=====>>> Distiller's spring quiz <<<=====

Ok, folks. Been thinking about doing a new quiz for some month already, and I originally thought I wouldn’t have enough good questions, but Arthur’s endevours to save the quality of this forum made me go through a couple of magazines and books, and – voilà, here is another dirty dozen!
As usually, everything is military and post-WW2. Have fun!

CORRECT OR PARTIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS AFTER DAY ONE
CORRECT OR PARTIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS AFTER DAY TWO
CORRECT OR PARTIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS AFTER DAY THREE
CORRECT OR PARTIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS AFTER DAY FOUR
ANSWERS TO YET UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

#1 — Name at least one pure delta jet with a nose intake
The MiG-21 Analog — Iranian.
And there was another, but since I asked only for one, it’s ok.
the one I was looking for, the XF-92, the mother of all Convair deltas — frankvw

#2 — Name at least one jet with variable sweep horizontal tail plane
Lockheed XF-90

#3 — What was the first fighter with a ring laser INS?
Northrop F-5G/F-20

#4 — There are some two-seaters with lateral seat arrangements, some with longitudinal arrangements. Name one with a vertical arrangement!
Breguet Alizè — dan. (And I know of another).
Sea Vixen

#5 — Name the first helicopter with hydraulic main rotor and tail pylon fold system
the Sikorsky S-56 — flex

#6 — The first non-stop helicopter flight across the Atlantic. Type, serial numbers, date, port of departure and of arrival, and where did they go then, and how did they end? (I like that one!)
flex got this one partially — two HH-3E from New York to Le Bourget on 30May-01Jun1967. But where did they go afterwards and how did they end?
Both were flown to Da Nang after the aerosalon in Paris. 66-13281 was shot down over Laos 24Oct1969, 66-13280 crashed and burned to ashes 15Apr1970 somewhere in the Republic of South Vietnam

#7 — The longest unrefuelled flight ever by a piston-engined fighter. Type, serial number, date, port of departure and of arrival
a P-82B Twin Mustang, 44-65168, from Hickam to La Guardia, 28Feb1947, 4,968 miles in 14 hours 31 minutes 50 seconds — flex

#8 — Name a multi-engine aircraft with an axe aboard to hack off the tail in case the fire burning there would have gotten out of control (That is not a conundrum!)
That were two French Neptune P2H AMOR operated by l’escadrille 12S. The fire was a flame thrower (or something like that) on a modified MAD boom, to simulate the IR emission of a jet engine for IR-AAM trials.

#9 — Name at least nine British jet-powered fighters/fighterbombers operationally involved in an Iraqi invasion scenario of Kuwait
1 – Tornado, 2- Buccaneer, 3 – Jaguar, 4 – Hawk, 5 – Hunter (RAF and Iraqi AF). flex and King J.
6 – Sea Vixen — Transall. 3 missing
7 – Vampire, 8 – Venom — Flood
This question pivots around the fact that in 1961 “Operation Vantage” the RN and RAF deployed to Kuwait to fend off an Iraqi invasion, the second time was of course Desert Shield/Storm.
9 – Scimitar — Transall

#10 — What were Boiler, Frolic, Half Moon and Trojan? (Frolic is an interesting name for such a … – yeah, you find out!)
Plans for delivery of nuclear warheads on the cities of the Soviet Union — flex

#11 — What was OILSTONE and AQUATONE?
Oilstone was the USAF name, AQATONE the CIA name for the U-2 support programme — flex (more or less)

#12 — jaunting the histroic department (although it’s still within the post-WW2 requirement): Looking for the last operational flight of the Junkers Jumo 213 engine (the one that powered a.a. the FW190D series and the Ta152), month and year is ok. And how did the last aircraft of that type save the life of two persons on its last “mission”?
On the SNCAN Nord N1402 Noroit amphib. Named SFEC-MAS Arsenal 12H, but it was a pure Jumo213. Last operational flight in September 1955.
And that story of the last “mission” of the last Noroit goes as follows: On 02Dec1959 le barrage hydroélectrique de Malpasset in southern France bursted, the tidal wave killing up to 500 people in Frejus and surrounding areas. The last Noroit was part of a test establishment of the Armée de l’Air downstream of the dam, and when it bursted, two people hung on to the Noroit which swam downstream till the wave subsided and the Noroit stranded on some parking lot. That’s how those two people were saved from drowning.

# Bonus Question: A little bit of industrial history. I’m looking for the name of the company,
– that was founded on 23May1923 in East Greenwich, RI
– that moved to Buffalo, NY in 1924
– that was targeted by Congress in 1927 for earning too much
– and moved on to San Diego, CA in 1935 because it was too cold on the lakes and to much ice around Really! Because of the problems with flying boat tests.
– that in 1937 got the largest single military order in the U.S. since WW1 (USD22M then – hahahaha! peanuts!) for a quite well known amphibian The PBY — fantasma
– that built the first large aircraft with a tricyle landing gear B-24
– that built the largest piston-engine bomber ever B-36 — fantasma
– that built the a flying boat with eight engines R3Y Tradewind
– that built the world’s first operational solid-rocket SAM Terrier
– that built the first, and up-to-date only supersonic amphibian The YF2Y-1 Sea Dart, 03Aug1954 in a dive. The F2Y-2 that was designed to do it in level flight was cancelled — fantasma
– that built the first supersonic bomber B-58 — google
– that built the fastest subsonic commercial airliner CV-990 — fantasma
– that built the rocket that brought the first American into orbit Atlas
– that merged with a company that originally came from the naval sector The Electric Boat Company, later General Dynamics
– and that was finally liquidated in 1996, having been part of another company for quite some time, that would be split up soon after. McDonnell Douglas
Quite a company! And not too hard I guess. And if you’re having to much time on your hand, you can put the answers to the factoids above.
It is of course Convair.