pampa14's Aviation Click Bait

During World War II a variety of Luftwaffe aircraft were captured and tested by the Royal Air Force. The following link provides an extensive collection of photos of these aircraft with British markings:

http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/asas-da-luftwaffe-servico-da-raf.html

Hope you enjoy and I count on your visit!

 

For a brief period, the Luftwaffe’s fighter squadron JG.77 operated a limited amount of Italian fighters Macchi MC.202 Folgore and MC.205 Veltro. The link below provides a small collection of photos of these aircraft with German markings:

http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/folgores-e-veltros-alemaes.html

I hope you enjoy and I count on your visit.

 

The following link provides a report and photos of this unusual version of the Hawker Hurricane developed by Hillson:

http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/um-hurricane-biplano.html


Hope you enjoy and I count on your visit!

 

Indeed it is. was any reason given for the additional wing. It would increase drag and slow the plane but conceivably it could be more maneuverable, like the WW1 Fokker tri-wing but by WW2 this advantage would be gone or far less.

Second wild guess, it could be a slower safer trainer for Hurricanes and Spitfires, perhaps eliminating the Tiger Moth-Harvard combination but it would need two seats, ruled myself out !!.

Third, a good practice target for an ME 109???

Forth, a post war crop duster?

Seriously, it certainly is interesting and obviously a serious effort but I have no clue why it was explored. I keep coming back to slower and safer and the question to myself is to what purpose.

Gaines

 

From memory, it was about getting into the air quicker and gain height, the extra wing was then jettisoned...

 

IIRC the idea of the "slip wing" on the F.H.40 was to give the Hurricane some STOL ....or at least STO! ....capability for short makeshift runways, with the wing being jettisoned as soon as it was in the air - although it COULD be retained and used as an extra fuel tank for long ferry flights.

 

Interesting. The Hurricane evolved from the Hawker biplanes, as a monoplane version of an established biplane, so it may not have been that difficult to redesign it as a biplane. However, if the RAF needed a Hawker biplane fighter they could have taken a Hawker Fury from the disposal store....

What was the rationale for this STO capability?

 

It was a direct development of Hillson's original "Bi-Mono" of 1940, one of the selection of "reserve fighter" ideas for fast production and use in ...unfortunate circumstances if necessary I.E. if we'd lost the Battle of Britain or were coming close to running out of Spitfires and Hurricanes. Several companies produced fighter designs at the same time, optimised for fast/simple production, like the Miles M.20 basically a simple 8x.303MG fighter with spatted, fixed undercarriage bolted onto the back of a Beaufighter's complete Merlin XX installation! (Miles also fighter-ised 23 Miles Master trainers....6x.303, no rear seat etc.)

Anyway - the Bi-Mono was a "light fighter" intended to be flown from small fields or roads, but in the end Hills&Son couldn't interest the Air Ministry in the idea so they went ahead with it as a private venture, building the Bi-Mono test bed at their own expense, first flying in 1941 from Barton aerodrome, and powered by a DH Gipsy Six engine...





...and managed to get it tested by the A&AEE at Boscombe Down in october 1943....where it was discovered that the top speed of the bi-plane was slower than the STALL speed of the monoplane...! And its manners on landing was compared to a kangaroo's progress...

SOMEHOW despite all the problems with the Bi-Mono, Hills got their hands on an old Hurricane MkI L1884 and this version of the slip wing was tested at RAF Sealand and Boscombe Down again in 1943...but the test programme was terminated BEFORE the Hurricane could even transition to monoplane due to "bad performance". Which is why all the pics of the Hurricane version still has the slip wing in place...

 

The Ju 87 C was a version of the famous dive bomber Stuka proposal to operate with German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin. The link below provides more information and pictures of this unusual version of the Ju 87 Stuka:

http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/stuka-naval.html


Hope you enjoy and I count on your visit!

 

I believe some test Hurricanes had a jettsonable upper wing to help with catapulting them off convoy ships. The rocket assisted sling shots proved to be a better idea.

The upper wing was also loaded with fuel, and the experiment was to expend the range as well.

http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/448/language/fr-FR/Biplane-Hurricane.aspx

 

The following link brings an extensive report and a lot of photos of the one of most famous Fighter Units already created, using the most iconic nose art applied on a warplane, the legendary Shark Mouth:

http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/tigres-voadores.html


Hope you enjoy and I count on your visit!

 

The Flying Tigers copied the idea from photos of 112 Sqn RAF in a magazine http://raf-112-squadron.org/raf_112_squadron_photos_1941.html Neville Duke and his squad mates were as much heroes as Chenault's men.

 

IIRC the Germans used the "shark mouth" before 112 Squadron, ZG 26 wit Me 110 being one case though I believe the rumour of Ju 87 using it is due to the white and red snake painted on the side of some Stukas . There may be earlier instances as well though the big radiator of the P40 lent itself especially well to this.

 

I think ZG 76 were the "Haifish"

 

Nose Art BF 109 Shark Mouth.
The shark, one of the most common motifs of the war, was first painted by the Luftwaffe stationed in Crete circa 1941.

 

If you want to split hairs, the first German, and IIRC, photographed use was in World War I with the LFG Roland C.II
the "Whale Mouth"

later morphed into the "Shark Mouth"

However, it did not see the widespread use that it would during World War II.

However, pertaining to World War II, I also believe that the German were again the first to reuse it in 1939.
Bf-109C-1 with 2/JG 71: http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/bf109c-3.html

Junkers Ju 87B1 Stuka Stab II.StG77 (S2+AC) Alfons Orthofer Germany, 1939.

 

B-24J Nose art

 

Me 110 C/D of II./ZG 76 mit Haifischmaulbemalung

 

During WW2, either by carriage to the Theater of Operations or conducting tests for naval versions, often was possible to have the unusual sight of land-based fighters operating on aircraft carriers. The following link presents a collection of curious photos of these aircraft:

http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/estranhos-sobre-o-deque.html


Hope you enjoy and I count on your visit!

 

2nd to last shot should be deleted as the USS Enterprise is carrying all carrier-based aircraft(Hint: SBD wings do not fold)