SimonCraig1

The Blériot XI?

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

The Blackburn Skua? It was the first Fleet Air Arm monoplane, all metal, with retractable undercarriage. Thanks; Ernie P.



The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single-radial engine aircraft operated by the British Fleet Air Arm which combined the functions of a dive bomber and fighter. It was designed in the mid-1930s, and saw service in the early part of the Second World War. It took its name from the seabird.

Built to Air Ministry specification O.27/34, it was a low-wing monoplane of all-metal (duralumin) construction with a retractable undercarriage and enclosed cockpit. It was the Fleet Air Arm's first service monoplane, and was a radical departure for a service that was primarily equipped with open-cockpit biplanes such as the Fairey Swordfish.
Performance for the fighter role was compromised by the aircraft's bulk and lack of power, resulting in a relatively low speed; the contemporary marks of Messerschmitt Bf 109[N 1] made 290 mph (467 km/h) at sea level over the Skua's 225 mph (362 km/h). However, the aircraft's armament of four fixed, forward-firing 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in the wings and a single flexible, rearward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine gun was effective for the time. For the dive-bombing role, a single 250 lb (110 kg) or 500 lb (230 kg) bomb was carried on a special swinging crutch under the fuselage, which enabled the bomb to clear the propeller arc on release. Four 40 lb (20 kg) bombs or eight 20 lb (9 kg) Cooper bombs could also be carried in racks under each wing. It had large Zap-type air brakes/flaps which helped both in dive bombing and landing on aircraft carriers at sea.

adavis

Next clue...

1) Single engine.

2) Monoplane.

3) First of its type in service with producing nation.

4) Designed for a different engine than that actually used - though airframe design for original engine retained.

Best Regards,
=Adrian=

adavis

Next clue...

1) Single engine.

2) Monoplane.

3) First of its type in service with producing nation.

4) Designed for a different engine than that actually used - though airframe design for original engine retained.

5) Held a world record.

Best Regards,
=Adrian=

SimonCraig1

Vickers Wellesley?

adavis

Next clue...

1) Single engine.

2) Monoplane.

3) First of its type in service with producing nation.

4) Designed for a different engine than that actually used - though airframe design for original engine retained.

5) Held a world record.

6) Fighter.

Best Regards,
=Adrian=

uncljoe

My Feedback: (8)

SWAG .. Douglas F4D Skyray
Semper Fi
Joe

MajorTomski

1) Single engine.

2) Monoplane.

3) First of its type in service with producing nation.

4) Designed for a different engine than that actually used - though airframe design for original engine retained.

5) Held a world record.

6) Fighter.

Number 4 is the give away the McDonnell FH 3 Demon

First designed from scratch swept wing fighter

World record: Shortest USN Carreer of any fighter??? ;-)

adavis

Next clue...

1) Single engine.

2) Monoplane.

3) First of its type in service with producing nation.

4) Designed for a different engine than that actually used - though airframe design for original engine retained.

5) Held a world record.

6) Fighter.

7) Less than 200 built.

Best Regards,
=Adrian=

MajorTomski

Ok how about the Bristol M.1 Monoplane Scout?

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Just a wild guess here, but the F-35 Lightning II seems to fit. Thanks; Ernie P.


The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defense missions with stealth capability. The F-35 has three main models; the F-35A is a conventional takeoff and landing variant, the F-35B is a short take off and vertical-landing variant, and the F-35C is a carrier-based variant.

The F-35 is descended from the X-35, the product of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. JSF development is being principally funded by the United States, with the United Kingdom and other partner governments providing additional funding. The partner nations are either NATO members or close U.S. allies. It is being designed and built by an aerospace industry team led by Lockheed Martin. The F-35 carried out its first flight on 15 December 2006.

The United States plans to buy a total of 2,443 aircraft to provide the bulk of its tactical airpower for the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy over the coming decades. The United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Canada, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Turkey, Israel and Japan are part of the development program and may equip their air services with the F-35.

Engines

The F-35's main engine is the Pratt & Whitney F135. The General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 was under development as an alternative engine until December 2011 when the manufacturers canceled work on it. The F135/F136 engines are not designed to supercruise in the F-35. The STOVL versions of both power plants use the Rolls-Royce LiftSystem, patented by Lockheed Martin and developed and built by Rolls-Royce. This system is more like the Russian Yak-141 and German VJ 101D/E than the preceding generation of STOVL designs, such as the Harrier Jump Jet in which all of the lifting air went through the main fan of the Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine.

The Lift System is composed of a lift fan, drive shaft, two roll posts and a "Three Bearing Swivel Module" (3BSM). The 3BSM is a thrust vectoring nozzle which allows the main engine exhaust to be deflected downward at the tail of the aircraft. The lift fan is near the front of the aircraft and provides a counterbalancing thrust using two counter-rotating blisks. It is powered by the engine's low-pressure (LP) turbine via a drive shaft and gearbox. Roll control during slow flight is achieved by diverting unheated engine bypass air through wing-mounted thrust nozzles called Roll Posts. Like lift engines, the added lift fan machinery increases payload capacity during vertical flight, but is dead weight during horizontal flight. The cool exhaust of the fan also reduces the amount of hot, high-velocity air that is projected downward during vertical take off, which can damage runways and aircraft carrier decks.

To date, F136 funding has come at the expense of other parts of the program, reducing the number of aircraft built and increasing their costs. The F136 team has claimed that their engine has a greater temperature margin which may prove critical for VTOL operations in hot, high altitude conditions.

Pratt & Whitney is also testing higher thrust versions of the F135, partly in response to GE's claims that the F136 is capable of producing more thrust than the 43,000 lbf (190 kN) supplied by early F135s. The F135 has demonstrated a maximum thrust of over 50,000 lbf (220 kN) during testing. The F-35's Pratt & Whitney F135 is the most powerful engine ever installed in a fighter aircraft.

The F135 is the second (radar) stealthy afterburning jet engine and like the Pratt & Whitney F119 from which it was derived, has suffered from pressure pulsations in the afterburner at low altitude and high speed or "screech". In both cases this problem was fixed during development of the fighter program.
Turbine bearing health in the engine will be monitored with thermoelectric powered wireless sensors.

zippome

Another SWAG,
How about the F-11 F1 Tiger.
First supersonic carrier fighter,
First to shoot itself down .
199 built.

Thanks,
Zip

adavis

Next clue...

1) Single engine.

2) Monoplane.

3) First of its type in service with producing nation.

4) Designed for a different engine than that actually used - though airframe design for original engine retained.

5) Held a world record.

6) Fighter.

7) Less than 200 built.

8) Reconaissance version considered more successful than fighter.

Best Regards,
=Adrian=

SimonCraig1

Totally off the wall.... the Pitcairn PCA-2?

JohnnyS

Heinkel He 100?

JohnnyS

Sorry: Duplicate post.

adavis

Next clue...

1) Single engine.

2) Monoplane.

3) First of its type in service with producing nation.

4) Designed for a different engine than that actually used - though airframe design for original engine retained.

5) Held a world record.

6) Fighter.

7) Less than 200 built.

8) Reconaissance version considered more successful than fighter.

9) Most armed with 2 cannon.

Best Regards,
=Adrian=

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Okay; time to get serious. How about the Supermarine Swift? Thanks; Ernie P.


The Supermarine Swift was a British single-seat jet fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF), built by Supermarine during the 1950s. After a protracted development period, the Swift entered service as an interceptor, but, due to a spate of accidents, its service life was short. A photo reconnaissance variant resolved some of the Swift's teething problems.

The Swift evolved from a number of prototypes, the first being the Type 510, a prototype jet fighter. It was based on the Supermarine Attacker, a straight-wing Fleet Air Arm jet with a tailwheel undercarriage, but had swept wings, first flying in 1948, a year after the first navalised prototype Attacker had flown. The Type 510 became the first British aircraft to have both swept wings and a swept tailplane. The Type 510 also had the distinction of becoming the first swept-wing aircraft to take off and land from an aircraft carrier, during trials for the Royal Navy's (RN) Fleet Air Arm (FAA). However, RN interest soon waned despite Supermarine's modifications to the aircraft to improve aspects of its performance.

The second aircraft in the ancestral lineage that led to the Swift was the Type 528, which first flew in March 1950. Soon after its first flight, many modifications were made to its structure and it was then designated the Type 535, making its first flight under this name in August 1950. The final variant was the Type 541, a pre-production model of the Swift for which the Air Ministry had placed an order of over one hundred as a fallback in case the Hawker Hunter programme failed. The Swift was also seen by the Ministry as a replacement for the Gloster Meteor in the role of air defence.

The Type 541 replaced its predecessors' Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal flow turbojet engine with the axial-flow Rolls-Royce AJ.65 turbojet engine and its successor Avon engines. The fuselage, which had been given a cross section suitable for the Nene engine, was not redesigned for the narrower AJ.65 and Avon engines. Two Type 541s were produced, the first prototype making its maiden flight in 1951 and the second the following year.

The Swift had been ordered into "super-priority" production, a policy created by Sir Winston Churchill who had become Prime Minister in 1951 at a time of particular tension between NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War; the Korean War had begun in 1950. The first production variant was a fighter designated the Swift F Mk 1, of which 18 were eventually built. The first flight took place on 25 August 1952 and the F.1 entered service with No. 56 Squadron RAF in February 1954, becoming the RAF's first swept-wing aircraft. It was powered by a 7,500 lbf (33.4 kN)-thrust Avon 109 engine and carried an armament of two 30 mm ADEN cannon.
The second variant was the F Mk 2, of which 16 were built. This was an F 1 with two extra ADENs. However, the addition of these cannons caused problems as the structural modifications required to house the increased ammunition load led to dangerous handling problems with the aircraft. Numerous further modifications were then required to resolve this issue.
The third Swift variant was the F Mk 3, with 25 being built and powered by an Avon 114 engine with reheat. It was never taken into operational service with the Royal Air Force and was used as an instructional airframe. The next variant was the F Mk.4, which included a variable incidence tailplane intended to correct the handling problems that the Swift suffered from. It did indeed fix the problem; however, it was found that reheat could not actually be ignited at high altitude which added to the problems that the Swift variants suffered from.
The next in the line, the FR Mk 5, had a longer nose to accommodate a number of cameras to suit the reconnaissance role and had other modifications to its structure. The FR 5 also reverted to the F 1's 2 ADEN armament. It first flew in 1955 and entered service the following year. It performed its reconnaissance mainly at low level, making the reheat problem at high altitude irrelevant.
Two further variants were designed; the PR Mk 6 was an unarmed photo reconnaissance variant. However, it was a short-lived program due to ever-present reheat problems. The last variant was the F Mk 7 and was the first Swift variant to be fitted with guided-missiles, being armed with the Fairey Fireflash air-to-air missile and was powered by a new Avon engine. Only fourteen were built and none ever entered service with the RAF, being relegated - along with its prototype missiles - to guided-missile trials duties.
General characteristics
• Crew: 1
• Length: 42 ft 3 in (12.88 m)
• Wingspan: 32 ft 4 in (9.85 m)
• Height: 13 ft 2 in (4.02 m)
• Wing area: 328 ft² (30.5 m²)
• Empty weight: 13,435 lb (6,094 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 21,673 lb (9,381 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Avon RA.7R/114 turbojet
o Dry thrust: 7,175 lbf (31.9 kN)
o Thrust with afterburner: 9,450 lbf (42.0 kN)
Performance
• Maximum speed: at sea level 713 mph (1148 km/h)
• Range: 630 mi (1,014 km)
• Service ceiling: (service) 45,800 ft (13,960 m)
• Rate of climb: (initial) 14.660 (74.5 m/s)
Armament
• 2 × 30 mm ADEN cannons and provisions for bombs and rockets

adavis

Supermarine Swift is correct (also briefly held the world speed record) - Over to you...

Best Regards,
=Adrian=

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Thank you, Sir. That was rather a good question. Sorry I was slow in responding, but my lovely bride decided we were all through looking at new cars; and she was ready to buy something. Thanks; Ernie P.



This was quite an unusual bird.

Question: What warbird do I describe?

Clues:

(1) This was an army aircraft.

(2) Originally intended for observation and artillery spotting duty, it was later used for anti-submarine duty.

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

Douglas O-46

adavis

Kayaba Ka-1?

Best Regards,
=Adrian=

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Adrain; you hacking my computer? That's a pretty fair job, Sir; and you are, of course, correct. But I have to ask how you nailed it so quickly. Well, you are up again. Thanks; Ernie P.


Question: What warbird do I describe?

Clues:

(1) This was an army aircraft.

(2) Originally intended for observation and artillery spotting duty, it was later used for anti-submarine duty.

(3) Based on a foreign design.

(4) The army liked the plane because it was easy to maintain and could take off from short runways.

(5) The anti-submarine use came from simple necessity.

ANSWER: The Kayaba Ka-1

The Kayaba Ka-1 was a Japanese autogyro, seeing service during World War II.
The Imperial Japanese Army developed the Ka-1 autogyro for reconnaissance, artillery-spotting, and anti-submarine uses. The Ka-1 was based on an American design, the Kellett KD-1A, which had been imported to Japan in 1939, but which was damaged beyond repair shortly after arrival. The Kayaba factory was then asked by the Army First to develop a similar machine, and the first prototype was flying on 26 May 1941. The craft was initially developed for use as an observation platform and for artillery spotting duties. The Japanese Army liked the craft's short take-off span, and its low maintenance requirements. The production began in 1941 and the first autogyros were assigned to artillery units for artillery spotting. These carried two crewmen: a pilot and a spotter.

Later, the Japanese Army commissioned a small aircraft carrier, Akitsu Maru, intended for coastal antisubmarine (ASW) duties. The Ka-1 was modified by eliminating the spotter's position in order to carry one small depth charge. The carrier was later sunk by American submarines on November 15, 1944.

The prototype, Ka-1 was essentially the repaired Kellett KD-1A. The Ka-1 had a change of the engine to the 240 hp Argus As 10c. But only about 20 Ka-1 were made.
The production of the remainder were all Ka-2. The Ka-2 returned to the same Jacobs L-4MA-7 engine as the Kellett KD-1. Total Ka-1 and Ka-2 production was approximately 240.

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Adrian; you are up Sir. Please post your question. Thanks; Ernie P.

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

All;

We have apparently lost Adavis for a while. Responses are required within 24 hours, and Adrian hasn't responded in almost three days. So, the floor is open to the first respondent with a warbird question. First come, first served, etc. Thanks; Ernie P.