Interceptions.

I’ve always liked this machine. Landing and taking-off aside, it seems to have been pretty-well invulnerable at the time. I seem to recall that they were used quite a bit on PR over the UK. Were any shot-down I wonder…..? Weren’t they one of the few German a/c over the beaches on D-Day..? Apart from the Meatbox, we didn’t have anything that could have caught the blighters. 🙂

A pity the RAF & AM were so myopic. Too busy ordering new biplanes and riding-boots when Whittle came-up with his invention.

In terms of pure jets, Whittle seems to have been ahead, but there is no denying that the axial-flow motors were more advanced. Of course, the authorities in Germany at the time were much more ready to back new ideas.
Had they concentrated their effors on the 262, daylight ops in the closing stages of the war would have been carnage, but the difference made might only have been six months delay. The 234 was great as a PR machine, but it couldn’t carry enough load (3,309lbs) to have had any serious impact as a bomber. I suspect that fueled for any meaningful range, the real bomb-load available would have been tiny. Of course, had the war gone-on long enough for he Germans to develop a small enough nuclear weapon, the 234 might have been an ideal way to deliver it. Thankfully they never got that far.

Ah – BUT…..

Von Ohain read Whittle’s paper on jet propulsion and developed his axial flow jet from that with flight comfort as a primary factor.

Whittle patented the use of a jet engine for aircraft, but could not get the financial backing.

Whittle designed it, the Germans developed it.

My point exactly Sir. 🙂

Nt so fast….

Jet history isn’t really my bag, however;- The Jerries certainly pushed hard on the jet front, but in fairness, it was Whittle wot invented them guv’…. As Winkle Brown is always at great pains to point-out, it was the Jerries lead in supersonic wind tunnel which gave them their real lead – for swept wings or whatever. NO ONE else had supersonic wind tunnels at that time….;)

‘Beufighter’……? 😮

CAA.

It’s easy to blame the CAA, but most, if not all of the changes of recent years have been forced upon it by our membership of the wretched EU, currently via EASA. I’m sure all this has been very demoralising for CAA staff. The UK’s CAA has been forced to become little more than a local office for EASA. I seriously wonder if they now have contingency-planning in place to cover the likely withdrawal of the UK from the EU. As it stands, the CAA is effectively being run-down, a process that has been happening since JAA was initiated. Since that time, the EU has, as ever, been intent upon spreading it’s tendrils to gain even more of a stranglehold on everyone’s lives.
With the EU rapidly going tit’s-up, there could well be a glimmer of light on the horizon for UK aviation. Bring it on I say….

..and…

Some Spits had wooden elevators, certainly some MkIX’s. Saw the pics and couldn’t believe it…. I presume this was some sort of war economy measure.