Aircraft Trivia Quiz

It was Eric Sevareid!

That was an easy one for me because just a few months ago I read this excellent book on the CBI "The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II" by Donovan Webster

I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning the story behind the Burma road.  It was very interesting reading.

This aircraft was the first operation American bomber capable of Mach 2.  Name the aircraft....

Was it Convair's B-58 Hustler?

Mike T.

telsono wrote:

Was it Convair's B-58 Hustler? Mike T.

Bingo!  You're it!

Bah! Beat to the punch on one I actually knew!  Oh well, nicely done, Mike.  Keep 'em coming!

Let's see:

Jimmy Doolittle was on bound for North Africa with the Torch landings.  His aircraft had mechanical problems and was delayed so he lagged behind the other aircraft in this flight.

What type of aircraft was he in?

After it was attacked what position did he assume?

Who were his attackers? (unit and aircraft type)

Bonus question: What was the name of the British actor who died in a passenger aircraft by an attack by this same Axis unit?

Mike T. 

OK I knew the actors name but the rest I had to research.

Doolittle was in a B-17. He became leader of the 12th AF, in which my father-in-law served at that time in the 414th.

The attackers were JU-88s of V Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 40. The Luftwaffe's only long range maritime fighter unit. Destroyed in the air on 6/6/44.

The actor was Leslie Howard, who was rumored to be a spy, or the Germans might have thought Churchill was on the plane. It was a BOAC DC-3. Hmmm, got a BOAC L-749 and a BOAC Strato Bruiser in the built area, may need to look into that one- flight 777.

And here's a funny story, straight out of Air and Space, prompted by Telsonos comment about what position Doolittle might have assumed after the attack.

A C-46 target tug is towing a target for a couple of F-89s, which are armed with the wingtip pods with 104 2.75 inch rockets. Simultaneously the whole crew sees a Scorpion coming from the side lined up on them, not the target. It lets loose everything it has from close range, but miraculously no rockets hit the Commando.

In the post flight debrief, the Curtiss pilot is last in and tells his story. After he's done the lead officer says,"Captain, do you know that at the moment of attack your whole crew took the same action?".

"No Sir, what did they do?".

"They closed their eyes."

It's kind of not funny, but a good story.

Bondoman got it.

The B-17F was being used as a VIP transport and only the tail position, ventral and dorsal turrets were manned. One of the first attacks injured the co-pilot. Jimmy Doolittle took over the right seat as the aircraft captain took the plane into violent manuevers to evade the 3 Ju-88C's. They thought they were gonners until the German flight leader came wing tip to wing tip to them. The German pilot looked over at them and then turned for home. They must have ran out of ammunition. One of the threesome of Ju-88's was trailing smoke as it left stung by the bomber's defense. The B-17 absorbed alot of damage from its attackers. I believe it had to be replaced by another aircraft at Gibraltar.

There is controversy as to how and why Leslie Howard's flight to Portugal was intercepted. Howard was particularly vocal in his anti-Nazi sentiments and worked on many propaganda films for the British for little or no pay. Hitler was said to have had a personal anger against this actor based upon his propaganda activities and may be this was why that the presence of the scheduled flight was not told to KG 40. The pilot of the Ju-88 that shot the DC-3 down stated that if he knew it was a civilain airliner he would have escorted it to France and taken the passengers prisoners. They were only told that military aircraft were in the area. Another one of the controversies of WWII.

Mike T.

Can you name this 375 hp engine introduced in 1921? It was one of the first cast block aviation engines built.

That's a Curtiss D-12

-Bret 

Sorry for the slow uptake. Busy weekend towing gliders.

This aircraft was designed for a world speed record attempt for Britain to take the record away from Germany. It used a new, uniquely configured  powerplant and an innovative radiator design and was built of wood construction. Started in 1938 construction continued into the start of the war. One was flown briefly.

-Bret 

That would be the Napier Heston Racer- a truly gorgeous aircraft- if only it had a onboard fire control system....

Keith

THat would be it.

-Bret 

Okay- always the bad part of answering.

Name the german suicide/ desparation weapon that utilized parts from the Ju-52 married to parts of the V-1 utilizing excess excess stores of parts from each.

Cheers all, Keith

Beaten!

I can think of several Nazi Vengance (V) weapons, piloted V1s, rocket interceptors, Mistel's, but none that seem to meet the V1/JU-52 combination.

Someone please put me out of my agony!!

Cheers.

Well I am cheating just a little bit...This concoction did indeed fly-but over water. Take the front 3/4 of a ju 52 float( say about 24" or so in behind the step)- add a simple rudder assembly using a control stick ( this was ,after all, a Luftwaffe project) and mount a V-1 motor up above and behind the newly created cockpit -call it the EMB  Tornado and you now have an anti- invasion explosive motorboat- that is , when you fill the nose full of high explosive. Next step is to find a young pilot recruit and convince him he can "bale out" of this at speed after aiming it and you've got the idea.

unfortunately- or fortunatly if any of your relatives were Luftwaffe recruits, this creative use of spare parts would capsize every time the wind kicked up or it approached any rate of speed.

But it truly does look cool.

Someone take it away- please.

regards, Keith

This aircraft made it's public debut in 1961, to a mixed reaction of shock & delight. It had 4 mixed engines in an unusual configuration, a high mounted delta wing & bicycle landing gear.

The aircraft was shelved shortly after it's public debut. 

No, I think they would fall into the Hexcycle category.

Please correct me if the latin/Greek here is wrong.

Milairjunkie wrote:

No, I think they would fall into the Hexcycle category. Please correct me if the latin/Greek here is wrong.

If that's a clue, I didn't get it.  By your use of the word 'shock' I have been assuming its a Soviet craft (although not sure how delight factors in . . .) and the Soviets did have an airshow in July of '61 at Tushino. which was the first in several years.  I found a reference to them displaying a large 4-engine delta wing aircraft but so far nothing more.

Correct, M-50 Bounder.

For what it is worth, story has it that on one occasion it did go supersonic by some very small decimals, but apparently the Russian kit of the time was not accurate enough to confirm or deny this.

lack of performance due to engine delays & the inability to use burners on anything but takeoff for some reason.

Sorry, forgot to add;

"although not sure how delight factors in"

The delight was the Soviets at the shock / pant filling the aircraft caused western onlookers.

What did you mean by "4 mixed engines"?  I was thinking jets and turboprops, or ramjets or some other technology. It had 4 jets all the same, although certainly in an unusual configuration with 2 in pods and 2 on the wingtips. This was the plane first seen by the West a few weeks before the 1961 airshow.

Milairjunkie wrote:

Sorry, forgot to add; "although not sure how delight factors in" The delight was the Soviets at the shock / pant filling the aircraft caused western onlookers.

The M50 was planned to start with 4 VD-7M motors from the Tu-22 as a stop gap before the delivery of M16-17 engines. VD-7M's couldn't be converted in time, so VD-7A's were fitted, the M50 then becoming the M50A. In early 1961, the two inboard engines were upgraded to VD-7MA afterburning units.

In the 1961 the aircraft seen at display practice & display had 2 VD-7A's + 2 VD-7MA's.

 I belive it's someones turn to chuck a new one into the pot!

OK, so i actually got it right ! And now i`m with the tough part, asking the next question. So what would it be ? Here it is, that plane was built in 1949 and took it`s maiden flight on september the sixteenth the same year and was a part of the competition for first all weather interceptor for the USSR. Even though his counterpart made his first flight almost 5 months earlier it was obviously the better plane. It was powered by two RD-45F engines, and those were fit inside quite ingeniously. Despite the obvious quality of the aircraft, the generals desided that it`s not worth it against massive nuclear B-29 attacks so they just cancelled the order /first order was placed in 1951 for 50 aircraft/. Name that plane.

P.S. Sorry if i was slow with the question but keep in mind the time difference !