Recent content by Admiral Beez

Why was the nose so long? The fuel tank ahead of the pilot looks rather shallow. The pilot's downward view to the side was excellent, but forward must have been abysmal.

Indeed. https://www.military.com/missed-email-behind-f35-fighter-jet-parts-diverted-to-china-report What Was in the Shipment? The shipment reportedly included one of the jet's cockpit canopies, which contains stealth technology that only the U.S. and its allies can access. It's an acrylic...

And if you need more, there’s the 3,800 hp Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major used on high-performance air racers like the famous Sea Fury "Dreadnought" for high-speed racing competitions.

Good point. On that note, are there any Bristol sleeve valve engines still flying today?

Interestingly, postwar Centaurus were replaced, with the best-known R-2800 Sea Fury conversions undertaken by American air-racing enthusiasts. “At the beginning of September, a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, which will replace the fighter's original sleeve-valve Bristol Centaurus...

Not Britain, which imported any non-UK engines, but Canada and Australia license built the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp and R-1830 Twin Wasp.

Wasn't that what the Tumansky M-85 and Mitsubishi Kinsei were attempts at as well? At least Alvis would be in good company.

I see the conformal tanks under the wings on this example. I wonder how far a lightly loaded Stranraer with these tanks could fly. Can we escape from Singapore to Ceylon (1,650 miles) or Australia (1,752 miles to Exmouth)?

In 1966 the Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) made a video on the postwar service of a Canadian-made Vickers Supermarine Stranraer. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUG8wdbWqtw Shame the video does not show the interior, but this site below includes interior images from wartime service...

Unnecessary complexity in design, production and maintenance over the otherwise near-universally fielded ohv cannot have helped. It’s the opportunity cost that we’ll never know.

They needed a British competitor for radial engines. Unfortunately Armstrong-Siddeley wasn't up to the task. The failed 1,000hp, 39L Alvis Pelides looks interesting. Having a monopoly on the type may have help to lead Bristol down harebrained paths. All they had to do in the early 1930s was...

Makes one wonder why Bristol bothered. More government money I suppose. Is a jump from Perseus to Hercules unrealistic? Bristol should have thrown out the sleeve valve idea and made their own 30L twin row sodium valve engine.

If the Bristol Taurus (shown below on an Fairey Albacore) was considered for fighters, perhaps as a successor to the Perseus (and precursor to the Hercules), what mods are needed? I assume the Taurus' low-altitude single-stage supercharging will need to be modified. What else?

Here's some fun with ChatGPT and my model and scheme. The tail end is missing. I could see my Gloster Gannet contributing to the Norway Campaign, the MTO and Far East. One challenge will be its 905 hp Bristol Perseus, which cannot match the significantly lighter A6M2's 950 hp Nakajima NK1C...

Well, that's at least one we can't return as-new. Now for some fun from Australia. Missing F-35 fighter jet parts were mistakenly diverted to Hong Kong https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/22/australia/australia-us-f-35-fighter-jet-parts-missing-intl-hnk With the global proliferation of the F-35 I...