Lots of allied “pusher” aircraft in early W.W.1 – Farmans (and derivatives), Caudrons, Voisins but German and Austro-Hungarian “pusher” designs seem to be restricted to a couple of single-engined flying boats and twin-engined bombers. Then, when “tractor” types were becoming ascendant, there was a brief resurgence of “pushers” to overcome the problem of firing fixed forward facing (Fhew – 4 x fs) machine guns through the propellor. F.E.2 (not the B.E.2), Vickers Gunbus, D.H.2, etc.
Piaggio must hold the record for longest association with the “pusher” with their P.136 (earlier design from which the P.166 in Albert’s first photo was developed) first flying in 1948. The P.166 first flew in 1957 and the P.180 Avanti (Albert’s second photo) 1986 – is it still in production?
The Beech Starship – VERY similar in appearance to the Avanti and also first flying in 1986 – turned out a bit of a disaster. If I remember correctly they only built 53 and ended up buying them back so as not to have to maintain a spares holding. A number of them went to selected museums, the others destroyed?
Roger Smith.
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