whats RTFM means?
Private message sent… out of good taste. If anyone else doesnt know what it means I suggest looking it up on the internet. Was more of a joke than anything.
Private message sent… out of good taste. If anyone else doesnt know what it means I suggest looking it up on the internet. Was more of a joke than anything.[/quote]
If there is any thing that you dont understand just go this site.
IIRC there was a telly programme about radar and I think in the early years they were trying to create a device capable of killing the pilots of planes mid flight by making their blood boil or something.
Well actually just before the war broke out, Britain got kindoff scared and knew something was up, because of what the Germans did in the Spanish Civil war. Well, they said that anyone who could discover a laser that would burn right through the cockpit and kill the pilot (that might be what you are thinking of.) they would give them a large sum of money (of course its upsurd.) but they only thought that this would work, because they thought the Germans possesed such a weapon.
nice to know how it’s work!!
Nice picture!
soviets used radars???
Yes, they used. But not such like british. That was an echo radar, lmodification ike used in u-boats. This type have a small zone of work, but very quality. For example, that old types of radar can lock the american stealth-bomber.
do you know what exactly those aircraft are?
my bet is Me262[/quote]
The Aircraft that you are talking about is the Gotha 229, here is a side view of one
And a Gotha 229 on flight trials
This Aircraft was also known as the Horten 229, Named after the 2 Brothers that designed it. Walter and Reimar Horten.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:[/quote]
are those bombers or fighters?
do you know what exactly those aircraft are?
my bet is Me262[/quote]
The Aircraft that you are talking about is the Gotha 229, here is a side view of one
And a Gotha 229 on flight trials
This Aircraft was also known as the Horten 229, Named after the 2 Brothers that designed it. Walter and Reimar Horten.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:[/quote]
are those bombers or fighters?[/quote]
I will suspect that the big one is a bomber, and it looks EXTREMELY similiar to the American B2 bomber:
I believe that the Horten 229 was the bomber that the Germans where hoping could make it to America and back but the project got less and less funding as the war went on. Yes in away this plane and a similiar plane made by the American during the war were the forerunners of the American B2 bomber.
i believe its not smart to bomb american, its so pointless in that stage, if i am hitler, i go for short range bombers that carries tons of bombs so that i could concentrade on bombing england, after the fall of england, american would not be a threat for a long long long time
do you know what exactly those aircraft are?
my bet is Me262[/quote]
The Aircraft that you are talking about is the Gotha 229, here is a side view of one
And a Gotha 229 on flight trials
This Aircraft was also known as the Horten 229, Named after the 2 Brothers that designed it. Walter and Reimar Horten.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:[/quote]
are those bombers or fighters?[/quote]
I will suspect that the big one is a bomber, and it looks EXTREMELY similiar to the American B2 bomber:
[/quote]
They were designed to be fighters, they were just prototypes, and there was only 1 size.
Another point to note: the bottom “photo” is something from a FLIGHT SIMULATOR GAME, it is not a real photo.
Re. Radar: transmitter sends out radio waves. Metal object (i.e. a plane) reflects radio waves significantly. Decoder translates this into useful information. Wood, birds, canvas etc. do not reflect radar very well, so are not very visible. Certainly WW2 radar was incapable of seeing these things. We have much more sophisticated radars now that can “see” all kinds of things - some automatic door sensors are based on a doppler radar which is sensitive enough to pick up reflections from humans at close range.
Question: I hear that the Germans had radar, not as sophisticated as the Allies but they still had. If radar could not detect wooden objects, then is that why the mosquito was such a good design during the war, being hard to locate?
that and the fact that wooden airframe was much lighter than a metal on for the time, There was a promotional film released in the 1960’s by dehavilland that I beleive was later released as a jigsaw in which they explainedt he thinking behind the Mosquito.
It starts as Lancaster - i think,
before explaining that in a bid to be faster they were going to remove the armour, and thus remove weaponry and areas of the superstructure, without the armour they have no need for as much lift, and so remove control surfaces,
without control surfaces they have no need for four power plants,
without the need for 4 power plants the fuel tanks can be ditched,
without that number of fuel tanks and power plants the entire airframe can be made wooden, I cant remember the exact order but its a remarkable film to watch, as the Mosquito appears out of this other plane.
My understanding was that the Mosquito was designed to be wooden, as there was a shortage of Aluminium in Britain in the earlier part of the war, so they designed a plane that could be made out of plywood.
This does not, of course, mean that they didn’t start with a Lancaster and try to redesign it in wood, as you described.
Alex
The de Havilland Aircraft Company was noted for it’s light aircraft, such as the famous DH82 Tiger Moth, and some mixed construction transport planes. In 1936 they had built the DH91 Albatross airliner and mailplane entirely in wood. In 1938 de Havilland proposed to the Air Ministry that they should build a bomber or reconnaissance aircraft that would be so fast it could be unarmed. The Air Ministry was generally hostile to the plan and turned them down. In October 1938 they told de Havilland that their contribution was best served by building wings for one of the existing bomber programmes.
De Havilland was not put off and continued with their project as a private venture. The proposal was based on reducing weight by removing the gun turrets and and having a crew of two instead of six. The aircraft would be smaller and burn less fuel. With twin Merlins an unarmed bomber could carry 1,000lb (454kg) of bombs for 1,500 miles (2400km) at a speed of almost 400mph (644km/h) which was almost twice that of current British bombers.
With great foresight they proposed to build the aircraft predominately of wood; another item the Air Staff did not approve of. However de Havilland had surmised that in time of war aluminium for aircraft would be a very scarce commodity and so would those who were skilled in the construction. There would be, on the other hand, many experienced carpenters, piano, cabinet, and furniture makers available whose skills could be used.
Almost the entire plane was built of wood. The wings had two spars with double plywood skins on the top and single underneath. The fuselage was made with a sandwich of balsa between two ply skins built on spruce stringers. It was made in two sections split down the length and moulded on concrete formers. After all internal fuselage wiring and controls had been installed the two halves were then glued together. The flying control surfaces were of light alloy with a metal skin on the ailerons and fabric on the tail. The hydraulic plain flaps were wood. The coolant radiators were in the wing leading edge between the engines and the fuselage. The landing gear was simple twin shock struts filled with rubber blocks. Engine mounts were welded steel tube. The total weight of castings and forgings used in the aircraft was a mere 280lbs (127kg).
On the 1st March 1940 an order was given to de Havilland for 50 aircraft against Air Ministry Specification B.1/40 but was cancelled again in the aftermath of Dunkirk. After many false starts it was eventually re-instated on the 25th November 1940. The prototype Mosquito (W4050), which had been secretly built at Salisbury Hall near Hatfield, was flown for the first time on the 25th of November 1940. The aircraft was painted bright yellow so it would not be fired on by allied anti-aircraft guns or planes.
Original estimates were that, with twice the power of a Spitfire and twice the wetted area and over twice the weight, the Mosquito would still be 20mph (32km/h) faster than the Spitfire. The Air Ministry was very sceptical. When the prototype was officially tested at Boscombe Down in February 1941 they were proved wrong and it exceeded this estimate by achieving a top speed of 392mph (631km/h). It was the fastest aircraft in Bomber Command until May 1951.
Not everyone was happy about the aircraft. America’s General Henry Arnold, who saw the plane fly on the 20 April 1941, was very enthusiastic and could see the potential. However when he returned to the USA and passed his information to five American aircraft manufacturers for assessment they unanimously opposed the aircraft. One of them, Beech, said “It appears as though this airplane has sacrificed serviceability, structural strength, ease of construction and flying characteristics in an attempt to use construction material which is not suitable for the manufacture of efficient airplanes”.
This was later disproved during weight testing for the 4,000lb (1814kg) Cookie bomb. A Mosquito, DZ594/G, with an all-up weight of 21,500lbs (9752.4kg) had already proved it could lift four times the load it was originally designed for. On one test it was mistakenly loaded with 10,000lbs (4536kg) of ballast which it also lifted with no problems.
Once it had proved itself official attitudes towards the Mosquito changed and development went ahead. The wingspan was increased from 52ft 6in (16.00m) to 54ft 2in (16.51m). It was fitted with a larger tailplane, improved exhaust system, and lengthened nacelles that improved stability. Even though it had been designed as an unarmed aircraft there was still room to fit a variety of .303in (7.7mm) machineguns and 20mm and 57mm cannon in addition to the bomb load.
The de Havilland design and production staff made many contributions that were, apparently, outside their field of expertise. In October 1941, C.T. Wilkins, suggested that if the normal 500lb (227kg) British bombs were fitted with shorter or retractable fins then the Mosquito could carry four of them in the bomb bay. This was rejected with the claim that the bombs would then be unstable. Experiments soon showed that this was wrong and it was not long before all bombs were manufactured with shorter fins.
Sorry to use the copy and paste form of “knowledge” Article seems to offer an explanation from all angles.
“It appears as though this airplane has sacrificed serviceability, structural strength, ease of construction and flying characteristics in an attempt to use construction material which is not suitable for the manufacture of efficient airplanes”. that is a great quote[quote][/quote]
Thanks for the info Bluffcove. I believe the Mosquito is reffered to as the “Wooden Wonder”
I know it’s not exactly on topic, but the Mosquito was an extraordiarily effective fighter too :
“On the night of May 28-29,1942, Mosquito N.F.IIs scored their first “probable,” and in the following three years Mosquito night-fighters racked up a score of approximately 600 enemy aircraft over the British Isles, and also destroyed 600 flying bombs in a two month period. They later operated in the bomber support role, their task being to defend the main heavy bomber streams over enemy territory. Of the 466 Mark II Mosquito fighters produced, some of the later aircraft had day-fighter finish and, with the AI radar removed, operated over Malta, Italy, Sicily and North Africa from the end of 1942 onwards.”
Considering that, as a bomber, it relied primarily on it’s ability to outrun all enemy fighters to get home, maybe it wasn’t so suprising.
The wonders of the mossy never cease. The radar and cockpit was also used on jet night fighters.
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/Molins.htm
The RAF then became interested in fitting the Molins Gun in the de Havilland Mosquito, to form an airborne anti-tank weapon to replace the Hurricane IID which had been equipped with a pair of Vickers 40mm Class S guns. The aircraft was duly developed as the Mosquito FB Mk XVIII, popularly known as the “Tsetse”, but by this time the RAF had lost interest in the anti-tank gun role so the aircraft were brought into service by Coastal Command for anti-ship (and specifically anti-U-boat) purposes. The Tsetse, of which about thirty were built, served with No.248 Squadron during 1944 and is credited with sinking a U-boat. Perhaps its most remarkable achievement occurred during an anti-shipping strike, when one Tsetse became involved in a melee with defending Luftwaffe aircraft. A Junkers 88 was careless enough to fly in front of a Tsetse, which promptly fired its big gun and demolished the Ju 88 with one shot!