Aircraft Trivia Quiz

OK, this aircraft has actually been flown with at least six different combinations of number/type engines, although three of the combinations were simply because there was no choice available at that time.  Of the six different combinations, it can be said that two of them were not at all safe or recommended under normal circumstances, butthey were still done anyways.  Obviously, this is a multi-engine aircraft.  Name the plane, and bonus points if you can name all of the combinations

Here's another hint--of the six combinations, two of them were not flown "operationally", but only for testing.

no takers? 

Another hint--most of the "configurations" that the aircraft flew in did not take place by design, but rather were the result of outside conditions occurring in-flight.  I mentioned 6 configurations, and several of those configurations are specifically related to the number of working powerplants during flight.

I'm thinking, but doubting that it may be the B-36 which was fitted with a variety of different Wasp Major & Wasp Major / J47 combinations, as well as XB-36H/NB-36H flying with 10 engines & a nuclear reactor.

I'm thinking the configuration due to "outside conditions" is the failure of one or more engines due to the pusher Wasp Major's  problem of carburettor icing?

I was thinking B-52, but B-36 just might be it.  I do believe the B-52 has been tested with just 4 engines (big turbo fans similar, or even the same model as on the KC-135R models), but never went into production that way.  I know the B-52H's used the TF-33's and the older B-52G's used the J-47's with water injection.

Not the NB-36--the reactor was carried in the aft bomb bay and did not actually power the engines, it was completely isolated from the aircraft's systems.  The aircraft I am thinking of did actually see some combat.

just a wild guess here, would it happen to be the ME 323 gigant? everything i've read about says it was notorious for engine fires and failures. or is it a more modern aircraft?

It isnt the Gigant.  This aircraft was designed with multiple engines, but they were all of the same type originally.  Since then, the plane has flown with all the original engines replaced with a different piston engine.  another example of this aircraft also flew with a third piston engine type.  Still others flew with no less than four different turboprop engines at different times.  The more I look, the more the number keeps climbing past "6 different configurations". 

Bonus points if you can name the engine types that this plane flew with.

I think it started with two engines.

Best wishes,

Grant

Is the the Avro Manchester family?  It started with 2 engines, the Vultures, then the 4xMerlins, but due shortages, also 4xHercules engines, then 4xGriffon engines, and supposed to switch to Napier Nomad engines.  However, as the Ashton, it had 4xDerwent jet engines

Avro Lincoln?

Nope, it didnt start with two engines, and no, it isnt the Lincoln.  Of the aircraft that carried turboprops, only one carried ONLY turboprops--the others carried both turboprops and pistons at the same time.    Incidentally, the one all-turboprop airplane was completely destroyed in a crash.

This is probably completely wrong, but is it the B-17? Its flown with radials, normal (merlins or alisons i cant remember, this configuration kept bursting into flames because of cooling issues) turboprops, theres photos (maybe photoshopped) of one flying with a single turboprop. And im sure there was some that had mixed engine types.

Like i said, im probably way off mark though. Probably got the time period wrong too.

Scorpiomikey

This is probably completely wrong, but is it the B-17? Its flown with radials, normal (merlins or alisons i cant remember, this configuration kept bursting into flames because of cooling issues) turboprops, theres photos (maybe photoshopped) of one flying with a single turboprop. And im sure there was some that had mixed engine types.

Like i said, im probably way off mark though. Probably got the time period wrong too.

We have a winner!

Yes, it is the B-17.  Originally designed with radials, the plane was known on at least one occason to fly back to England on just one engine due to battle damage.  Of course, we all know about the experiment with four Allison V-12 engines.  And most of us know about the two B-17s that were modified to carry a turboprop engine in the nose--the photo you mentioned is a photoshop, the plane never had the four original engines removed.  But that 5-engine plane did fly with the four original props feathered and only the turboprop engine turning. 

But there's one very unique B-17 that many have never heard of or seen. 

http://aviationtrivia.blogspot.com/2010/06/in-late-1950s-many-of-surplus-boeing-b.html

it would seem that some enterprising folks modified a B-17 to fly with four Rolls Royce Dart turboprop engines.  They had to make the nacelles so long because the Dart engine is much lighter than the original radials were.  The plane, with a full load of fire retardant on board, was a lot faster than a stock B-17, it had so much power that the pilots would make their drops on only two engines so they didnt overstress the airframe by flying too fast.  This plane crashed and burned the same year it was put into service.

Almost forgot, the B-17 flew with the Allison V-12s, the original Wright Cyclones, the Rolls Royce Darts, and three different turboprops installed in the nose.  These were the T56, the T34, and the XT35.  And it flew with another engine stuffed into the nose too--the R-3350.  And, it also flew with a Wright XJ65 jet engine mounted underneath the nose for testing.  Like I said, the more I look, the more I jeep finding....

Cool!

Holy balls, i didnt think id get that right. Gimme a day or 2 to come up with a question.

Lets try this one.

This american aircraft was the first aircraft to have this technology. But the whole aircraft was designed based on old enemy designs. What was the aircraft? What was the aircraft it was designed from? What was the technology?(this should be really easy)

Would it the North American F-86 Sabre using a swept wing design as used previously by the Germans?

(edited)

Mike T.

Nope, swept wing was used on many aircraft before the saber

Actually, the sabre was the first US jet fighter with swept wings. This is from Wiki, but still is valid.

"The North American F-86 Sabre was the first American aircraft to take advantage of flight research data seized from the German aerodynamicists at the end of the war.^[8] This data showed that a thin swept wing could greatly reduce drag and delay compressibility problems which had bedeviled even prop-powered fighters such as the Lockheed P-38 Lightning as fighter speeds approached the speed of sound. By 1944, German engineers and designers had established the benefits of swept wings based on experimental designs dating back to 1940. Study of the data showed that a swept wing would solve their speed problem, while a slat on the wing's leading edge which extended at low speeds would enhance low-speed stability."

Mike T.

The B-2 Stealth Bomber.  It's stealth differed from the F-117 in that it was the first to make use of curved surfaces.  It's design, though first conceived by Jack Northrop and his YB-49, XB-35 flying wings, can be traced directly to the Horton Brothers and the HO-229.  (I was a B-2 Crew Chief in the USAF when it was new).

Not the B-2, there was an earlier one.

As far as the F-86 is concerned, Yes it was the first american aircraft to have swept wings, but it wasnt the first aircraft to have swept wings. I never said it was a first for american technology, i said it was a first for technology in general but it was installed on an american aircraft.

By answering F-86 with swept wings, you have 2 components right though, time frame and wings.

Nice question. I think one of two is still around.

Best wishes,

Grant

The last question was a toughie. 

The F-102 - the first production delta which was spawned from the XF-92 - the first powered delta, which can thank Lippisch?

The Bell X-1, which had some kind of flying control copied from the British Miles M.52 experiment, the first in the world?

I'm going to take a stab and say that you're referring to the Bell X-5.  The technology you're talking about is swing-wings, and the technology came from the German Messerschmitt  P.1101 prototype that never flew. 

If this is the case, I do want to point out that the P.1101 was not the first aircraft design to use this technology.  The brits beat everyone to the punch on this one in 1931 with the Westland-Hill Pterodactyl IV, and their design not only flew, but the sweep of the wingtips could be changed while in flight whereas the P.1101 sweep had to be changed and set before takeoff.

F-8 got it, i didnt know about the pterodactyl which kinda means my question was wrong. Sorry about that.

The X-1 would fit loosley as it was the first aircraft to Officially break the sound barrier (reports of a typhoon and a ME163 doing it during ww2 but they didnt know what was happening at the time) 

But yes i was talking about the X-5 as its design was a direct copy of the P.1101, and the technology i was talking about was in flight variable geometry.

However this has now been proved wrong by F-8 pointing out the Pterodactyl.

Over to you F-8

OK, lets try this one out. 

This pilot was an "ace".  More specifically, he was an "ace in a day".  But he was known for something quite extraordinary aside from that.  In 1942, while flying what is widely considered to be at that time an obsolete fighter, he became an ace in a day, but he shot down slow-flying bombers in the process.  At another engagement earlier that same year, this pilot pulled off the other feat that I am talking about--a feat that proved that he belonged in fighters and not anything else. 

Who was the pilot, and what is this other accomplishment?  I will say this too--this accomplishment was nothing small--at that time, his country's fighter pilots did not have the high kill ratios that were present later in the war, and especially not among this country's navy fliers.

i believe the pilot you are referring to is Lt. Edward O'Hare. in an F4F he shot down 5 bettys in one day flying off the USS Lexington in 1942. i cant remember where but i think it was in the Solomon islands but not sure. Is this what you mean?

TheWildChild

i believe the pilot you are referring to is Lt. Edward O'Hare. in an F4F he shot down 5 bettys in one day flying off the USS Lexington in 1942. i cant remember where but i think it was in the Solomon islands but not sure. Is this what you mean?

 

No, it isnt O'Hare.  The pilot I am looking for was an ace in a day but was also know for something else that was unheard of--in fact, more rare than the ace in a day was.  here's a hint--while the fighter he flew was considered old, the other feat I am talking about involved a second type of aircraft, which was also considered obsolete almost from the moment it entered active service.

Swede Vejtasa-He shot down three Zeroes while flyng an SBD at Coral Sea and during SantaCruz hesho down 7 Kates while flying F4Fs.

He would also down a Rufe with his SBD during the strike on Tulagi just prior to Coral Sea. And score a direct hit on Shoho during that strike at the beginning of Coral Sea, thus helping to sink the first Japanese carrier lost in WWII.