SPITFIRE !!!

[Mad Doug Biker]

Not sure where you got that from, but it's possible you are getting the two planes mixed up.

And how do you do that exactly?

The Hurricane also caught fire too easily due to its construction - again, something not universally popular with pilots of the time.

When HAS it been popular? They had a problem initially because of faulty fuel pumps or something, granted.

It was a good gun platform though, and could be turned around on the ground in about half the time of the Spitfire

..... It could out turn both the Spit and the German planes, it could operate better in cold temperatures and when it had holes shot in it, it could be easily and quickly repaired unlike the spit which had to be taken away and replated, all rather inconvenient and expensive for a nation at war and on rations don't you think, hmmm?

Oh and guess what? When German pilots were asked what they feared, most said The Hurricane, NOT the Spitfire. FACT.

Yes, the Spit might have been the glamour plane, but it was the Hurricane that did most of the work, took the brunt of the losses, and REALLY kept Britain from being invaded in 1940. Why the fcuk has this fact all but been erased from the history books? I just do not understand.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I had to google that, and yes, it's distinctive!

Hollywood is often, and quite rightly slagged for getting things wrong, but every so often, they create a true cinematic gem which is both epic and historical in equal measure! This is one such example.

These strange, and very large beasts, the B36s, the last of the U.S. wartime style prop engined bombers, with their propellers on back to front and with jets too, were the U.S.'s nuclear deterent until the B52s came along, and when this was filmed, their days were numbered, and everyone must have known it.

Sit back, enjoy, turn up the volume and just listen to the throb of that engine and the squeal of the tires as it taxis out for the rather noisy take off sequence before seeing it romping through the clouds. What otherwise would have been an obscure footnote in aviation history has been captured here in all it's glory for posterity, complete in glorious technicolor and with Jimmy Stewart looking slightly lost in the cockpit!

THANKYOU HOLLYWOOD!!

'One, two, three, fowr, favv, six.....':


View: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3wvEzhyY9F4

 

[slowmotion]

Somebody told me that the English Electric Lightning had the fastest rate of vertical climb of any aircraft ever. The only reason that they didn't make the official record was that the aircraft could not retract the nose wheel before it went supersonic, and it was dangerous to attempt the record. Take off from England and be over Greenland in twenty minutes. Or was it Iceland?

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of the Lancaster. It will fly over my house in a couple of days and I'll be listening to this fabulous noise....
[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-UFCyrunpY&feature=fvst[/media]

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

And don't get me wrong, the Lanc and Spit are both very nice aircraft, it is just the way they are put forward as being the be all and end of everything I can't stand.


A bit like football and other very popular things in that respect.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Somebody told me that the English Electric Lightning had the fastest rate of vertical climb of any aircraft ever. The only reason that they didn't make the official record was that the aircraft could not retract the nose wheel before it went supersonic, and it was dangerous to attempt the record. Take off from England and be over Greenland in twenty minutes. Or was it Iceland?

.....Before promptly having to be refuelled before they fell out of the sky!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I never get tired of seeing the Spitfire, and the Lancaster Bomber

No, seriously, what is that to the left of the Lanc, and why do you get tired by it, FANBOI?!


Do you expect that the Spit and Lanc should be flying forever more?? No, instead of being so picky, just think yourself lucky they still ARE flying in the first place.

 

[sunnyjim]

that would have been a very rare sight indeed - because the Vulcan didn't have afterburners..

I stand corrected.

Still gotta love something you hear through your chest.

 

[Arch]

Yes, the Spit might have been the glamour plane, but it was the Hurricane that did most of the work, took the brunt of the losses, and REALLY kept Britain from being invaded in 1940. Why the fcuk has this fact all but been erased from the history books? I just do not understand.

I really think it's down to image. The Spit is ever so slightly more curvy, and has 'fire' in the name - a name that perhaps rolls off the tongue a tiny bit more easily than Hurricane. Such tiny differences start the ball rolling, and then it just gathers momentum as time goes by.

Anyway, how many people would ooh, and ahh over a Ferrari, and pass by a Transit van without a blink. And yet without the Transit, they wouldn't have deliveries and workmen and all that. Facts are facts, but glamour often wins out.

 

[black'n'yellow]

And how do you do that exactly?

Easy - you mistake one for the other. Anyway, I think you missed the irony - the guy appears to have his facts mixed up.

When HAS it been popular? They had a problem initially because of faulty fuel pumps or something, granted.

Again, I think you missed the irony. Of course catching fire is not popular. Nothing to do with fuel pumps though - more to do with the wood/fabric construction which burned better than the Spit's aluminium skin, for obvious reasons...

..... It could out turn both the Spit and the German planes, it could operate better in cold temperatures and when it had holes shot in it, it could be easily and quickly repaired unlike the spit which had to be taken away and replated, all rather inconvenient and expensive for a nation at war and on rations don't you think, hmmm?

I already said the Hurricane could be turned around on the ground quicker than the Spitfire. It was also better in a turn. Incidentally, what factors enabled it to operate better in cold temperatures?

Oh and guess what? When German pilots were asked what they feared, most said The Hurricane, NOT the Spitfire. FACT.

German bomber pilots certainly feared it, as Hurricanes were mostly tasked with attacking bomber formations. Maybe that's what you meant. Some years ago, I was lucky enough to speak directly to an ex-Luftwaffe (fighter) pilot who said the exact opposite. The anecdotal and other evidence to support this view is overwhelming. If it was such a feasome aircraft, why was it withdrawn from the air-to-air role in 1942..?

Why the fcuk has this fact all but been erased from the history books? I just do not understand.

It hasn't - it is widely acknowledged. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Hurricane fan as well. But if people get their facts wrong, it's worth correcting them.

 

[on the road]

No, seriously, what is that to the left of the Lanc, and why do you get tired by it, FANBOI?!


Do you expect that the Spit and Lanc should be flying forever more?? No, instead of being so picky, just think yourself lucky they still ARE flying in the first place.

You're Father Jack Hackett and I claim my 5 pounds.

 

[Browser]

About 7-8 years ago for our villager show a BBMF spit had been booked for a flypast, and the field the show is on is at the end of our cul-de-sac. At one point, as I stood on my drive watching and more importantly listening, the pilot had it banked at what I swear was 90 degrees as he turned to starboard directly over my house! Needless to say I came over all unecessary at that point! The Rolls Royce Merlin engine does not make mere noise, it produces 12-cylinder opera!
I was fortunate enough, though not old enough to appreciate, to be at Waddington for the '77 airshow when they did a 'Vulcan scramble', if I remember correctly it was three ships one after the other, sounded like god clearing his throat
I would love to have seen a B36 in the air too, must have looked fab, I'd settle for a Tupolev TU95 at 200 feet over my caravan while I'm on holiday this summer please.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I think you missed the irony. The guy appears to have his facts mixed up.



Again, I think you missed the irony.

I didn't, I was just answering the quote though. When has being on fire ever been popular? And all that.

There are no emoticons on the here iPad.

Nothing to do with fuel pumps though - more to do with the wood/fabric construction which burned better than the Spit's aluminium skin, for obvious reasons...

But they did have a problem early on too.

I already said the Hurricane could be turned around on the ground quicker than the Spitfire.

Yes, you said that, I was just elaborating a bit with it.

It was also better in a turn.

Didn't see you say that, sorry.

Show me some evidence of this 'fact', please..? Some years ago, I was lucky enough to speak directly to an ex-Luftwaffe pilot who said the exact opposite. The anecdotal and other evidence to support this view is overwhelming. If it was such a feasome aircraft, why was it withdrawn from the air-to-air role in 1942..?

It depends who you speak too. It was the BoB I'm talking about here when Hurricanes out numbered Spits by some margin. Fear by numbers/default I know, but it still stands, and besides, it could out turn everything else and the other fact already mentioned, so they obviously had more going for them than just their sheer numerical presence. Also, it was old technology, I know and it was simply superseded, that's all

It hasn't - it's in all the history books and is widely acknowledged.

But in the public's eye it might as well have been.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

You're Father Jack Hackett and I claim my 5 pounds.

Make a blatant statement like that and what do you expect?

P.S., Yes, I was drunk last night, ARSE!!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Sorry but it is just one of those historical things which has irritated me for years. Imagine if you were a Hurricane pilot in BoB, and people only remember the Spits, jeez!

Then again, there are various stories like that throughout history, and it's just wrong to me!

 

[black'n'yellow]

I think it's the same deal for the Lancaster, to be fair - the Lanc gets all the glory because it's still flying. Very few people think of the Wellington, Whitley, Hampden, Halifax or Stirling.