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.)
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!
#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.
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.
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)
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.
9 comments:
Not certain about this but the first two look very much like a hurricane. The third is almost certainly a mosquito
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.)
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.
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!
#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.
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.
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)
Next to the three spectators in the second photo, could that be the nose of a Vampire Jet?
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.
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