Aircraft Trivia Quiz

Mike - good guess, but no...keep at it...

Brews - No on the Singapore, however, thanks for the info on the radials...I didn't know that either...

As a bonus, when y'all get this, I've got a great profile of it, that I plan to build at some point, that I'll post...

cardshark_14 wrote:

Anyways, now we need a question, so... This was a WWII four engined bird that started life as a twin. It served with many countries, though not always in WWII, including Poland, New Zealand, India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Canada. The initial four engined model had a very severe flight stability problem. It was used for everything from glider tug, maritime recon, to multiple types of transport, including civilian, paratroop, aircraft fuselage, and even Maharajah.

Short Singapore

As for the question: here's my wild, shot-in-the-dark-with-no-references guess:

Avro Lancaster. 

Yura K wrote:

Brews, you have the right idea, except Pe-2 had in-lines, not radials, as far as I remember.

Some (not many) had radials, probably due to inadequte Klimov supply.

No problem on the dates. I don't know for sure what is accurate on that and what is not, as my sources say multiple things...

Anyways, now we need a question, so...

This was a WWII four engined bird that started life as a twin. It served with many countries, though not always in WWII, including Poland, New Zealand, India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Canada. The initial four engined model had a very severe flight stability problem. It was used for everything from glider tug, maritime recon, to multiple types of transport, including civilian, paratroop, aircraft fuselage, and even Maharajah.

It is the Tu-2, Cardshark got it!

Those are the dates that I have. Did I get the dates wrong then? If so, my sincere apologies!

Anything that continued in service after the war, would have been allied, or something German snapped up by the Soviets...

As far as allied twins in service after the war, I can only think of a few, and mot aren't bombers... There's the A-26, which served into Vietnam, the C-47 and its derivatives, and a few flying boats, like the Mariner, which served into the 50s, but none of them started with inlines...

I'm stumped. The Pe-2 meets most of your criteria except that it was designed in 1937, and was in combat in 1941.

Anything that was in service after the war must have been Allied (if we exclude the Ju-88), and nothing Italian was of such high performance.

Again - stumped!

Is it my turn then?

Okay... Here goes.

This aircraft was designed from 1938 onwards as a medium bomber. The first prototype, when flown in 1941, attained a speed of  635 km/h, which was on par with many of the fighters of the day. It was then redesigned to accept one more crew member, and redesigned again in November 1941 to accept radials instead of the origninal in-line engines, because the production of the latter was discontinued. I reached combat units early in 1942, and was one of the fastest medium bombers of the entire war.

No, it's not the Ju-88, and it's not the Mosquito.

Indeed it is!

I may have to make my questions a bit harder.... 

Well, the layout sounds like a Handley Page V/1500, but that's both too late and too successful...and it doesn't share a name with any of the Presidents...

This is a good one! 

Alright, let's try something a bit harder....

This large biplane, built in 1914, was heavily influenced by the Russian Sikorsky Ilya Muromets, although this one was built by the British.

Despite having four 200 hp engines (arranged in two push-pull nacelles), it still proved underpowered.  It's rudder was also undersized, and the center of gravity too far aft, all of which prevented it from really attaining true flight.  These problems were (sort of) fixed with a larger rudder and an eight-foot extension to the nose, which is how most photos of this beast depict it.  The design never when anywhere after that, and only one was built.

Hint:

The designer/builder shares his name with an American president who came into office nearly 50 years later. 

Dornier Do 212.

Funky lookin prop gizmo, too... 

Okay, then my other guess would be Dornier Do-14? If not, then I don't know.

Yura K,

That's the right company, but this bird was a bit more advanced than that. Also, it only had one flight, and that only with a lot of help.

Hmm...I've never heard of that particular one...does it match all the criteria?  If it does, its all yours, if it doesn't, here's another clue.

The manufacturer was also responsible for the design of one of Germany's twin-engined bombers invoved in the BoB, numerous flying boats, and even a push me-pull you airplane.   

Doh!  I did it again!

Okay, here goes...

This was a small WWII era amphibian, designed by a German company in Switzerland.  It had 1 engine, and a very distinguishing characteristic about the prop.  It sort of flew once, with the help of a much bigger flying boat.  It has been kitted in at least 1/72 scale.

One or two things, yes.  But the Inflexible was their first monoplane, I believe.  And the largest one in 1928, at that!  Here's something that suprised me- a youtube video!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=R5TUpaxw4ME 

Nice job cardshark.  The floor is yours!