Just for fun, I’m going to start a topic of riddles/semi-cryptic clues. Whoever gets one provides the clue to the next.
So, name the following aircraft:
Hungry sea-bird carried aloft by a pair of snakes
Hi PDF27,
In reply to your riddle. Would it be the DeHavilland DH.95 Flamingo? Regards.
Last I checked, Perseus wasn’t a snake 
Right country though, and I should probably give you the hint that this is actually a postwar aircraft - if you stick to WW2 ones only they end up too obscure and this gets too hard.
Hi PDF27,
The reason I thought of the Perseus engines is, as you know, Perseus was the person that slew the Gorgon in greek mythology. Hence Gorgon = snakes. Thanks for the next clue. Still looking.
Hi PDF27,
Fingers crossed …Fairey Gannet powered by the ‘Double Mamba’ powerplant?
Yep, that’s the one! Twin Mamba was just what it says on the tin - a pair of Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turboprops driving a common shaft, and in UK parlance at least someone eating everything they can get their hands on can be described as a Gannet.
Your turn!
OK here’s my offering…
You can hear it screaming on the wind,
I’ts there - and then it’s not…
For forty percent of man’s history of flight, this aircraft is still rather hot!
This most widely produced ageing ‘Old man’
was a ‘spectre’, it proudly can boast,
For those who flew it a ‘superb beast’, To the enemy simply a ‘Ghost’.
F4 Phantom/F-110 Spectre? That’s 50% rather than 40% though…
SR-71 Blackbird?
Hi PDF27,
Well done, Sir. It is indeed the F4 ‘Phantom.’ Commiserations Navyson. Better luck next time! Apparently that was far too easy, will try better next time!!! PDF27 you have the con. Regards…
Well, putting the original name* in the riddle made it rather easy…
Next one:
After a rocky start, this aircraft went on to give birth to a mighty hunter
*The air force version was named the F-110 Spectre, until MacNamara made rather more of an ass of himself than usual by insisting that since the Air Force and Navy were developing two virtually identical aircraft (the F-110 Spectre and F4 Phantom) one project should be cut and the two services should use the same aircraft.
Hawker Sea Hawk/Hawker P.1052
Nope, not even close
Time for a clue: The mighty hunter in question is still in service today…
OK, since nobody has got it, time for the answer.
The mighty hunter in question is the Nimrod, still in service with the RAF as a maritime patrol aircraft (Nimrod is a character in the bible, who is described as a mighty hunter).
The aircraft which gave birth to it is therefore the De Haviland Comet, which was in service with the RAF and RCAF for some years…
This aircraft had three major redesigns, and several engine transplants, before becoming (for a short time at least) one of two very successful fighter designs in its’ native country.
This next aircraft, while not a fighter, had more than three redesigns, and more than three different engine designs/types grafted to it, each successfully.
It is still in service, in some parts of the world, and has rightly earned fame for it’s longevity.
C-47/dc-3?
Yes pdf27, if you’re talking of post #17.
Your turn, my friend
Not time for a proper one this morning, so this should be an easy one…
“TSR-2 that was really TSR-1”