The Beaufighter was a good plane with the great misfortune to be replaced in most things by the Mosquito.
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The Beaufighter was a good plane with the great misfortune to be replaced in most things by the Mosquito.Yeah the Beaufighter definitely seemed to be a Ju 88 "antidote" in the Med, at least when they were operating at low enough altitude. Shores points it out as one of the emerging surprises from his data, those Beaufighters were death-dealing machines.
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The Mosquito was used in maritime strike against ships trawlers and subs in the North Sea as well as other A/C.Well yes for night fighting and intruder bombing but not so much for Maritime, at least so far as I know. In the Med the Beaus still seem to be in the game well into 1944.
What I find interesting about this, is that the British Purchasing Commission agreed in April to let North American to build a new fighter rather than make the P-40. How can the Tempest use a laminar flow wing design from the Mustang if it preceded the Mustang?from wiki "In March 1940, engineers were assigned to investigate the new low–drag laminar flow wing developed by NACA in the United States, which had been used in the new North American P-51 Mustang.
The Tempest didn't precede the Mustang the Typhoon/Tornado (Vulture engine) did. It is a mistake to say wing design of the Mustang it was the aerofoil profiles that are important. The Mosquito used RAF profiles which were more of a laminar flow type but not as good as the Mustang's . In fact none are actually truly laminar flow, just some better than others at preserving smooth flow for longer over the wing.What I find interesting about this, is that the British Purchasing Commission agreed in April to let North American to build a new fighter rather than make the P-40. How can the Tempest use a laminar flow wing design from the Mustang if it preceded the Mustang?
So they painted fake nose cone markings to make it look like a bomber? I love it
Even during the BoB at least one squadron of Gladiators was used in south West England because they couldn't find a landing strip big enough.Another thing that gets passed over a lot, and I mean a LOT, is that no matter what kind of gee-whiz, super-duper, Flash Gordon aircraft you can come up with in the 1930s or even 1940-41, it has to operate from the vast majority of existing fighter and bomber bases. For the British that meant around 500yds of grass, and sometimes that was 500yds to the trees, not a low fence.
What I find interesting about this, is that the British Purchasing Commission agreed in April to let North American to build a new fighter rather than make the P-40. How can the Tempest use a laminar flow wing design from the Mustang if it preceded the Mustang?
Wiki says this about the Tempest, as you say it was the change in profile not a copy of a Mustang wing . "A laminar flow wing adopted for the Tempest series had a maximum thickness-to-chord ratio of 14.5 per cent at the root, tapering to 10 per cent at the tip.[5][8] The maximum thickness of the Tempest wing was set further back at 37.5 per cent of the chord versus 30 per cent for the Typhoon's wing, reducing the thickness of the wing root by five inches on the new design.[5][8]"If you read what pbehn said, Hawkers started to investigate laminar flow aerofoils that had been developed from NACA. The P-51 had a wing profile based on the same research, but I think the profile was different to that used in the Tempest.
Somebody may be able to confirm.
I think the idea was not so much that it looked like a bomber but that it didn't look like what it was, a long range fighter.Why not, the RAF painted yellow leading edges on unarmed bomber Mosquitoes, just like they had for armed Spitfires and Hurricanes.
I think the idea was not so much that it looked like a bomber but that it didn't look like what it was, a long range fighter.
I thought the yellow leading edges were for the benefit of Allied AA crews.
Taken from official R.A.F. sources for verbatim.
From: Fighter Command.
Operational experience in this Command has proved the necessity for a complete change in colour scheme for Day Fighters and following camouflage scheme has been approved by Air Ministry (D.O.R.)
(i) Upper surfaces (A) present dark green is to remain untouched (B) dark earth is to be replaced by a colour obtained by mixing seven parts of sea grey medium and one part of cellon night.
(ii) Under surfaces are to be finished with sea grey medium.
(iii) Spinner to be Sky Type �S�.
(iv) Squadron and aircraft identification letters are to be painted to standard size in Sky Type �S�.
(v) An 18 inch wide vertical band of Sky Type �S� is retained around the fuselage immediately forward of the tail unit.
(vi) Leading edges are to have a yellow strip applied on both wings from the wing tip to half way along wing.
(vii) Standard nation markings are retained.
2. The change is commencing on 15 August 1941 with Nos.10,11, and 12 Groups.
3. The remaining groups will change over in the following order of priority as supplies of dope become available: 13,14,9,82 and 81 Groups.
Define "Obsolete".Well the Fw 190s specifically modified to attack bombers were vulnerable to fighters.
Also a lot of obsolete planes like Bf 110, Ju 88, Me 210, Me 410, Do 217 etc. became useful, at least for a while, as heavy bomber killers, sometimes long after they had become obsolete as front line fighters or bombers.
Also a lot of obsolete planes like Bf 110, Ju 88, Me 210, Me 410, Do 217 etc. became useful, at least for a while, as heavy bomber killers, sometimes long after they had become obsolete as front line fighters or bombers.