Eh? Every engine I’ve ever worked on (and that’s quite a few) rotate anti-clockwise as viewed from the front.

Roy.

You must have come across a very strange collection of vehicle engines.

Or your clocks are extremely odd.

de Havilland, de Havilland Canada and the Portuguese (I think) didn’t have too much trouble but I suspect their staffing and training levels may have been a bit higher than yours.

Just look how long Glyn Powell’s taking with the Mossie in New Zealand and there’s no doubting he’s got the skills. Different skillset for a Chipmunk but you’re not going to do it in a few years of evenings.

How strange, when the “normal” rotation for a vehicle engine is clockwise from the front.

A thought – Merlin drive-end is the front, Meteor drive-end is presumably the back?

I thought it was the other way around – used in more theatres/campaigns but in less numbers, as there were fewer built in the first place.

I’m not sure quantity helps here anyway. Around 14,000 Hurricanes were built, as opposed to 22,000 Spitfires. In similar vein but possibly the opposite, 11,000 Wellingtons and 8,000 Lancasters. What does that prove?

From all I’ve heard, the Defiant was an excellent, very strong, well-designed and well-built aircraft. The fact that the basic premise of a single-engined turret fighter was no use is why they stopped making them very quickly. I guess it could have been as capable and versatile as the Hurricane if the turret had been binned and thoughts given to what use could have been made of the airframe. Not a wise move considering the urgency of production at the time I agree and the right decision was made but I see no reason why the Vickers ‘S’ gun couldn’t have been fitted to Defiants.

Off-hand, I can’t think of one in particular.

All the Finningley shows I went to, the last 6 or 7 I think.
Seeing the Russians arrive for the first time – 5(?) dirty great fighters “escorted” by a Red Arrows Hawk from displaying at Leuchars. All the way from Moscow-ish, display at Leuchars and Finningley and back home, all on internal fuel.

My first Legends, only 4 or 5 years ago.

2003 was the worst year. I only went to 2 airshows, Coventry on the Saturday and Legends on the Saturday. I couldn’t face any more that year after 2 fatal crashes.

There’s a bit here:

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=30165

The S.R.53 was hybrid. Armstrong Siddeley Viper at the top and a de H. Spectre underneath.

It was what would now be called a technology demonstrator for the S.R.177.

Edit:
IIRC, the original suggestion was for a rocket-powered interceptor with a “get you home” jet.
They realised fairly soon it would be far more use as basically a jet aircraft with the rocket for serious grunt.

I guess it was around July 1987. It was the Mossie Museum’s flying display weekend.

I only found out something special was going to happen when my sister told me she’d been in her garden in Welwyn Garden City, saw a Mosquito, as did her husband and they suddenly realised they were looking in different directions.

Any previous plans I may have had were immediately cancelled.