This Date in Aviation History: January 21 - January 24 [New Destinations]

[ttyymmnn]

@CarsOfFortLangley

There is a 1954 British film titles Conflict of Wings, also known by the much more folksy title Fuss Over Feathers, that portrays the conflict that arises when the RAF, preparing for the Malay Emergency, want to use a bird sanctuary for a bombing range. Kind of a dumb movie, but there are some great shots of early postwar RAF jet aircraft, including brief shots of the little-known Supermarine Swift.

[siennaman]

@Skyfire77 said in This Date in Aviation History: January 21 - January 24 [New Destinations]:

@ttyymmnn said in This Date in Aviation History: January 21 - January 24 [New Destinations]:

Vickers Type 161

Huh, neat.

An interesting mix of old and new for the era.

[ttyymmnn]

@siennaman said in This Date in Aviation History: January 21 - January 24 [New Destinations]:

An interesting mix of old and new for the era.

Definitely thinking outside the box. While the use of a pusher prop was certainly not new, I'm not aware of any other attempts to integrate it into the fuselage.

[facw]

@ttyymmnn You'd think they'd have done better to just ditch the rear fuselage section and end up with something more like a WWI Saab 21:

I assume they thought routing the control cables off the centerline was too tricky or something along those lines.

[Darkbrador]

@ttyymmnn said in This Date in Aviation History: January 21 - January 24 [New Destinations]:

The pilot was seated to the left of the centerline

There is something about brits putting the pilot off center. And punishing the navigator for failing his pilot tests and putting him in a closet somewhere below... Case in point :

Canberra

Sea Vixxen

Others ?

[ttyymmnn]

@facw

I believe they were still firmly rooted in a WWI mindset.

[ttyymmnn]

@Darkbrador

Those are the only two that come to mind. The original F4H Phantom, while keeping the pilot and RIO on the centerline, buried the radar guy in a position they called "the hole." Redesigns gave the guy a better seat with a better view.

[facw]

@ttyymmnn The YB-35/49 offset the cockpit:

[ttyymmnn]

@Darkbrador

Then there was the C-74 Globemaster, that put the two pilots under separate bubble canopies on either side of the centerline. That got redesigned into a traditional side-by-side cockpit.

[RallyWrench]

@ttyymmnn Great one! It's hard to believe that the Convair still holds that speed record, 60 years later.

[Ad absurdum per aspera]

Although not, strictly speaking, asymmetrical, the F-82 Twin Mustang should be mentioned. It had two of the general idea of a Mustang fuselage joined by a center wing section and a common horizontal stabilizer. Depending on the mark and the mission it might have a pilot in the left cockpit and either a relief pilot/navigator or a radar operator in the right one.

The guns were in the center wing section. I've never looked closely at how they handled the gunsight offset.

Credit

[ttyymmnn]

@Ad-absurdum-per-aspera said in This Date in Aviation History: January 21 - January 24 [New Destinations]:

I've never looked closely at how they handled the gunsight offset.

I never thought about it either.

[Ad absurdum per aspera]

@ttyymmnn said in This Date in Aviation History: January 21 - January 24 [New Destinations]:

The unarmed Turbinlite aircraft illuminated enemy bombers so they could be attacked by other aircraft.

Well, that was the goal anyway. My (mis)understanding is that there were several attrition losses during the tricky co-ordination of the Havoc and the night fighters, but actual shootdowns consisted of one Heinkel 111 and one friendly fire incident at the expense of a homeward-bound Shorts Stirling (fortunately the latter made a good landing, supposedly followed by a frank and open exchange of views between its crew and their tormentors).

The experiment was pursued enthusiastically but briefly, retired in favor of better radars that could be carried by a night fighter.