Odd uses for aircraft

Hardly Short’s fault. The Air Ministry insisted it be able to fit into existing hangars and the joke undercart came about when the boffins at Farnborough (?) said the take-off run would be too long. As production was already underway, the only way to increase the angle of attack was to lengthen the undercarriage.

The Stirling suffered by being the first heavy bomber on which (perhaps) lessons were learned. The prototype crash landed at the end of its first flight because of the weak and very tall undercarriage. It still amazes me that the Stirling could take off and land at Rochester! A former workmate trained as a tail gunner and started on Stirlings but was always grateful that he was transferred to Lancs. He told me that 18,000′ was normal, loaded. They were useful as glider tugs though.
mmitch.

Please note, I was 😀 in a tongue in cheek kind of a way then!

There’s no doubt at all that the Stirling was the ‘nicest’ of the heavies to fly, but unfortunately, with that restricted wingspan and divided bomb bay, it was never going to cut the mustard as a heavy bomber. And I believe it was Monty Python who designed it’s undercart, wasn’t it?! 😮 What a frightful contraption that was!

They ALL have their place in the books though, don’t think from my username that I’m one of those type-obsessed blokes!

Hmm, why am I apologising? I STILL think it was an odd bomber!!!

Originally posted by Lancman

Odd uses for aircraft? Hmm. I believe that the Stirling was used as a bomber once?! 😀

The Stirling made a very good bomber indeed. I don’t know why it has developed a bad reputation. It may not look as nice as the Lanc but it did a very good job very well.

I have recently interviewed an old pilot who flew almost every heavy RAF plane you could mention over a 20 year career starting in 1941. He said that the Stirling, which he had flew in combat, was a beautiful aircraft to fly, and it was his particular favourite to barrel roll – which he says it did very well! Hard to imagine.

He had flown Wellingons, Halifax, Lancs, Lincolns, Liberators, Washingtons, C47, Hastings, Yorks and many more large types, and he assured me the Stirling was favourite to fly. And this is even after he lost all four engines in an OTU example and had to bail out!

Another thought, if it were not for the Stirlings in the OTU’s most Lancaster crews wouldn’t have been trained so well too.

‘Guaranteed to get Lancman teddy chucking.’

“An ‘undred and ten teddies, that’ll hold. It’s hold an ‘undred and ten teddies, it will…”

Odd uses for aircraft? Hmm. I believe that the Stirling was used as a bomber once?! 😀

Lancaster KB885

The resto f that toolshed lancaster was indeed scrapped. Not many people know that the centre section of FM213 is combat veteran

Maybe not totally on-topic, but there was a movie clip circulating on the web a couple of years back showning a Cessna 152 parked by a swimming pool with somebody using the wing, which overlapped the pool, as a springboard.

There are some who would say this is the best possible use for a C152

Moggy

So if Canada’s flying Lanc got the centre-section from this one, what happened to the rest of it? Was it scrapped?

The fuselage of the Hudson in the RNZAF museum used to be a chicken coop, and at least one of the wings was used as the roof of a shed too!

And the flyable Lodestar at Wanaka also used to be a chicken shed – hence it’s excellent nose art of Foghorn Leghorn and its name ‘Flew The Coop”.

I think the RNZAF Museum’s Anson had also bee a shed at some stage too – can anyone confirm this?

So that’s where Hendon got the idea. 🙂

Another Kiwi C47, this time at Managweka. On the inside I believe it’s a cafe, and on the outside it’s a billboard for the popular Coolie Time giant biscuits.

Photo from Phil Treweek’s Kiwi Aircraft Images page Here
http://www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/aviation.html

And as seen before on one of my previous posts, a Harvard slide. Many Harvards ended up in playgrounds in NZ, this one at Pahiatua is the last apparently.

And here’s a Bristol Freighter that was once a restaurant at Paihia, and is now a motel in Waitomo, NZ

Photo taken from here http://www.filton.flyer.co.uk/