Thursday's clue. Thanks; Ernie P.
What warbird do I describe?
1. This aircraft came into being at a period in time when aircraft companies were engaged in intense international competition to set new world records.
2. Advances in aircraft technology were made as a result of this competition.
3. And the laurels were used to demonstrate the technological superiority of the companies, and countries, involved.
4. The expense involved soon grew beyond the reach of a single aircraft company.
5. And those companies were increasingly backed in their attempts by the nations involved.
6. This is the story of one such company, and the plane it produced.
7. This plane was built to counter several foreign planes which set some new records.
8. Our subject plane set several outright world records.
9. And by a fair margin.
10. Interestingly, several of the foreign record setters used engines produced by our subject aircraft’s manufacturer.
11. And yet, the airframes being produced by the same company were lagging behind.
12. A completely new airframe was obviously required for this attempt.
13. And it would be a purpose-built research aircraft designed specifically for this one record attempt.
14. One of the company’s engineers proposed a new aircraft to set the record.
15. But nothing happened until a foreign plane set another record which drew public attention to the situation.
16. The proposal was for a single seat plane using retractable landing gear and a supercharged engine.
17. Although, in the end, it was decided to save weight and use fixed landing gear.
18. The officials finally issued a proposal to several companies, which was for a pair of prototypes.