Tuesday, August 19, 2008

More old pix

I don't think they're Mustangs*. Or spitfires. There might be a mosquito amongst them.
Please help?





*The Ex-husband's favourite plane was the P51 Mustang. I don't think it's a Mustang because it hasn't got the "guppy-guts" under it.

Mustang painting commissioned by my ex, for Skeets.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not certain about this but the first two look very much like a hurricane. The third is almost certainly a mosquito

kae said...

Yay, I guessed something right. I did look up the mosquito... I'm not good at this aircraft recognition caper - but I can tell a Herc from a Caribou. (Herc 4 engines, Caribou 2, knew someone in 38 SQN many years ago.)

Anonymous said...

Hi Kae, the aircraft in the second photo are Fairy Fireflys, with the nose of a Vampire in the foreground. First photo looks to be Fireflys as well.

kae said...

Thanks Graeme.
I wonder what the occasion was, if any? Was it an airshow at Bankstown aerodrome (near where I grew up), or was it just the usual at this outlying aerodrome?
Don't be a stranger - there'll be more pics, possibly on the weekend.

I need a maid to do the yuck stuff so I can do the fun stuff!

Minicapt said...

#1 Fairey Firefly.
#2 Fairey Firefly x 2 and DH.100 Vampire.
#3 De Haviland Mosquito, with interesting/non-standard nose.
#4 Avro Lancastrian, as flown by BOAC.
#5 Moth Minor again.
Those 'guppy-guts' could add 250-300lbs thrust to Mustang at altitude.

Skeeter said...

I'm being picky, minicapt, but if that's an Australian Vampire it's likely to be a RR Nene-powered DHA 100 (RAAF designator A79 and known as Mk 30/31s). I flew them in the 1950s.
In the Oz version, the bigger Nene engines required extra air provided through two "elephant ear" scoops; first on the top of the engine bay, and later moved down to the belly to fix a very nasty compressibility problem at Mach 0.78.
Of course, you could be right if it is an older pic and is the Pommy DH 100 version.

I assume the "guppy-guts" on the Mustang is the scoop under the wing centre-section. This was to provide air to the radiator for the liquid-cooled Merlins. Not sure how they could add thrust at altitude.

Anonymous said...

Skeeter,
If you compress air, add heat to raise the pressure more and expand it through a nozzle, you get thrust. See jet engine. However you add heat you get thrust, so the radiator of the Mustang - with its controllable exit chute, would actually provide some thrust under ideal conditions.

Seza (who can't see the pics at work through the firewall - sniff)

Anonymous said...

Next to the three spectators in the second photo, could that be the nose of a Vampire Jet?

Skeeter said...

Seza, thank you for that explanation. It sounds reasonable to me. It also explains why minicapt measured the performance increase in pounds thrust, rather than in horsepower.
As I often say, you are never too old to learn something new.
I was lucky enough to fly a Mustang for one hour in 1954. My tuition on type consisted of a quick read of the Pilots' Notes, and I didn't get as far as the instructions for adjusting the radiator exit chute. There was probably a lot more I should have read before take-off, but that didn't stop it from being one of my most memorable flights.
I was jet-trained and that one hour in the 'Stang was my only experience in a high-performance piston fighter. Enough to convince me that it is a real pilot's aeroplane, and an absolute delight to fly.