Aircraft

You are currently browsing the archive for the Aircraft category.

Dreaming war, seeing aeroplanes — I

9 June 2011 in 1910s, Aircraft, Australia, Periodicals, Phantom airships and other panics, Pictures, Rumours by Brett Holman | 2 comments

Wölfchen

While researching a possible British mystery aeroplane in 1936, which turned out to be nothing interesting, I came across a genuine mystery aeroplane scare which I'd never heard of before, from Australia and New Zealand in March and April 1918. I'm sure somebody else must have noticed it before now, as it was trivial to find using Trove and Papers Past. But I haven't been able to find mention of it in my usual sources, so here's what I've got so far.

Firstly, some context. In March 1918, it was getting on for four years since the start of the Great War. The soldiers of Australia and New Zealand had been engaged in combat for just under three of those years, two of them on the Western Front. The armies there seemed to be in a deadlock. All that can be done is to keep the two ANZAC corps supplied with men and munitions; but in Australia it is only a few months since the public rejected conscription for a second time, in a bitterly divisive plebiscite. If victory seemed to be a long way off, at least so did defeat.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Emperor’s Viceroy

3 June 2011 in 1930s, Aircraft, Books, Civil aviation, Pictures by Brett Holman | 4 comments

Airspeed Viceroy

In 1935, the Emperor of Abyssinia, Haile Selassie, tried to buy the Airspeed Viceroy, an aeroplane which had been built to order for the London-Melbourne air race the year before. The Viceroy (above) was a one-off, customised version of Airspeed's successful Envoy, a twin-engined civil transport which could carry six passengers in addition to its pilot. Improvements included more powerful engines, an auxiliary fuel tank and a higher take-off weight. But it failed to complete the air race, pulling out at Athens due to mechanical troubles. Still, it would have made a nice plaything for an emperor, you might think; but that's not why he wanted it. He wanted it for a bomber.

Nevil Shute, then managing director of Airspeed, tells the story in his autobiography, Slide Rule. In autumn 1935 he was approached by 'Jack Norman' (a pseudonym chosen by Shute) wishing to purchase the Viceroy on behalf of a client, Yellow Flame Distributors, Ltd, 'whose business was the rapid transport of cinema films between the various capital cities of Europe'.1 As the Viceroy had just been sitting in a hangar for months after being recovered from its former owner (who had refused to pay for it and indeed sued Airspeed for their troubles), Shute was very glad to shift it and so set his men to work getting it ready for flight. But then Norman came back and told Shute that Yellow Flame were worried about the inflammable nature of celluloid and asked, 'Could we fit bomb racks underneath the wings to carry to films on?'
Read the rest of this entry »

  1. Nevil Shute, Slide Rule: The Autobiography of an Engineer (London: Vintage Books, 2009 [1954], 212.

Thursday, 15 May 1941

15 May 2011 in 1940s, Aircraft, Civil defence, Nuclear, biological, chemical, Periodicals, Pictures, Post-blogging 1940 by Brett Holman | No comments

Manchester Guardian, 15 May 1941, 5

The remarkable flight to Scotland of Rudolf Hess still dominates the headlines today, though much more so in the Manchester Guardian (5) than in The Times, it must be said. More details are emerging. It now seems that Hess was trying to meet with one specific person, the Duke of Hamilton, whose seat is at Dungavel, just a few miles from where Hess landed by parachute.

The Duke is on active service, and was not at Dungavel on Saturday night. The Duke, who is the premier peer of Scotland, is 38, and succeeded to his title last year on the death of his father. He is best remembered for his boxing and flying achievements as Marquis of Douglas and Clydesdale, and he has met Hess through his sporting interests.

Read the rest of this entry »

This post is part of an experiment in post-blogging the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. See here for an introduction to the series.

The dream of unmanned flight

7 May 2011 in 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, Aircraft, Art, Books, Nuclear, biological, chemical, Periodicals, Pictures by Brett Holman | 13 comments

Illustrated London News, 6 September 1913, 363

A recent post at Ptak Science Books alerted me to the existence of page 363 of the Illustrated London News for 6 September 1913. Not that I was surprised by this in general terms, but I was unaware of what was on it: an artist's impression of a both a flying aircraft carrier -- which idea I've discussed before -- and an airship drone -- which I haven't.

As the images above and below show, the idea was that the 'parent dirigible' (which looks very much like a Zeppelin) would carry several of these 40-foot long 'crewless, miniature air-ships' slung underneath it, and then launch them when in range of a target (here a fortification). The smaller airship would then be controlled by radio to fly drop its bombs 'on any desired spot'.
Read the rest of this entry »

Friday, 14 March 1941

14 March 2011 in 1940s, Air defence, Aircraft, Collective security, International air force, Periodicals, Pictures, Post-blogging 1940 by Brett Holman | 4 comments

Glasgow Herald, 14 March 1941, 5

The big news today is that the latest Italian offensive against Greek forces in the Tepelini sector has been a disaster. War correspondents estimate 10,000 Italian casualties, including 2000 dead; yet 'it was stated in authoritative circles in London yesterday that the Italians do not appear to have made any perceptible progress' (5). This is despite (perhaps there's a hint of because of) Mussolini's presence at the front lines over the last few days, 'leading or encouraging the Italian troops'. Greek spirits are understandably high. Looking at the bigger picture in the Mediterranean, the Herald's military correspondent suggests that the Germans

are not over-anxious to commit their forces to an attack on Greece while Russia is dissatisfied. Turkey threatens to become actively hostile, and Yugoslavia is, at least, very restless.

The reported presence of three German divisions (or elements thereof) in Tripoli is puzzling. It will certainly bolster Italian morale in Libya after recent defeats there.

It is not likely that an offensive against the Army of the Nile is planned. But it may well be necessary in German interests to safeguard a buffer between British troops and those of the French African Empire.

Read the rest of this entry »

This post is part of an experiment in post-blogging the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. See here for an introduction to the series.

Wednesday, 12 March 1941

12 March 2011 in 1940s, Aircraft, Civil defence, Collective security, International air force, Periodicals, Pictures, Post-blogging 1940 by Brett Holman | 6 comments

Glasgow Herald, 12 March 1940, 7

The Glasgow Herald, like many early-twentieth-century 'provincial' newspapers, made a serious effort to cover war and other international news, as well as reporting on national and local issues. (In fact, it almost seems more interested in what's happening overseas than it is in London or even Edinburgh.) Its highmindedness is also evident in its lack of interest in trivialities (no sports section today!) and in its rather staid appearance, with the outside pages taken up with classified ads, and the news and editorials at the centre of its twelve page. The Herald might be excused for its old-fashioned look: it was first published in 1783, making it two years older than The Times. (Though admittedly the Daily Mail, a jaunty newcomer, was like this too until the start of the war).

Above is the lead item in today's Herald, President Roosevelt's signing into law of the Lease-and-Lend Bill. This will allow (7)

the President to supply Britain and her Allies with almost unlimited supplies of guns, tanks, aeroplanes, ships, and all other war materials and goods.

In fact, he has already begun to do so, approving the transfer to Britain of 'the first allotment of Army and Navy material'. What this consists of was not revealed, but information from 'Well-informed circles in Washington' suggests that it may include 'Army and Navy 'planes, flying fortresses, and patrol bombers' as well as 'ships, tanks, and machine-guns'. And Roosevelt is asking Congress for another $7 billion to buy more weapons for Britain after that.
Read the rest of this entry »

This post is part of an experiment in post-blogging the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. See here for an introduction to the series.

The medium and the engineer

3 March 2011 in 1930s, 1940s, After 1950, Aircraft, Books, Film, Periodicals, Pictures by Brett Holman | 3 comments

Rutland Reindeer

A recent comment by J Campbell raised the question of whether Nevil Shute's 1949 novel No Highway was in fact a prediction of the De Havilland Comet airliner's metal fatigue problems, which led to two crashes ('hull losses', in industry parlance) in 1954. My response was that it seemed unlikely that Shute had any particular insider knowledge which could have led to such a prediction (made before the prototype had even flown) given that he had already been out of the aircraft manufacturing business for some years. (And if he did have reason to think that the Comet would have metal fatigue, why not warn de Havilland instead of writing a novel?) My own suggestion was that instead No Highway might have been loosely inspired by the R101 disaster back in 1930, a formative moment in Shute's life. Having read the novel now, I don't have any actual evidence for this, but there is an intriguing additional parallel which may have been overlooked (or not, I'm no Shute scholar).

In Shute's novel -- spoilers ahead -- the tailplane of the (fictional) Rutland Reindeer (seen above, from the 1951 film version No Highway In The Sky) is believed by an RAE scientist named Theodore Honey to be susceptible to metal fatigue. The story revolves around the efforts of Honey and Scott, his superior at Farnborough, to prove that an earlier Reindeer crash was due to metal fatigue and so ground the Reindeer fleet before disaster strikes. The obstacles include a slapdash investigation of the previous accident, entrenched interests at the Reindeer's manufacturer Rutland and its operator CATO, the (also fictional) Commonwealth Atlantic Transport Organisation, the novelty of Honey's fatigue theory (inspired by recent advances in nuclear physics!), and Honey's own diffident character and his eclectic interests, including pyramidology, British Israelism, the Second Coming (predicted for 1994), interplanetary rocket travel and spiritualism. Of which more in a moment.
Read the rest of this entry »

War is cute

19 February 2011 in 1930s, Air defence, Aircraft, Art, Books, Pictures by Brett Holman | 3 comments

I've previously posted some of Gorden Cullen's artwork for the Tecton Group's 1939 book Planned A.R.P.. Here are some more of his cute drawings dealing with an awful subject. In this case, he is illustrating the 'general agreement among experts' on the threat posed by the bomber.

(a) The range, speed, and carrying capacity of bombers have increased enormously since the last war.1

Planned ARP

This was a commonplace observation and was demonstrably true, as anyone who knew anything at all about aviation would know.

(b) In order to avoid anti-aircraft fire, balloon barrages, etc., the attacking bombers will probably fly at a height of not less than 12,000 to 15,000 feet. Although the pilot might be able to dive to a much lower altitude, he would, in all probability, be afraid to do so, as the risk would not seem worth while.

This is somewhat unusual; it was more common to denigrate the effective of anti-aircraft defences. The experience of the Spanish civil war might have been responsible for this, though the author(s) do say that the war there isn't likely much of a guide as the conditions are so different there.
Read the rest of this entry »

  1. Tecton, Planned A.R.P.: Based on the Investigation of Structural Protection Against Air Attack in the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury (London: Architectural Press, 1939), 14.

Friday, 3 January 1941

3 January 2011 in 1940s, Aircraft, Civil defence, Periodicals, Pictures, Post-blogging 1940 by Brett Holman | 8 comments

Manchester Guardian, 3 January 1941, 5

A Bomber Command raid Wednesday night against Bremen, Germany's second-largest seaport, is described by the Manchester Guardian as 'R.A.F. Answers London Fire Raid' (5). The dropping of 20,000 incendiary bombs seems to be the basis for this. Whether the Bremen raid would technically count as a 'reprisal' (from the British point of view, anyway) is doubtful since the accompanying article from the Air Ministry News Service -- also reprinted in full by The Times (4) -- strongly emphasises the military nature of the targets:

The chief objectives of the night were the great shipbuilding yards in which warships of all kinds, and especially submarines, are under construction, the Deutsche Vacuum Oil refinery, railway communications, warehouses beside the harbours, the Gebrüder Nielson rice and starch mills, the Focke-Wulf air frame factory, and many other industrial targets.

All of these targets were reported to have been hit, in some cases very hard. The fires from the Gebrüder Nielson mills could be seen from the Dutch border, and the whole affair was said in one combat report to be 'Much greater than Mannheim', the previous benchmark of a successful raid. (The Air Ministry modestly describes this one as a 'brilliant offensive operation.)
Read the rest of this entry »

This post is part of an experiment in post-blogging the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. See here for an introduction to the series.

Wednesday, 1 January 1941

1 January 2011 in 1940s, Air defence, Aircraft, Civil defence, Periodicals, Pictures, Post-blogging 1940 by Brett Holman | 3 comments

The Manchester Guardian might have allowed itself a moment for self-congratulation here, as its previous call for compulsory fire-watchers appears to have been heeded (5). (Though it was not alone, as an article on page 10 quotes similar commentary from The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Express and the Daily Mail.) The decision was broadcast last night by Herbert Morrison, the Minister for Home Security; on the reading of The Times it was 'as a result of the fires in the City of London caused by incendiary bombs' (6). Morrison himself said (4):

I must say this plainly to each one of you: it is your duty to yourself, to your neighbours and friends, to your City and your country, to guard your own home, business, or factory, from fire bombs. You cannot stop a high-explosive bomb from bursting: but you can stop a fire bomb from starting a fire.

The fire services are too few to do this everywhere, and are anyway needed to fight big fires. But while Morrison invokes the volunteer spirit of the Home Guard, he also invokes the principle of compulsion:

Compulsion will apply to every one, of every grade -- managers and office workers, as well as manual workers -- as the needs of the situation may require. Factories and businesses of all kinds, large and small, will be subject to severe penalties for any neglect of their obligations.

Even households 'must, if possible, provide at least one member, man or woman, for its party'. The war is increasingly forcing the British people to subordinate their own will to that of the state.
Read the rest of this entry »

This post is part of an experiment in post-blogging the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. See here for an introduction to the series.

« Older entries