I was shuffling through some prints last night, from the estate of a departed friend, and was quite surprised at the attached. I had never seen this or anything like it before.
A single engined ‘Hurricanesque’ British proto with what looks like a Messier undercarriage. It must be 150% scale of comparable period fighters and seems to have a crew window.
Only when I had scanned the print for the forum and wound up the magnification could I even see the vestige of a serial and judge the digits.
In fact as of ten minutes ago I now know what it is but I am posting it anyway for comment.
Those with a Putnam persuasion will I am sure be able to tell us more.
Mark
By: Malcolm Payne - 23rd June 2005 at 20:43
Folland
I remember as a lad always riding on the top deck of the bus from Gloucester to Cheltenham as I could see over the hedge at Staverton as we went past the Rotol flight shed. Apart from the Folland I remember seeing a Baker Martin MB5, Wellington Mark 6(?) – the pressurised version, and the Westland Welkin. There was a large dispersal area on the south side full of Typhoons that were waiting for delivery from Glosters and there was also a rank of Albemarles also awaiting delivery.
By: adrian_gray - 23rd June 2005 at 15:26
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
Good grief! That’s the first picture I’ve ever seen of one with some sort of scale – it’s HUGE!
Didn’t one break up in mid-air very nearly taking an eminent test pilot (Michael Daunt?) with it? Or am I getting it muddled with rather a lot of other planes?
Adrian
By: Skyraider3D - 23rd June 2005 at 00:01
Very interesting!
Looks like this is one of those planes where the following quote would be applicable:
“If it looks good, it flies good. This plane couldn’t do either”.
By: Mark12 - 22nd June 2005 at 15:46
Yes. P1783, a Folland 43/37 flying engine test bed.
Testing the Hercules XI and in this case more probably testing the propeller that goes with it as I suspect this image has its origins in Dowty Rotol by association with other prints in the pile.
The full frame of this shot shows in the background a Halifax and one of those high altitude pressurised Wellingtons with the lower 2/3 of the fuselage in either white of yellow.
Mark
By: Michel Lemieux - 22nd June 2005 at 14:05
Juging by the height of the landing gear………the prop must have been huge….
Must have been a handfull on takeoff :))
By: JDK - 22nd June 2005 at 13:25
Nice one.
Often called the “Folland Frightful” and one of the aircraft the following quote from the test pilot is attributed to: “Getting into this aircraft is difficult. I reccomend it is made impossible.”
PS No Putnams were hurt in the researching of these conjectures.
Not seen that particular pic before though.
Cheers!
By: WebPilot - 22nd June 2005 at 11:51
A single engined ‘Hurricanesque’ British proto with what looks like a Messier undercarriage. It must be 150% scale of comparable period fighters and seems to have a crew window.
It’s a Folland 43/37 engine testbed. The company built 12 of them for in-flight testing of big engines, mainly the Napier Sabre and Bristol Centaurus. The Bristol Hercules was used for ferrying flights.
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June 22, 2005 at 11:33 am