Watched the original Italian Job last night. There is a scene at Turin airport where a four engined (piston) airliner is shown (possibly Chinese?), which IMHO could qualify for the Ugly Aircraft award in another thread. Can some one tell me what it is? I’ve never been able to work it out.
By: J Boyle - 26th August 2005 at 02:11
J (John ?)
just a minor point of clarification. Isn’t he number determined by the year of the fiscal budget allocation not the contract – they could be different. I don’t knoe I am just asking because thats what i read somewhere.
Regards
We are both right.
According to my trusty Swanborough & Bowers, U.S. Military Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam 1962,72,88) “…the sn reflected the Fiscal year in which the order of the aeroplane was placed, not the year it was completed.”
Usually the money came along at the time of the contract being placed, otherwise firms would have huge “out of pocket” costs. In other words, they need money to buy materials, cover labour costs, supplies, and general overhead.
In WWII where huge numbers of planes were ordered, I could certainly see an instance where the government orders (as an example) 2000 airplanes of the same type. Clearly not all of them will be built in the same year…some will be built and paid for in future years. So later planes covered under the contract would indeed have a later serial number. What I don’t know is if there would be annual supplemental contracts to cover the 500 planes built in the three following years.
By: setter - 25th August 2005 at 07:41
J (John ?)
just a minor point of clarification. Isn’t he number determined by the year of the fiscal budget allocation not the contract – they could be different. I don’t knoe I am just asking because thats what i read somewhere.
Regards
By: J Boyle - 25th August 2005 at 07:06
ok.. time for a stupid question… why are the Air Force/Air corps serial #’s 42 series if they were delivered after the war?
Simple answer…the contract for the planes was originally let in 1942.
The planes just didn’t get finished until after the war.
Actually, the C-74 wasn’t all that late for the war, the first being delivered in October of 1945.
Early B-36s are the same way..the two prototypes had 1942 serials, the “A” models had 1945 numbers.
By: JDK - 25th August 2005 at 05:40
Original question:
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=33771
Good question, E.
By: Entropy - 25th August 2005 at 00:19
ok.. time for a stupid question… why are the Air Force/Air corps serial #’s 42 series if they were delivered after the war?
By: Auster Fan - 24th August 2005 at 16:04
Cheers chaps.
By: jbs - 23rd August 2005 at 12:37
Chaps,
See here
http://www.air-and-space.com/Douglas%20C-74.htm
scroll down, its the bottom picture
By: JDK - 23rd August 2005 at 12:29
Was discussed some time ago either here or on WIX. Have a search…
By: EN830 - 23rd August 2005 at 12:28
Do you mean the one they are unloading the Gold from ? From re-collection isn’t it a Globemaster ?
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August 23, 2005 at 12:16 pm