Aircraft Trivia Quiz

Lancaster?  Though I don't know what version he's talking about.

The only other planes I can think of that were re-engined with Merlins were the Beaufighter, but it went back to the original engine after the Mk II and the Mustang, but it doesn't fit the second part of the question.

Bill

acmodeler01

I've been searching all day, the only thing I can come up with is the Wellington. How about another clue?

I think acmodeler01 may have hit the proverbial on the head with the pressurised Wellington Mk. VI? Looks like the same asthetic design team worked on the Nimrod AEW

You shouldn't be so quick to dismiss your research acmodeler!  Yes, as Milair says, it's the pressurised Wellington.  3 were built with Bristol engines, 60 more with Merlins, as they boosted it to 40,000 feet.  The design had some origin with pre-war Farmen attempts at pressurisation, which resulted in the deaths of the pilots.  That is, it used a fuselage within a fuselage., with a dome for the pilot.  Some aspects of the design came from pre-war American airliner attempts at pressurisation.  The technology developed was then given to the Americans later.

So, acmodeler, over to you!

Haha! How about that! It wasn't really a shot in the dark, but I wasn't able to find any pics of the pressuruzed version, I just read a few discriptions of it and it sounded about right... I'll be back with my Q in a bit..

OK, the challenge here is to consolidate all the clues and come up with a way to liberate the answer from the puzzle..

I've seen this type called the most produced American combat aircraft. Although I only found it from one source, with over 18k produced,  I'm sure that isn't an unreasonable claim.

Even though the plane I'm looking for was lost on the way home from Poland, it is (or was) close to me. I'd like you to tell me why, what Its name was, and what made it unique.

Happy searching!

Long shot here;

B-24 "Flying Finger" was made at the Tulsa Aircraft Plant & lost while on a mission to the Polish border. Jack Cody was a gunner on this aircraft & was thrown, unconscious out of "Flying Finger" by another crew member after he ha been injured during an attack by German fighters.

Jack Cody survived & was taken POW, later to be "liberated" & go on to be recognised & properly distinguished?

You are getting pretty close.

Tulsamerica, 42-51430 - The last B-24 made in Tulsa, similar mission, lost on return.

The aircraft had a special connection with Tulsa, was paid for by war bonds from Tulsa & was signed by everyone involved in the making & funding of her.

On a sideline, right or not,   I see that this aircraft may have been found. Some interesting info here;

http://www.samoloty.ow.pl/str429a.htm

You got it! It's a pretty neat story. Here is some local perspective on it:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100811_12_A1_ULNShu241187&archive=yes

http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=12965325

thats a cool story.....you threw us off with the reference to "returning from Poland" because this plane's target that day was in the center of Germany.

I think Blechhammer was at one point Polish?

This combat aircraft had a porcelain WC & a bollard & it wasn't much liked by the enemy either?

forgive me for this, but what is a WC?

WC is water closet, aka toilet.

I'm going to take a shot with the Short Sunderland flying boat.  It had a porcelain toilet, and a detachable bollard.  It was also not liked by the enemy at all, the Germans called it "flying porcupine" because of the number of guns it carried.  It was not a target that the Luftwaffe fliers were eager to engage.  I found an account where one Sunderland was attacked by no less than 6 German Ju-88s....one Ju-88 was shot down, one was heavily damaged and the others ended up giving up the fight.

Sorry, we would usually call it a toilet, but I thought over there WC was a more common name for it?

Anyway, spot on with the with the German pilot & submariners favourite, the Sunderland.

Alright...

EVeryone knows that one of the revolutionary technology features of the new F-22 Raptor is that it can fly supersonic without the use of afterburners.  However, this is actually not new.  There was a single-engine combat plane--meaning it actually did fly combat missions--that was able to routinely exceed the speed of sound in level flight without using afterburner.  The aircraft was given an uprated version of the original engine to make this happen, but it was done across much of the fleet of these aircraft, so it wasnt a one-time thing.  Name the specific variant of the aircraft, and if you know it, name the variant of the engine as well.

May I correct a common error.  The Short Sunderland was not called the Flying Porcupine because of it's guns, but, because the radar version had these huge vertical antenna on it's back.

Saab JAS 39 Gripen NG can supercruise, and with AAM's loaded. Not bad for a ship that can take off in 800m. Saab plans to build a Sea Gripen.

Edit: whoops, no combat experience.

The "Missile with a Man in it", fitted with the J79-GE-19?

The Italian F-104S was fitted with the"19" from factory & many F-104A's (& B's ?) were re-engined with the "19" ?

bondoman

Saab JAS 39 Gripen NG can supercruise, and with AAM's loaded. Not bad for a ship that can take off in 800m. Saab plans to build a Sea Gripen.

Edit: whoops, no combat experience.

no, good guess but not the Gripen....what makes this one so notable is that it is actually a third-generation jet aircraft.  This plane was supercruising more than 30 years ago....

Combat experience?  Twin engined?  Well, that rules out the British, American, and Swedish aircraft, leaving the French or Russian.  As such, I'll hazard a guess of 'Mirage'

osher

Combat experience?  Twin engined?  Well, that rules out the British, American, and Swedish aircraft, leaving the French or Russian.  As such, I'll hazard a guess of 'Mirage'

No, not twin engined, this is a single-engine aircraft.

F-104A with the J79-19 engine

Going to take a stab at it, F-16XL?

Milairjunkie

The "Missile with a Man in it", fitted with the J79-GE-19?

The Italian F-104S was fitted with the"19" from factory & many F-104A's (& B's ?) were re-engined with the "19" ?

wow, I wasnt thinking about the 104.....didnt even think about that one....

Now, add the gear needed to launch and land on a carrier.....because this plane did that.

Wild guess - the F-8 with J57-P-20A?

It wasnt the -20A actually, but the RF-8G Crusaders were upgraded with the J57-P-420 engine.  With this engine, the RF-8s could routinely supercruise.  Not bad at all for an airplane designed in the 1950s.  On a side note, I recall hearing from the pilots that flew the last F-8 in America--the Thunderbird Aviation guys--that the Crusader even in the 1990s could more than hold its own against modern competition.  Against an F-15 Eagle, if the Eagle didnt have external tanks the Crusader would run it clean out of gas.  Against the F-16, the Crusader could simply pull away from it in level flight.  The Crusader made a habit of walking away from F-16s that flew chase on it.  When you think about the extra weight that a Crusader had to have due to being designed for carrier ops, these comparisons take on an even more interesting light.

Over to you, milair!

Yep, should have guessed, fanatic! How on earth does a J57 power an aircraft that fast w/o ABs? This was a good question and I did a bunch of researchy googling. Wrote off the J57.

Cheers - the F-8 is one ot the aircraft from the "golden era" of supersonic flight, a bit like (dare I say it) the EE Lightning - purpose built aircraft before the dawn of the multi-role & the accountants.

OK - This single engined aircraft first flew in the mid 50s & its design has since spawned several significant  models which can trace their origins back to it. among these models (not variants) were a twin engined one & one with a dramaticaly different wing.

As far as I am aware, one model is still in limited service?