onetrack

Just a little too flimsy for my liking. Too many of these have crashed, with no reasons determined, and a major problem has been tailboom fractures. Read up on the ATSB report for VH-JEW.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/type/CH7

British eccentricity at its best, in that unique control system.

Southern Cloud - http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/27581

Southern Sun - https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/27562

Note that loss of the Southern Cloud, and then the Southern Sun, saw Australian National Airways go into liquidation - and the remaining three Fokkers were sold off by the liquidators of ANA.

One of W.A.'s most enduring aerial mysteries involved the loss of Vultee Vengeance A27-295 during a training mission in the W.A. wheatbelt on 27th August 1944.

A book has been written about it, published by the Shire of Yilgarn (which is centred on the town of Southern Cross) - but the book is now out of print, unfortunately.

The pilot baled out of the lost aircraft after sending a Mayday call, and he walked into a remote farmhouse some 4 days later, after travelling through thick scrubland nearly all that time.

The young Flt Sgt, Clyde King, baled out before the pilot, over the Eastern part of the W.A. wheatbelt, but he has never ever been found.

The only trace found of him was the remnants of his tattered parachute, found some considerable time after he disappeared.

The largest search ever carried out in W.A. was carried out for about 2-1/2 weeks, from late August to the 17th September 1944, and it involved over 500 searchers.

The area where the men baled out was relatively undeveloped virgin bush country, and if King survived, it is suspected that he walked the wrong direction (East, into more uninhabitated bushland), due to disorientation and overcast weather.

http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/PrintSingleRecord/5706fdbb-9910-4143-9768-520656f4179e

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vengeance-of-the-Outback-A-Wartime-Air-Mystery-of-Western-Australia-/352638962999

http://www.adf-serials.com/2a27.htm

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/78522311?searchTerm=Vultee Vengeance

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/252584347?searchTerm=Vultee Vengeance

The TAG Aviation autogyros were grounded on 30th March 2019, after two separate double fatalities caused by rotor failure.

Many of the TAG autogyros appear to have been fitted with a composite rotor which contains an internal steel balance rod in each blade.

The initial investigations focused on failure of the folding mast structure, and possible weaknesses therein.

However, the investigators did not find the problem with the balance rod - this was found by another person who was cutting up and disposing of one of the rotor blades from the TAG autogyro that crashed at Forrest Beach, W.A.

That person found that one of the steel balance rods had been ejected from the rotor blade by centrifugal forces. This would have resulted in massive rotor imbalance forces.

TAG proposed modifying these steel balance rod rotors, and returning them to service.

A professional engineering analysis disagreed with TAG's proposal, citing a continued unacceptable risk of steel balance rod rotor failure.

These particular rotors, manufactured by Composite Components Pty Ltd in Perth, have now been permanently prohibited from flight in Australia.

Only TAG lead shot rotors, or other types of rotors with a proven history of safe operation, can be utilised on TAG autogyros.

Some TAG autogyros also suffered from mast cheek plate failures. I understand the steel balance rod rotor problem, and the cheek plate problems could be linked.

It is my understanding that all TAG autogyros are still grounded until the manufacturer and the various authorities and engineering bodies, develop satisfactory solutions to the TAG autogyro mast and rotor failures.

https://www.asra.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/SD_2020.01_TAG_Proposed_repair_scheme_for_steel-rod_rotors_in_Australia_07.08.20.pdf

https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2018/aair/ae-2018-073/

What is powering that South African Bantam, ZU-FLK? It looks like a Jab 3300. That's a huge amount of power (and engine weight) for a 430kg ultralight.

That thing just look SO wrong!  It looks like it was assembled by drunks on a Saturday, after a long Friday night session.

One Malcolm Purcell McLean, an inventive and far-sighted trucker, was the bloke who designed the sea container, at about the same time as designers were playing with the idea with aircraft.

McLean made a fortune out of containerisation, but lost it all later, in his early 70's, when he gambled on oil futures.

That failed to stop him, he came back out of bankruptcy shortly afterwards, and started up again in shipping, going on to success again, with the company Trailer Bridge Inc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcom_McLean#:~:text=Malcolm Purcell McLean (November 14,half of the twentieth century.

Only 6kts between Vne and Cruise Speed? Seems to be a little too close for comfort?

The P76 of the air? A classic British manufacturing shambles, obviously led by some of the most incompetent managers the British could produce.

3 of them were never ever sold? I wonder what happened to them? Broken up for parts?

I wonder if the instrument panel instructions are in Chinglish?

Why 43,999' service ceiling? Is that extra foot going to cause total destruction of the aircraft??

I was quite surprised, reading the WW2 papers on Trove, at how many new aircraft were purchased privately by wealthy Australians, who then donated them to the War effort. The numbers of aircraft purchased in this manner, ran into at least a couple of dozen.

Things were different, once you were out in the field, and the rules changed to practical ones. The problem with military bases was that too many officers and NCO's had too little to do.

I saw one bloke without a hat. He was almost certainly charged and given 14 days CB (Confined to Barracks).

And when you got CB, you weren't simply confined, you were loaded up with a full pack and made to do drill for hours, or made to fill sandbags all day, with just a folding shovel.

My stepfather was a Pommy armourer during WW2, and he used to tell me the sheer effort required, re-arming the bombers. Winching huge bombs up into tight bomb bays, using hand winches that needed about 1000 turns of the handle, just to raise the bomb a few inches. 

Then the jobs they had when a bomber failed to take off and exploded. Rounding up body parts from everywhere. One bomber crashed into an explosives bunker. Fancy putting a bunker where a bomber could crash into it.

Great photos and generally an informative article, Peter. But I take issue with the final paragraph under "Postscript", which is pure fanciful supposition and speculation - and misinformation.

POSTSCRIPT QUOTE:  "Prior to WWII, the Japanese Military became very interested in the new Pratt & Whitney radial engines that powered the PanAm Clipper.
On a flight from San Francisco to China, a Clipper landed on Truk Lagoon to be refueled by Japanese authorities. Later, the Clipper was assumed lost over the Pacific.
Years later, it was revealed that the crew and passengers (of the Hawaii Clipper) were arrested and executed, the engines were retrieved and sent to Japan, and the Clipper was sunk in deep water off Truk Lagoon."

This is a scramble of misinformation. The Boeing 314 had Wright Cyclone engines, it was the Martin M-130 Clipper that had P&W Twin Wasp engines.

There is exactly zero evidence to back up the above "postscript" statement. No proof of even part of the supposition has ever been found. The Japanese reject the story.

In addition, the route for the Clipper to the Philippines from Guam is due West. The Truk Islands and Truk Lagoon are 630 miles SE of Guam.

The Japanese had access to radial engine design in the U.S. before WW2. Nakjima Hikoki bought the rights to manufacture the DC-3 under licence in Feb 1938 (the L2D), and 22 DC-3's had been purchased by Japanese airlines between 1937 and 1939. 

The Martin M-130 Clipper disappeared in July 1938. There would have been inadequate time for the Japanese to produce a new engine based on the P&W Twin Wasp - and no Japanese radial of WW2 had any design similarities to the P&W Twin Wasp - apart from the modified P&W Twin Wasps that powered the Japanese L2D, that were built by Mitubishi Kinsei.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showa/Nakajima_L2D#:~:text=8 External links-,Design and development,-3s from 1937–1939.

The general opinion today is that the Martin M-130 Clipper that disappeared over the Philippine Sea between Guam and the Philippines in July 1938, ran into a violent storm, and either suffered a catastrophic in-flight breakup, or the Captain lost SI, and flew the Martin straight into the sea in stormy conditions.

Either way, it vanished without trace, and this is what has led to the fanciful stories about its demise.

Some good reading below, not so much in the "Lost Clipper" story, but particularly in the educated comments at the bottom of the article. The Lost Clipper webpage also lives in the realms of fantasy, probably the same people who believe Amelia Earhart was captured by the Japanese.

There seems to be a need by many Americans to make out 1930's-1940's Japanese as having far more ability, than they actually did.

https://lostclipper.com/the-investigation-2/the-m-130-flying-boat/

Twin Otter copy anyone? The stories behind the Y-12 aircraft are frightening. It's bad enough that China gives them away to 3rd world countries for free, as long as they recognise and support the PRC, and follow the Party line that Taiwan is simply a breakaway province of China, that will shortly be returned to Communist rule - but the bottom line is, they still haven't sold any in the West - despite the FAA certification.

Tonga got one given to them, and NZ has warned anyone off flying in it. Numerous other 3rd world and Pacific nations have got them, and a fair percentage of them have crashed, and a lot more have been abandoned - particularly in Africa.

While one has to concede a percentage of the problems have simply been 3rd world maintenance and operation (one crashed in Mongolia in 1998 and killed 28 people, despite the aircraft only being a 19-seater!) - the simple fact remains this aircraft is about the same reliability as anything else with cutting edge technology, that's designed and built in China!

https://aviationdoctor.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/an-unknown-us-company-has-bought-20-of-the-only-faa-certified-chinese-civilian-airliner-the-harbin-y-12-faa-certified-back-in-1995-and-it-is-finally-coming-to-the-usa-though-we-heard-that-last-year/

Gee, and here was me just getting ready to put in my patent for my new, revolutionary square boiler! 

That's got to be the ugliest thing the French have ever produced! What happened to "French with fantastic styling", there? 

What was the cruise speed of this beast? Looks for all the world just like a tri-gear copy of the DC-3.

That was just an amazing era of aviation. Imagine 19 solid hrs of listening to Wright Twin Cyclones at cruise power settings?

I don't know how much insulation the fuselage had, but you'd sure want some.

I can remember reading a Wright advertisement of 1937, stating that they had passed the construction milestone of 10,000 Cyclone engine, at that date.

That's pretty impressive, when you learn the Cyclone only entered production in 1931, and the Twin Cyclone only entered production in 1935.

OME still isn't going to take a bullet for the delay in posting.

I have never encountered anything like the strength of the wood glue formerly sold by Spotlight, branded "Vise". It's a foaming, gap-filling, brown glue, that contained iso-cyanate compounds.

You made sure you didn't get it on your fingers, because it stained them like a dye. However, it seems to have disappeared off the market, I can no longer find it at Spotlight, nor anywhere else.

Here's a 1943 Cinesound Review news clip about the Battle of the Bismarck Sea - a battle in which B-25's played a sizeable part. The RAAF and the American Air Force certainly did do some major damage to the Japanese in this battle.

The "rah-rah" voiceover of the film clip, is of course, quite a bit of propaganda, designed to bolster civilian and troop morale. The true story is that only 16 ships were sunk and Japanese troop losses were only around 3,000 men, not the 12,000 or 15,000 claimed (which varied according to the news outlet).

One thing that helped in this battle was "Pappy" Gunns re-armouring of the early B-25's with no less than FOUR .50 cal MG's mounted in the nose.

It was reported the hammering the airframe took from this unauthorised modification popped rivets in the panels.

The Cinesound Review contains clips of the actual battle, taken by Damien Parer. You have to admire the bravery of these blokes aiming straight at heavily armed Japanese ships at low level - but apparently the Japs were terrified by the ferocity of the Allied air attacks and didn't respond with equal ferocity, due to having to try and shelter from the sheer destructiveness of the 20mm cannon shells and .50 cal MG fire.

There's scenes in the clip showing the pilots strafing Japanese lifeboats and rafts - something that didn't sit well with many Allied personnel. But this was a result of the Japs previously shooting down crew in parachutes who had baled out of a stricken B-17 - as well as strafing Allied survivors in the water.

As result, it was seen as "fair game" to do the same to the Japs. There was also the aim of simply eliminating as many Jap military fighting men as possible, to ensure they couldn't launch more attacks.