swampyankee
Chief Master Sergeant
- 3,994
- Jun 25, 2013
We're not allowed to teach historical American failures, except the Bell FM-2I thought everyone would remember the iconic North American O-47A
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We're not allowed to teach historical American failures, except the Bell FM-2I thought everyone would remember the iconic North American O-47A
It did lead to the more well known Fairey Barracuda.We're not allowed to teach historical American failures
HiIt did lead to the more well known Fairey Barracuda.
Just fit Merlin engine, fold the wing and sling torpedo underneath
Just about everybody's "observation" planes of the late 30s were operational failures. Actual combat had changed a lot faster than the requirements. And in many Air Forces one airplane (due to budgets?) was being asked to do too many different missions. And often without support (fighter escort).
Wither they were flight failures (didn't fly well) or had structural problems may be a different story.
This one is allowed, too,We're not allowed to teach historical American failures, except the Bell FM-2
Just like Willy did on the prototype BF109! Gimme more horses!Good points. IMO, the Gloster F5/34 suffered in prototype trials due to the Mercury engine they were obliged to use instead of the not ready Perseus. Stick a Kestrel onto the Spitfire prototype and see how it goes.
I wonder if the folks at Daimler AG took apart the RR Kestrel and saw anything worthwhile. The Germans must have captured a few Merlins in 1939-40.Just like Willy did on the prototype BF109! Gimme more horses!
The RAF did as well.USN loved that angled torpedo in 1934
This land-based Swordfish has an angled torpedo. Maybe the FAA did both ways?The FAA had developed this wire tensioning thing to cause the torpedo to belly-flop in order to be able to attack targets hiding in shallow harbors. So I guess this meant they didn't want the angled torpedo mounting?
That beast was a very competent observation airplane and it did yeoman service along the Atlantic coast and the Caribbean looking for U-boats during the war. It only had a Wright R-1820 in it, but could cruise at 220 mph. So, while it was replace by L-4 / L-5 airplane in the ETO (rightly so), it helped the war effort along the coast.Lets not forget this beast
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The last hurrah for this was at the attack on Pearl harbor when a couple were destroyed on the ground
The caption for this reads:-This land-based Swordfish has an angled torpedo. Maybe the FAA did both ways?
View attachment 794761