Excuse me for having a bit of standards then 😀

Well.. OK, but just this once

🙂

Am I being, maybe, a touch excluding if I suggest that anyone who does not get even slight goosebumps at the sound of a RR Merlin is perhaps on the wrong forum?

Are you saying that the name Cleveland didn’t fill the pilots hearts with a patriotic fire and zeal for combat! 😀

I doubt it, but it was probably just as well. Anyone going into combat in a rebadged Curtiss SBC-4 would have needed a bit more than patriotic zeal…

ChristiaanJ, if the HP88 whetted your appetite try http://www.jetex.org

I did not realise you had sneeked over from Jetex.org. I was reading this topic and was going to post a link to your thread on Jetex.org when you posted here.

‘Fraid so. No getting rid of me or the HP88.

It was inspired by the Avro 730 as a ‘layout testbed’ but took far too long to build and when it appeared was not sufficiently close to the Victor layout. Like the BAC221 it didn’t offer much to the aircraft it was supposed to be proving. With hindsight maybe both testbeds should have been clean-sheet designs rather than trying to alter existing aircraft.

Am I right in thinking that the original research for the crescent wing came from Arado and was ‘spoils of war’ – being a proposed upgrade for the Ar234? There’s a project for you ‘Luftwaffe ’46’ fans.

Didn’t they proto-type a scale wing on an Supermarine Attacker fuselage?

I think I have a photo somewhere.

Mark

Yes, it was called the HP88 (or Blackburn YB2 – Brough did the conversion). In actual fact the wing was rather different to the final model, as the design was frozen at an earlier stage, and obviously it was low mounted rather than mid.

The tail surfaces were very small – probably too small, as the HP88 had severe problems with pitch stability. At any speed above 270kt it would pitch uncontrollably and had to be left ‘hands off’ until it calmed down. These problems were being addressed when the HP88 crashed at low altitude, breaking up in mid air when the pilot tried to deploy the airbrakes. It only flew for a few hours and it was only a few weeks between completion and crash. It sadly contributed very little to the Victor programme.

And my Rapier powered model of same

Apart from Blackburn Skua L2910 and L2940 are there any other survivors. A few years ago I read about large numbers of FAA being found off Sydney – Australia. They had been dumped off shore after VJ day. Were any of these aircraft the Blackburn Skua?

These are the only complete survivors. There are a large number of components in Norway, many of which have been collected by museums and may eventually make their way into a rebuild or replica. These include mainwheels that were used on an oxygen bottle dolly, main gear oleos used as jacks in a garage and even propeller blades being used as gateposts. There are probably others on lake beds, but apart from the Yeovilton and Bodo examples I know of no other more-or-less complete Skuas.

Given that Skuas were removed from frontline duty in 1941, I doubt there were many left by VJ day to be dumped off carriers. A number had been used for training and as target tugs and the last of these was struck off charge in July 1945. The jigs were broken up in 1939 and so the Skuas were only retained as long as spares remained. No major airframe parts could be manufactured after the start of the war. I would therefore expect that most of them that weren’t shot down were scrapped during the war or ended up on fire dumps etc.

Apologies for digging up an old thread – just stumbled across this one while searching the forum.

The Sea Vixen was voted by our forum members as the best Classic Jet display for the 2005 season and it was with great pleasure that myself, Paul Osborne and Steve Buckby presented pilot Brian Grant with the trophy at Southend Airport two weeks a go.

The full list of 2005 winners will be announced on the website in the near future – we’re running slightly behind schedule as we spent a lot of time trying to find a sponsor before Aircraft Illustrated came onboard and backed not only our awards, but also our website and forum too. We’re now just waiting to hear back from the last few winners before we go live.

Once again, congratulations to all at De Havilland Aviation.

Hear hear!

Does DHA accept donations to help with the running of G-CVIX?