What is this?

[Capt. Vick]

Is this some sort of test Hurricane?

 

[Wurger]

This is the Folland Fo.108 also known as Folland 43/37. It was a response to Air Ministry Specification 43/37 for an engine testbed. In the case the engine was the Sabre I. Entering service in 1940, the type was operated by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, Napier and Rolls-Royce, Five of the twelve production aircraft were lost in crashes.

 

[Snautzer01]

nickname "Frightful".

 

[SaparotRob]

nickname "Frightful".

It certainly is.

 

[Snautzer01]

It certainly is.

It was. It crashed a lot.

 

[Denniss]

the question is did it crash because the a/c was poorly designed or because of the engine?

 

[elbmc1969]

the question is did it crash because the a/c was poorly designed or because of the engine?

Engines. Aside from reliability of all those different engines, I don't suppose that constantly switching them in and out did anything any good.

Constantly shifting centers of gravity probably didn't help the pilots.

 

[pb43]

Engines. Aside from reliability of all those different engines, I don't suppose that constantly switching them in and out did anything any good.

Constantly shifting centers of gravity probably didn't help the pilots.

"Constantly shifting centers of gravity probably didn't help the pilots." Elucidate:- What shifting CofG?

​

 

[Capt. Vick]

Wha....? Pretty extravagant splash on engine testbed aircraft!

 

[GrauGeist]

"Constantly shifting centers of gravity probably didn't help the pilots." Elucidate:- What shifting CofG?

​

Various engines had different weights.

If an airframe is designed for a certain engine, it's weight is taken into consideration for the distribution of weight throughout the airframe.

Pulling the original engine and replacing it with a different power plant skews that calculation.

 

[pb43]

Various engines had different weights.

If an airframe is designed for a certain engine, it's weight is taken into consideration for the distribution of weight throughout the airframe.

Pulling the original engine and replacing it with a different power plant skews that calculation.

Yes, but after a change of engine type, they would weigh the aircraft and re-establish CofG inside the limits using ballast, if necessary. So " shifting cofg" is a load of b......

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

The FO.108 was designed as an engine test bed, twelve were built in 1940 and delivered without engines, serials P1774 to P1785. None are in the production reports. Designed with a fully instrumented 2 seat cabin for in flight monitoring of engine performance.

RAF Taken on charge dates
P1774 11-Oct-41
P1775 28-Oct-42
P1776 29-Mar-42
P1777 no card
P1778 31-Dec-42
P1779 11-Apr-43
P1780 13-Jan-43
P1781 25-May-43
P1782 no card
P1783 no card
P1784 30-Jun-44
P1785 no card

If you believe the web the 5 reported lost crashed in 1944. P1781 28 April, P1776 28 August, P1774 and P1779 on 14 September, P1775 on 18 September.