"How come I haven't seen one of those before?'

The Douglas Skyshark (on the Skyraider thread).

Again, heard of but never seen. What an extraordinary-looking beast that is!

this book has just been released if it helps

http://www.hyperscale.com/2009/reviews/books/sturgeonbookreviewsn_1.htm

Well a recent surprise for me was reading about the Bolton Paul Defiant, a fighter with a turret gu and no forward firing cannon, what were they thinking! Funny thing is is used to live in south sttaffordshire,just up the road from the Dowty Bolton Paul facttory!

Thanks TT, that’s one for the wish-list. Daz, that Skyshark’s a new one on me too! Quite a performer, it seems. Larry, there’s quite a story around the whole ‘turret fighter’ thing, with competing 1930’s visions of how aerial interception was going to pan out tactically in a future conflict. Hindsight is a wonderful thing – and proved one particular school of thought correct! Other turret designs existed, and one was even proposed as a Spitfire variant.

Funnily enough, before the Luftwaffe cottoned on the Defiant had some success as unsuspecting German pilots lined up to attack from behind…

The Douglas Skyshark (on the Skyraider thread).

Again, heard of but never seen. What an extraordinary-looking beast that is!

Hmmm,I was expecting an ugly looking thing, but it looks quite conventional in the link Tropic Thunder provided.
That link reminded me of a question, what is target towing? Is it a training exercise where targets are carried across the sky for trainers to shoot at?

Well, it got uglier as time went on… check out the SB.3 variant..

http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/short_sb-3.php

And you’re right about target towing!

Hmmm,I was expecting an ugly looking thing, but it looks quite conventional in the link Tropic Thunder provided.
That link reminded me of a question, what is target towing? Is it a training exercise where targets are carried across the sky for trainers to shoot at?

Towed targets have been around since the WW.1, They started off by being simply banners towed on a cable. Then tubular windsock like devices let out and retracted by a winch and later more aerodynamic dart type targets (still towed). Some modern targets are radar aquisiton types and some infrared for use with missiles. Most Target Tugs have been pensioned off service types but speciallist types were developed. The Sturgeon started off as a torpedo attack a/c.

One of the few a/c designed as target tugs was the Miles Monitor of which the Navy had 10.

HTHs

John

Most Target Tugs have been pensioned off service types

Indeed – including the Defiant as mentioned above, which really found its niche in that role!

Until I was actually sitting on one I was completely unaware of the existence of the Embraer 190 (realise it’s not a historic type).

When I was walking across the tarmac towards it I was completely non-plussed but convinced myself it was some new secret Russki Tupolev short-hauler till I picked up the safety card and was enlightened.

When I was a kid I spent my life trawling through my Dad’s aviation mags (Air Pic, Air International etc…) so nothing much of a historical nature was completely unknown to me but spend a lot less time looking at mags now.

The other planes of which I was blissfully unaware were the Russki Ekranoplanes but I’m blaming the iron curtain for that…

Well, it got uglier as time went on… check out the SB.3 variant..

http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/short_sb-3.php

And you’re right about target towing!

Ah thanks! And yes, that’s some nose! Or is it a chin…?

I was surprised to learn that the B-32 Dominator made it into service. I only found out when looking on WIX. Someone was making a model of it

I didn’t realise the Me 262 was designed as a tail dragger until I saw a documentery on the history channel the other month , I thought it was always a tri-cycle , but there was some top quality footage from the very first test flights in front of luftwaffe brass .

I didn’t realise the Me 262 was designed as a tail dragger until I saw a documentery on the history channel the other month , I thought it was always a tri-cycle , but there was some top quality footage from the very first test flights in front of luftwaffe brass .

It also had a prop for its first flight.

DazDaMan
”It also had a prop for its first flight.”

only one prop ?

Yep, it had a Jumo 210 in the nose for the first flight and no other engines. At a later date a pair of BMW 003’s were fitted in the usual positions, but the Jumo was retained in case of problems. The 003’s promptly flamed out on take-off and it struggled round a circuit and landed on just the Jumo- it was wise to keep it! The Junkers 004 engines were finally fitted on the 3rd prototype, which was the first to fly on jet power alone.

The change to tricycle undercarriage was due to the lack of prop-wash over the tailplanes, which made it difficult to raise the tail on the take-off run. The test pilots developed a technique of tapping the brakes when they reached around 40mph, which was a rather crude way of getting the tail up!

a new one on me recently was the Starck AS20 which was built and flown by a French designer under the German occupation..

http://falkeeinsgreatplanes.blogspot.com/2010/01/stark-as20-of-1942.html

excellent info AdlerTag , being a dumba55 , I learn something new everyday !

spike

I only discovered the existence of the French Breguet Sahara/Provence heavy transport/airliner about a year ago…and got quite a shock when I saw a picture!

Towed targets have been around since the WW.1, They started off by being simply banners towed on a cable. Then tubular windsock like devices let out and retracted by a winch and later more aerodynamic dart type targets (still towed). Some modern targets are radar aquisiton types and some infrared for use with missiles. Most Target Tugs have been pensioned off service types but speciallist types were developed. The Sturgeon started off as a torpedo attack a/c.

One of the few a/c designed as target tugs was the Miles Monitor of which the Navy had 10.

HTHs

John

What was the most commonly heard comment from the tug pilots? “Will you tell this idiot I’m towing the target no pushing it”.

Well a recent surprise for me was reading about the Bolton Paul Defiant, a fighter with a turret gu and no forward firing cannon, what were they thinking! Funny thing is is used to live in south sttaffordshire,just up the road from the Dowty Bolton Paul facttory!

The Fleet Air Arm had a similar thing at the time in the form of the Blackburn Roc/Skua (I can never remember which was the “fighter”