wuzak
Captain
The holding back of the turbos? The Lightning II would have had the turbos.
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Resp:
The holding back of the turbo supercharges very likely also soured the deal.
The Wellington was better. Simple as that.The Botha was hamstrung by having a pair of Perseus engines. It MIGHT have worked with a pair of Hercules. It was as heavy as the Beaufort with a higher wing loading and 500 hp less.
The Lerwick well someone screwed up in the design office I think. if it had been prewar a solution might have been found but it was needed yesterday so the ones built were put into service. Catalinas meant it was not worth bothering redesigning.
The Albermarle was built of non essential materials like steel and timber and was a back up if a lot of aircraft factories got bombed and aluminium ran short. It was designed to be assembled from lots of prefabricated parts built in small workshops. By the time it got delivered it had no role.
Go brush your teeth and sit in the naughty corner.Fortunately for the British, they were never subjected to the Curtiss C-46
Used correctly, I'd say the quantity of types of combat aircraft the French has could have held on against France. What the French needed was well led and equipped ground forces. Proper tanks, like the Pzkw III with its three man turret and radio. And France desperately needed a tactical genius like Napoleon. France has the aircraft it needs, but not the leadership.
They should have waited 6 more months before declaring war.
The Wellington was better. Simple as that.
That proves the old saying "if you desire peace, prepare for war.France had some nice planes coming online, D.520, VG 33, Leo 451, Breguet 693, & MB 174 were all good, and various US types coming in like P-40's, Marylands & Boston's, and maybe those turbo-less Lightnings, & they had some good tanks too (SOMUA S.35 could hold its own with a Pz III) but nothing was quite ready. Pilots & crews didn't have time to train on the new kit, supply chains weren't ironed out, minor problems were still holding things up in production, etc. They should have waited 6 more months before declaring war. Maybe not sell out the Czechs & let them defend their border, they would have gone Ben the Germans some problems.
Er, no. The Air Ministry, ever cheap and ill-informed, was dead set against handed engines because they didn't have a clue about the engineering involved, and simply assumed a left-handed engine would require 100% different parts to a right-handed engine, doubling the costs of spares. The designer of the Whirlwind, Teddy Petter, was a very good aeronautical engineer but not good at handling morons, and was far too blunt when he told the Air Ministry how silly they were being. He had a ton of American research data that showed the benefits of handed engines. The Air Ministry then doubled down on their denial and staged tests that were rigged to deny any benefit from handed engines. The result was a generation of British bombers and heavy fighters with alarming swing on take off, the Short Stirling being a particular example were special procedures and training were required to be allowed to pilot the aircraft. Meanwhile, Petter designed the rudder of the Whirlwind to be slightly concave to reduce the impact of not having handed engines. When Rolls Royce eventually designed handed version of the Merlin, they had to promise the Air Ministry that they would make the engines 95% common in parts. As it was, all they needed to do was add an extra idler gear cog to crankshaft when making the handed Merlin 133/134 for the de Havilland Hornet.The first, Westland Whilrlwind prototype was built with handed Kestrels, and was trialled with handed and non-handed engines. It was found that there was little difference in handling. And since the left-hand Kestrel was specially built for reverse rotation including an opposite hand supercharger, it was decided that it wasn't worth the time and effort.
What's interesting, is how many US types the British ended up with, that were destined for France.
France had a substantial aircraft manufacturing base and if they had focused more on their native designs and not imported US types pre-war, Britain may not have had many of these on hand.
<COUGH> Supermarine Walrus<COUGH>One would not expect a light amphibian to have a significant military role beyond training, communications, VIP transport, and SAR.
Er, no. The Air Ministry, ever cheap and ill-informed, was dead set against handed engines because they didn't have a clue about the engineering involved, and simply assumed a left-handed engine would require 100% different parts to a right-handed engine, doubling the costs of spares. The designer of the Whirlwind, Teddy Petter, was a very good aeronautical engineer but not good at handling morons, and was far too blunt when he told the Air Ministry how silly they were being. He had a ton of American research data that showed the benefits of handed engines. The Air Ministry then doubled down on their denial and staged tests that were rigged to deny any benefit from handed engines. The result was a generation of British bombers and heavy fighters with alarming swing on take off, the Short Stirling being a particular example were special procedures and training were required to be allowed to pilot the aircraft. Meanwhile, Petter designed the rudder of the Whirlwind to be slightly concave to reduce the impact of not having handed engines. When Rolls Royce eventually designed handed version of the Merlin, they had to promise the Air Ministry that they would make the engines 95% common in parts. As it was, all they needed to do was add an extra idler gear cog to crankshaft when making the handed Merlin 133/134 for the de Havilland Hornet.
DO NOT invade Poland. OR ELSE.
Germany invades Poland.
France: I'll get back to you in 6 months.
Surprising!
Handed engines are rarely -- as in almost never -- used on multi-engined commercial aircraft (they are almost completely unknown on modern commercial aircraft; a CN-235 has a ). Heavy bombers of the era didn't have power/weight ratios that different from commercial aircraft, so why would a Stirling need noticeably different procedures than those required for transport aircraft?
Was the Maginot Line constructed or designed with the help of German engineering firms or is that a myth too?
I know that sounds strange but I got that gem from a history teacher when I was in the 7th grade.
Even funnier, at one point during the rush to re-arm, the British came to realise that they didn't have enough foundaries making the armour plate required for their cruiser tank program. The civil service decided to put it out to tender, hoping the Swedes would pick up the slack. They weren't too careful with the tender, and it was eventually fulfilled by - drumroll - a German firm, who got an invaluable insight into how thick the armour was on British cruiser tanks of the day.I thought for sure that had to be a myth. Live and learn.