Author Topic: Interesting or unusual planes?  (Read 385849 times)

Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #75 on: 13 March, 2011, 07:40:34 pm »
Couple more from yesterday;



CMC Leopard 4 seat private jet



F+W C-3605

"mercedes vito cleared for immediate takeoff"




clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #76 on: 13 March, 2011, 10:42:39 pm »
Sorry, sorry, no pics, but today we saw (at Wellesbourne Airfield Museum):

De Havilland Vampire

Percival Provost

Yakovlev Yak-52

and, astonishingly, a flippin' Vulcan!  I must admit I hadn't expected to see that as I rode past the corner of a commercial airfield.

There was also a Vulcan front end (taken from a Mk1 testbed aircraft) to demonstrate the cockpit.  I believe that I looked at this set up in the 80s at Farnborough.

Oh - and the front end of a Sea Vixen!  Wonderful.

The museum contains a great deal of memorabilia, most of which is salvaged from wrecks, including a Merlin and a section of Wellington airframe.

Wish I'd had longer to go round it.
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Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #77 on: 13 March, 2011, 10:44:43 pm »
The pub in Elvington used to have the valve gear of a Merlin engine along the top of the backrest of one of the bench seats. Not sure if it still does as its years since I have been in there.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #78 on: 13 March, 2011, 10:46:19 pm »
Oh yes, I just remembered.  They have a Spitfire cockpit with the HUD sight, and a whacking great Wellington wheel.  That's a sod of a lot of rubber.
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Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #79 on: 29 March, 2011, 01:00:48 pm »
But not quite as much as a Brabazon (I think). Though as that never flew, I guess it doesn't count.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #80 on: 29 March, 2011, 01:07:03 pm »
But not quite as much as a Brabazon (I think). Though as that never flew, I guess it doesn't count.

Oh yes it did fly!
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #81 on: 29 March, 2011, 01:22:51 pm »
It did! But it pretty much bankrupted Bristol Aircraft.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #82 on: 29 March, 2011, 01:25:03 pm »
But it was really pretty :)
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #83 on: 19 June, 2011, 10:33:06 pm »
A Spitfire, flying above the Forest of Bowland. Twice.

I was with a school group, and the children were a bit bemused by my bouncing up and down in excitement.
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Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #84 on: 19 June, 2011, 11:09:15 pm »
No photo, but yesterday morning, whilst cycling over Putney Bridge in London at 10.45, there was what I thought was an Airbus, either A340 or A380 descending towards Heathrow.  I was only seeing it from the rear, which is why I couldn't really tell what type it was.  

However, that's not the unusual bit.  Inboard from the No. 3 engine on the starboard wing was another engine pod although it was definitely smaller than the working engines.  I know airlines do sometimes ferry replaced engines in this way, as about 20 years ago I saw a 747 in a similar configuration, but I thought it was odd that it was clearly a smaller engine.

A bit of a late response, but ...

Some 747s can indeed carry a fifth, non-operational engine, for transport to an unusual location.  The engine has to modified slightly for transport, fan blades removed, and covers over some of the inlets, and the aircraft has to have been built to support this load, and only some airlines have ever had this facility.

It's use has fallen away, with increased ease of getting large cargoes to locations, with generally better transport infrastructure to many parts of the world, and the availability of things like the An124 to transport oversized loads, relatively easily.

I've never heard of an Airbus having this facility.  It's possible that it was some sort of testbed, since it's not that unusual for aircraft to be modified either with an additional engine pylon, or an existing engine being replaced by a prototype for testing.  In essence they're flying wind tunnels!

Obviously these aren't passenger aircraft, so you can do something like replace one of the four engines of a 747 with an engine which could quite possibly be non-functional at take-off and landing, and only operated in flight, when it would be heavily telemetered to onboard data collection equipment.  Since they generally won't be flying long distances over water, and so forth, and may not be near the aircrafts maximum payload, missing an engine (or having the additional weight of an extra engine), isn't necessarily a problem.

Assuming there's space on the wing, an additional engine can be fitted, but it's obviously a complex exercise, since the engine has to be fitted somewhere that has the clearance, can take the loading, and the aircraft likely has to be balanced with something acting as a counterweight on the other wing (this could be something as simple as additional fuel).

Another approach is to have the extra engine mounted adjacent to the fuselage on a pylon extending out from there.  It's relatively easy to do this, compared to hanging it off of a wing, mechanically, and it has similar characteristics in terms of the airflow, when you're just trying to test an engine in a (sort of) realistic flight configuration.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #85 on: 19 June, 2011, 11:44:39 pm »
After some more hunting around, I can't find any suggestion that Airbus aircraft can ferry an engine, like the 747s can.

The Tristar (L1011) can also carry an additional engine, interestingly on it's right wing, whereas the 747s carry the spare engine on their left wing.  The 747 also has to carry seven tonnes of fuel in the right hand wing fuel tank to compensate for the weight of the extra engine.

Apparently another reason why this used to be far more common than it is today, is that the older 747s would only operate very poorly when flying on three engine alone, whereas more modern aircraft only have their range, payload, and speed moderately compromised when an engine is non-operational (or even missing!).  Hence, with a modern 747, an acceptable approach would just be to fly an aircraft with a damaged engine, out on three engines only.  If two engines have been damaged by a more exceptional event, then you have to find some way to get an additional engine to the aircraft, but that's a much rarer problem.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #86 on: 02 July, 2011, 08:58:46 pm »
Just got back in to Bournemouth today in time to see a sea vixen and what I think was a gnat come in for a couple of low approach and go arounds, very impressive.  Didn't realise quite how big the sea vixen is, looks pretty imposing in the air.  Shame I don't own a zoom lens, the light this evening was pretty good too.

Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #87 on: 03 July, 2011, 11:26:43 am »
Did however manage to get this;
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Adam

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Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #88 on: 03 July, 2011, 07:36:21 pm »
 :thumbsup:

Nice - haven't seen a Sea Vixen for years.
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” -Albert Einstein

Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #89 on: 04 July, 2011, 03:30:49 pm »


I think that's a Red Arrows Hawk, rather than Gnat. The wing on the Hawk is relatively low on the fuselage, whereas it's pretty much at the top of the fuselage on the Gnat.

The Gnat is also about half the length of the Sea Vixen, and the Hawk is a couple of metres longer.  In that shot, the other aircraft looks to be longer than half the length of the Sea Vixen.

That's a bit of a guess, since from that perspective and that size, the two aircraft would look quite similar.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

border-rider

Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #90 on: 04 July, 2011, 10:44:52 pm »
This very Phillips Speedtwin (doing loop-the-loops and low passes over our house yesterday)


clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #91 on: 05 July, 2011, 08:17:12 am »
Never heard of a Speedtwin before.  Looks like an interesting lightweight aircraft (presumably with a good power to weight ratio).
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Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #92 on: 05 July, 2011, 09:51:15 am »
I'd never heard of them either. Just being doing a bit of digging and it seems it was a kit plane designed by an ex RAF pilot. It was fully aerobatic too. It was withdrawn from the market when he died about 25 years ago with the idea of doing some redesign work to make it more powerful but nothing ever happened. Nice looking plane though.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Mr Larrington

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Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #93 on: 05 July, 2011, 11:26:50 am »
Ah.  A flying Maestro ;D
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Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #94 on: 05 July, 2011, 12:10:08 pm »
Top speed was about 140 knots apparently. Better engines and retracing undercarriage and it would have been ace.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Tourist Tony

  • Supermassive mobile flesh-toned black hole
Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #95 on: 08 July, 2011, 01:17:00 pm »
That Hawk's a Gnat. Wings are swept too much for a Hawk. There's other clues as well.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #96 on: 08 July, 2011, 01:47:01 pm »
I think it's a Gnat, too, though it isn't very clear.
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Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #97 on: 08 July, 2011, 02:31:48 pm »
I think it's a Gnat, too, though it isn't very clear.

It is a Gnat, they're both based at hurn.

De Havilland Aviation

Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #98 on: 09 July, 2011, 03:28:21 pm »
I'll bow to your greater knowledge and identification skills, I don't know either aircraft well enough to make more than a cursory call!

Tony's comment about swept wings is spot on though, the Hawk's wings aren't anywhere near as far swept as the Gnat, and that image looks like it has quite swept wings.

It looks like there's something suspended from the wing as well, and that sort of thing seems more common on the Gnat than the Hawk (although it looks like both can have clean wings or various objects suspended).
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Interesting or unusual planes?
« Reply #99 on: 09 July, 2011, 11:04:19 pm »
The Gnat often carries auxiliary fuel tanks.  Although both aircraft are capable of light ground attack, so can carry bombs, missiles or cannon.

Today we saw a small plane with what appeared to be a personalised aircraft reg - G-SHAY at an airfield somewhere in Essex.
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