hats, test pilots in woolly pulls and cloth helmets.
MGTF, BSA Goldie, King and Barnes bitter I rest my case !!!! Thank goodness for Guinness.
Check out "Farnborough the Golden Years 1949-1959". If that doesn't bring a tear or two nothing will. Spectators in jackets, ties and hats, test pilots in woolly pulls and cloth helmets.
MGTF, BSA Goldie, King and Barnes bitter I rest my case !!!! Thank goodness for Guinness.
Originally Posted by Engines
I spent two happy years at Brough in the late 80s
p.s. The T Mk1 Varsity had approximately the same Power/Weight ratio as the PA-23 Aztec.
Last edited by Basil; 4th Mar 2016 at 15:46.
I'm glad to say that the two worst British aircraft I've ever encountered were neither military, nor went into service for long.
The Shadow E series - an obscure end-of-range trainer that should never have happened. The only aircraft I've genuinely seen aileron reversal on - and you could most definitely see the wing distortion as it did it, and it wasn't pretty.
The Edgley Optica - with insufficient payload to fill all three seats at any sensible fuel load, nowhere to put mission comms kit, an asymmetric turning circle on the ground and a wingspan so large it stopped you using most GA airfields, a 240hp fuel injected Lycoming that gave 90kts in level flight, nowhere to store mission equipment, a need to move ballast to stay in CG limits if your observer got out, and day-VMC only: as clearly crimes never get committed at night or on cloudy days. I see that this month's Aerospace International is enthusing about its rebirth - I can only conclude that Martin Robinson has obviously never actually flown one.
G
(Son of a man who used to build Scimitars, but then got laid off when Supermarine / Vickers-Armstrong closed the drawing office. He never worked on an aircraft again - maybe just as well, but please don't tell him I said that!).
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
I've just checked Winkle's book. No ML Utility in it. Looking at the picture of it, I should think he would have described it as hideous.
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Basil,
I'm happy to be corrected, but I'm fairly sure that the Buccaneers always flew out of Holme on Spalding Moor (always referred to as 'HOSM' at Brough). They were taken there by road - I remember that the lamp posts on Skillings Lane, down which they had to travel, were fitted with hinges to pull them down out of the way each time an aircraft was taken through - a bit like Thunderbird 2 and its palm trees.
The big chimney was a Rio Tinto Zinc plant addition, and has since been removed.
Best regards as ever to those actually building the aircraft,
Engines
I'm happy to be corrected, but I'm fairly sure that the Buccaneers always flew out of Holme on Spalding Moor (always referred to as 'HOSM' at Brough). They were taken there by road - I remember that the lamp posts on Skillings Lane, down which they had to travel, were fitted with hinges to pull them down out of the way each time an aircraft was taken through - a bit like Thunderbird 2 and its palm trees.
The big chimney was a Rio Tinto Zinc plant addition, and has since been removed.
Best regards as ever to those actually building the aircraft,
Engines
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Warning, severe thread drift, i liked the Varsity both as a nav trainer and a bomber. Went round the one at Newark, wonderful.
Visual level bombing beats lots, aerial darts from 4,000 feet. You see the bomb dropping vertically miles short of the target then lose sight of it. Suddenly you see it streaking horizontally in to the target landing mere feet away.
Visual level bombing beats lots, aerial darts from 4,000 feet. You see the bomb dropping vertically miles short of the target then lose sight of it. Suddenly you see it streaking horizontally in to the target landing mere feet away.
Last edited by Pontius Navigator; 4th Mar 2016 at 18:46.
Of which aircraft did a test pilot allegedly write "It is difficult to get into this aeroplane. It should be made impossible"
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I was 'fortunate' to control Varities on my first tour at Strubby, and even had a couple of hours driving them when they needed a co-pilot for Air Tests and the like ... and all the proper co-pilots were busy flying with Students. Both I and my plt off mate in ATC even had our own flying kit on the sqn, and they would phone the Tower and ask if one of us was 'free to give them a hand'.
Happy days
Happy days
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As we've got as far back as the Camel, what about the Tarrant Tabor? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarrant_Tabor
It killed both pilots without leaving the ground!
It killed both pilots without leaving the ground!
Originally Posted by Engines
but I'm fairly sure that the Buccaneers always flew out of Holme on Spalding Moor
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
AdLib, it had a few other advantages, like we . . .
Probably better to describe it as like a Phantom with less power, fewer missiles, but longer legs and a GUN.
Probably better to describe it as like a Phantom with less power, fewer missiles, but longer legs and a GUN.