Racing a Suzuki X7 against 3 other X7s I could not only feel the frame flexing I could see the others flexing too, it was a harmonic thing in the steering head.
Blackburn Shark quote
- Thread starter Shortround6
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Great stuff and very true. My favourite quote about British stuff comes from a test pilot's report about a particular aircraft of which type I forget, possibly the Blackburn Botha, which it certainly could apply to. The pilot wrote "Access to the cockpit is difficult. It should have been made impossible..."
Oh the joy. A travesty of an aeroplane. The TB certainly earned the ridicule aimed at it. It was a long, hard road that Blackburn took to gain credibility...
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
The subsequent replacement of the Shark with the Swordfish is a puzzling one and, on analysis can only be put to a few deciding factors. The Shark outperformed the Swordfish and had other features that made it an eminently better choice, but of course, as SR points out, its Tiger engine lets it down.
A bit of background. In the Great War, Robert Blackburn built up his manufacturing empire in Yorkshire, building several factories to enable the construction of aeroplanes under licence and of his own design, including in an abandoned skating rink in Leeds - the Olympia Works at Roundhay Road. The TB is an indication that he had a bit of work to do. Nonetheless, in 1917 (maybe 1918?) he did approach the Admiralty with the lofty aspiration of wanting to be the principal supplier of its naval aircraft needs. Richard Fairey at this stage had similar aspirations, as the most prevalent supplier of aircraft to the Admiralty was at the time Short Brothers and Sopwith. Both Fairey and Blackburn were in competition with each other throughout the 20s and 30s, both being major suppliers of RAF FAA aircraft. Blackburn branched of into large flying boats for the RAF but on carriers specialised in torpedo aircraft, starting with being the major manufacturer of the Sopwith Cuckoo, the RAF's first torpedoplane, then supplied the FAA with the Dart, Baffin and Ripon. Fairey, meanwhile produced such ubiquitous types as the Fairey IIID, 'IIIF, Seal and Gordon general reconnaissance types, which were prevalent aboard warships as well as carriers, not to mention the Flycatcher fighter, which apparently was an excellent little machine for its day. The TSR (Torpedo Spotter Reconnaissance) spec that the Swordfish was built to, combining various roles into one airframe, as was the policy at the time, gave Fairey a march over Blackburn and its ironic to note that Blackburn eventually began manufacturing Swordfish under licence while Fairey was building Albacores, Fulmars, Fireflies and Barracudas.
There might have been some political bias involved in the decision to equip with Swordfish, aside from the fact that the Admiralty's aircraft decisions were made by the RAF at the time. The Swordfish had much going for it in the 1930s; it was strong, easy to maintain, reliable and could carry a lot of stores - hence its nickname "Stringbag". By WW2 though, it was obsolete. Eric Brown, not known for not having an opinion, commented on how he thought it terrible of the Admiralty to send young men off to war in such outdated equipment as the Swordfish and was rightly very critical of this, probably because he was one of those young men who would have had to go to war in outdated FAA aircraft, if it weren't for the timely decision to buy F4Fs from the USA.
This is the memorial stone erected at Manston airfield in Kent, from where Swordfish took off to attack the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in 1942 and never returned.
2307 Manston FAA Memorial
A bit of background. In the Great War, Robert Blackburn built up his manufacturing empire in Yorkshire, building several factories to enable the construction of aeroplanes under licence and of his own design, including in an abandoned skating rink in Leeds - the Olympia Works at Roundhay Road. The TB is an indication that he had a bit of work to do. Nonetheless, in 1917 (maybe 1918?) he did approach the Admiralty with the lofty aspiration of wanting to be the principal supplier of its naval aircraft needs. Richard Fairey at this stage had similar aspirations, as the most prevalent supplier of aircraft to the Admiralty was at the time Short Brothers and Sopwith. Both Fairey and Blackburn were in competition with each other throughout the 20s and 30s, both being major suppliers of RAF FAA aircraft. Blackburn branched of into large flying boats for the RAF but on carriers specialised in torpedo aircraft, starting with being the major manufacturer of the Sopwith Cuckoo, the RAF's first torpedoplane, then supplied the FAA with the Dart, Baffin and Ripon. Fairey, meanwhile produced such ubiquitous types as the Fairey IIID, 'IIIF, Seal and Gordon general reconnaissance types, which were prevalent aboard warships as well as carriers, not to mention the Flycatcher fighter, which apparently was an excellent little machine for its day. The TSR (Torpedo Spotter Reconnaissance) spec that the Swordfish was built to, combining various roles into one airframe, as was the policy at the time, gave Fairey a march over Blackburn and its ironic to note that Blackburn eventually began manufacturing Swordfish under licence while Fairey was building Albacores, Fulmars, Fireflies and Barracudas.
There might have been some political bias involved in the decision to equip with Swordfish, aside from the fact that the Admiralty's aircraft decisions were made by the RAF at the time. The Swordfish had much going for it in the 1930s; it was strong, easy to maintain, reliable and could carry a lot of stores - hence its nickname "Stringbag". By WW2 though, it was obsolete. Eric Brown, not known for not having an opinion, commented on how he thought it terrible of the Admiralty to send young men off to war in such outdated equipment as the Swordfish and was rightly very critical of this, probably because he was one of those young men who would have had to go to war in outdated FAA aircraft, if it weren't for the timely decision to buy F4Fs from the USA.
This is the memorial stone erected at Manston airfield in Kent, from where Swordfish took off to attack the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in 1942 and never returned.
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
However, all those events led up to a pivotal point in history.
If Blackburn managed to get contracts over Fairy, then the Swordfish would have faded away and not been on hand years later when the Royal Navy needed to stop the Bismark.
Funny how little twists amd turns can have such an impact on history.
If Blackburn managed to get contracts over Fairy, then the Swordfish would have faded away and not been on hand years later when the Royal Navy needed to stop the Bismark.
Funny how little twists amd turns can have such an impact on history.
They sling oil everywhere because that's how they mark their territory.
