VH-KDK Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 ...........is a plane you all would be familiar with, the Armstrong Whitworth AW.52 1. Boscombe Down. In the mid 40s the concept of a flying wing was proposed by Armstrong Whitworth. 2. Right is the The Isle of Wight and below is Highcliffe. A contract for a wooden glider and 2 powered mail carrying prototypes was awarded. 3. Poole Harbour. Flatness was critical for the laminar flow wings so they were built as a top and bottom half separately, from the outside to the ribs and joined. 4. Chesil Beach, Portland and Weymouth. The first Nene powered plane flew in November 1947 5. Torquay and Dartmouth, g'day Andy. The second lesser powered Derwent powered model flew in Sep 1948. 6. The plane did not however live up to expectations and was not as fast as expected. 7. Minehead. The first prototype was lost in May 1949. The pilot experienced flutter and ejected, luckily he was the only occupant and the co pilot's position did not have an ejector seat. Remarkably the pilotless plane then glided on its own and landed with some small damage. 8. Just past Cardiff, g'day Paul. This was the first occasion that a British pilot had used an ejector seat in an emergency. 9. Approaching Filton. The project was abandoned after this accident. 10. The surviving AW.52 was used at Farnborough until June 1954. 11. It had a 90ft wingspan, a top speed of 500mph and a service ceiling of 36000ft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev D Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Nice..... Just the sort of plane for you Oz types - looks like a boomerang. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bermuda425 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Increasible flying experience for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VH-KDK Posted April 5, 2017 Author Share Posted April 5, 2017 18 minutes ago, Torchy821 said: Nice..... Just the sort of plane for you Oz types - looks like a boomerang. Kev Thanks Kev, no good for airline service as just flew in a huge circle and came back to the airport. 13 minutes ago, Bermuda425 said: Increasible flying experience for sure! Cheers Erik. Thanks for the comments guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sawyer Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Amazing shots and story Martyn! It landed on its own, that's good design if you ask me. And a top soeed of 500 mph. Too bad they didn't continue with it and refine it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VH-KDK Posted April 5, 2017 Author Share Posted April 5, 2017 13 minutes ago, Jack Sawyer said: Amazing shots and story Martyn! It landed on its own, that's good design if you ask me. And a top soeed of 500 mph. Too bad they didn't continue with it and refine it. Cheers Jack, maybe with the problems the Comet 1 had it is just as well they didn't, but we will never know! There was an USAF fighter jet that landed on it's own, someone put a post up a while ago. Fascinating story and the plane is now in a museum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying_Grandpa Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Excellent set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Fine set these. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taph Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Nice set of an unusual aeroplane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jury42 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Beautiful flying wing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy1252 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 G'day back to you Martyn! Nice post. Funnily enough, my bedtime reading a couple of nights ago was a magazine about British X-Planes and this beast was one of the ones mentioned. You sure do find some crackers! Not a 'plane I was aware of before reading that mag, but seems like one of a large number of "could have beens" that we seem to have been rather good at. Same mag had a quote from somebody official about the TSR2 that said "this plane has four dimensions - length, breadth, depth and political. The first three functioned perfectly, but the fourth let it down". Seems to sum it all up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stillwater Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Amazing story, and good to see the engineers in that time were inventing similar things on each side, so there was no huge advantage for the wrong one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horten_Ho_229 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradB Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Yep , I know this airplane very well .......NOT !! . Where in the world do you find these contraptions Martyn ?? . Cheers John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sawyer Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 5 hours ago, VH-KDK said: Cheers Jack, maybe with the problems the Comet 1 had it is just as well they didn't, but we will never know! There was an USAF fighter jet that landed on it's own, someone put a post up a while ago. Fascinating story and the plane is now in a museum. I'd like to see that video someday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FILOU Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy H Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Just gliding around the countryside, no big deal Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 Yet another amazing bird Martyn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VH-KDK Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 17 hours ago, Flying_Grandpa said: Excellent set Cheers FG 17 hours ago, Iain Emms said: Fine set these. cheers Iain Thank you Iain 16 hours ago, Taph said: Nice set of an unusual aeroplane Cheersa Taph. 14 hours ago, jury42 said: Beautiful flying wing! Thanks Jury 14 hours ago, andy1252 said: G'day back to you Martyn! Nice post. Funnily enough, my bedtime reading a couple of nights ago was a magazine about British X-Planes and this beast was one of the ones mentioned. You sure do find some crackers! Not a 'plane I was aware of before reading that mag, but seems like one of a large number of "could have beens" that we seem to have been rather good at. Same mag had a quote from somebody official about the TSR2 that said "this plane has four dimensions - length, breadth, depth and political. The first three functioned perfectly, but the fourth let it down". Seems to sum it all up. I cannot believe the short sightedness sometimes. The TSR2, from what I have read was years ahead of it's time and I can remember well when it was cancelled. Coincidence is strange sometimes. I saw on Google Earth a few months ago a very interesting feature and thought I would fly there and do a post. Next day someone else posted the same place. Not like it was a new airport . Kast night I mentioned to jack about the Comet 1 and this morning there was a feature on the Comet on the BBC site. Anyway glad you liked the shots and I hope you looked out of your window to see me fly past! 13 hours ago, Stillwater said: Amazing story, and good to see the engineers in that time were inventing similar things on each side, so there was no huge advantage for the wrong one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horten_Ho_229 What a shame folks are at loggerheads with each other, just think what could be achieved if every nation and everyone was united. I did see the doco about the Ho229 a while ago and it is amazing to think there is one still in existence. 13 hours ago, BradB said: Yep , I know this airplane very well .......NOT !! . Where in the world do you find these contraptions Martyn ?? . Cheers John I am surprised just what is out there John and that most of it will work on P3D. It has now become a bit of an obsession. 12 hours ago, Jack Sawyer said: I'd like to see that video someday. Sorry Jack I cannot remember what is was called but remember I mentioned the Comet last night? Well this morning there was an article about it! http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170404-the-british-airliner-that-changed-the-world 9 hours ago, FILOU said: Nice! Cheers Filou 8 hours ago, Sammy H said: Just gliding around the countryside, no big deal Lol Thank you Sammy. 1 hour ago, paulb said: Yet another amazing bird Martyn! Thanks Paul. Many thanks for your great comments everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VH-KDK Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 12 hours ago, Jack Sawyer said: I'd like to see that video someday. Here we are Jack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornfield_Bomber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sawyer Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 8 hours ago, VH-KDK said: Sorry Jack I cannot remember what is was called but remember I mentioned the Comet last night? Well this morning there was an article about it! http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170404-the-british-airliner-that-changed-the-world 8 hours ago, VH-KDK said: Here we are Jack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornfield_Bomber Thanks Martyn! I can't wait to look! Reading your responses I say I have to agree with what you and Andy were saying. It really is a shame allies don't cooperate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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