The War Zone - High Tech
- Thread starter teamzr1
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Chuffer
CCCUK Member
s
In fairness to the Gloster Meteor , it would be interesting to know how many incidents were due to pilot error and inexperience . After all , up to 1945 they would only have experienced slower piston engine aircraft with totally different flight characteristics .
Actually the Heinkel He 178 kicked it all off followed by the Heinkel 268 but was not a success and ultimately lead to the ME 262 .
That`s a scary statistic ! Even though the much later Lockheed XF-104 was branded `The Widow Maker` due to the number of crashes . It was apparently inherently unstable due to design although very fast . Basically a rocket with a pilot in it .
In fairness to the Gloster Meteor , it would be interesting to know how many incidents were due to pilot error and inexperience . After all , up to 1945 they would only have experienced slower piston engine aircraft with totally different flight characteristics .
Chuffer
CCCUK Member
Actually the Heinkel 178 ( first image )
kicked it all off in 1939 followed quickly by the Heinkel 280 and then the Gloster Whittle E28/39 in 1941 . Neither of the Heinkel projects amounted to much and lead to the more successful ME 262 . A Gloster Whittle is mounted on the A4303 roundabout at Lutterworth . I pass it regularly on the way up to Loughborough .
teamzr1
Supporting vendor
Here is a good read of the birth of jets of Germany, UK and USA
www.spokesman.com
The Birth of the Jet Age: The world, and WW2's first jet, an impressive disappointment
World war one, and two, brought out many advancements in the sciences alongside their grim death tolls. Among them was the jet, which saw its first test flight in 1939, but never found use in the war.
www.spokesman.com
Chuffer
CCCUK Member
Here`s one that should never have been allowed to get away : the BAC TSR-2 . One fabulous aircraft way ahead of its time and would have given the RAF a world beating 
aircraft for years to come . Only one prototype built and flew on 27th September 1964 . It had conventional and nuclear capability , a Mach 2 cruising speed and Mach 1.1 at only 200 feet above ground level . Typical British politics killed it off !!
aircraft for years to come . Only one prototype built and flew on 27th September 1964 . It had conventional and nuclear capability , a Mach 2 cruising speed and Mach 1.1 at only 200 feet above ground level . Typical British politics killed it off !!
Chuffer
CCCUK Member
Here is one even uglier !! The Mescherscmitt ME 163 Komet . It looks like a pregnant gold fish
I was fascinated by all these early aircraft like most boys mad about planes back in the day . It was the only rocket powered fighter aircraft in history and the only piloted aircraft to exceed 1000 kilometres / hour in level flight at the time . It first flew in 1941 but was of limited use as it had a flight time of just 7.5 minutes and then had to glide to land . Further development was knocked on the head by the Nazi`s as the Allies progressed further across Europe .
Roscobbc
Moderator
There are horror stories of things going badly wrong with leaking fuel making physical contact with the pilot or ground crew and and those affected actually having body parts or whole bodies completely dissolved.Here is one even uglier !! The Mescherscmitt ME 163 Komet . It looks like a pregnant gold fish
Roscobbc
Moderator
Arguably Britain would have been well in front of Germany relating jet propulsion if the extremely staid and backwards thinking Air Ministry and RAF top brass actually 'recognised' the genius of Frank Whittle....as it was we were really lucky that he still obstinately pursued his prototypes and proved his designs.
That 'clouded' vision 'mindset' of Army top brass in the early days of WW1 could also be blamed for useful deployment of aircraft being held back in favour of horse borne warfare, ultimately created a far longer and protracted conflict.
Nassau65
CCCUK Member
I seem to remember they used that plane in a Star Trek enterprise time travel storyline where it dropped a A bomb on New York and the Nazi’s took over some of the US .Here is one even uglier !! The Mescherscmitt ME 163 Komet . It looks like a pregnant gold fish
Chuffer
CCCUK Member
Chuffer
CCCUK Member
By gad sir ! If it was good enough for Waterloo it`s good enough now don`t you know !
antijam
CCCUK Member
It certainly was a exceptional aircraft Chuffer - I should know since I actually flew it!.....Well, perhaps not quite; in 1965 or 66 (I can't remember the exact year) I was allowed to 'fly' the terrain following flight simulator built for TSR2 by BAC. Even that was quite an experience!
There were in fact three aircraft built. One of the two survivors resides in the Royal Air Force Museum at Cosford.
Part of the aircraft's advanced avionics.
My 'flight' in TSR2 was part of a memorable week. In the same week I also met Barnes Wallis of 'Bouncing Bomb' fame. Although almost 80 he still had a working office at BAC Weybridge Division. A quite remarkable man.
Roscobbc
Moderator
Read up on the Komet Chuffer it's fascinating reading. Attrition rate of pilots was far, far higher than even front line conventional fighter pilots. Komets could explode for no reason either in the air or on the ground taking out ground crew.
Chuffer
CCCUK Member
Great experiences and memories .
Roscobbc
Moderator
In its day as an 'interceptor' it was fully capable of taking-off, immediately climbing vertically, and on its way up to its (always unclassified) service ceiling accelerating up past Mach 1 in the vertical climb.
I seem to recall reports following organised 'war game manouvers' with the USAF where Lightnings 'surprised' 'Dragon Lady' U2 'spy plane's in level flight and 'unreachable' by most other fighter aircraft (with their lower service ceilings) and the Lightnings still climbing vertically up through and past the U2's cruise altitude 60000 or so feet and continuing up past them to a reported 70000 ft or so. But with missile technology improving significantly 'interceptor' aircraft became redundant and the Lightning didn't have a long enough range to be deployed for other duties.......as I understand. Someone correct any inaccuracies?
I seem to recall reports following organised 'war game manouvers' with the USAF where Lightnings 'surprised' 'Dragon Lady' U2 'spy plane's in level flight and 'unreachable' by most other fighter aircraft (with their lower service ceilings) and the Lightnings still climbing vertically up through and past the U2's cruise altitude 60000 or so feet and continuing up past them to a reported 70000 ft or so. But with missile technology improving significantly 'interceptor' aircraft became redundant and the Lightning didn't have a long enough range to be deployed for other duties.......as I understand. Someone correct any inaccuracies?
Chuffer
CCCUK Member
All sounds about right to me Ross . I knew it had a rate of climb superior to anything else at the time .