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Post by corsair67 on Feb 8, 2010 23:16:09 GMT 12
Okay, this may be easy for some people to knock over, but thought I'd add a little quiz to keep the grey matter active!  What is the designation and name of this aircraft? Which company designed and built it? What was its intended role?  |
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Post by mumbles on Feb 8, 2010 23:29:06 GMT 12
'Tis an XF-85 Goblin, designed and built I think by Convair. Designed as an on-board escort fighter for the B-36 Peacemaker. Concept thus: Enemy fighter shows up, Goblin deploys, dispatches enemy, then returns to the B-36 mother ship, attaches via a complicated hook-trapeze arrangement, and is hoisted up into the Peacemaker for the trip home. Never actually became operational for some strange reason....mostly to do with the Goblin being a mite tricky to fly if I recall correctly (although the 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' effect may also have had something to do with it.  |
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Post by oldnavy on Feb 9, 2010 8:29:39 GMT 12
Hey C67, good idea for a thread! Mumbles answer sounds plausible. I assume he is right? Next question, please ;D
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Post by stu on Feb 9, 2010 9:27:27 GMT 12
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Post by ZacYates on Feb 9, 2010 9:37:12 GMT 12
I agree with the Goblin, I forget the manufacturer - Convair or North American - I remember mention being made of a parasite fighter.
Does the first correct answer poster choose the next aircraft?
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 9, 2010 10:36:35 GMT 12
Well done team. Boy, I am going to have to come up with some better ones than this, considering it only took Mumbles 13 mins to knock this one over! The aircraft pictured is a McDonnell XF-85 Goblin. As Mumbles says, it was designed as a parasite defensive fighter to be used with the Convair B-36 bomber. Unfortunately, although the aircraft itself flew okay, trying to hook it back up under the bomb bay of a moving B-36 proved to be slightly more problematic than anticipated, due to the turbulence created by the mass of a moving B-36. If anyone else wishes to choose an aircraft for Mystery aircraft quiz #2, then you are more than welcome, otherwise I will add another in the next few days. |
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Post by ErrolC on Feb 9, 2010 11:14:47 GMT 12
Does the first correct answer poster choose the next aircraft? Sounds like a good idea to me! |
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Post by shorty on Feb 9, 2010 13:28:04 GMT 12
OK, here's #2 to get you going  |
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Post by stu on Feb 9, 2010 14:17:12 GMT 12
OK, here's #2 to get you going If my memory serves me correctly, the "Bonney Gull" or something similar. The premise was that the designer (Mr. Bonney - can't recall his first name) decided that the secret of successful design lay in studying birds and designed an aircraft to emulate them. The first and only test flight was to prove - fatally - that this design wasn't such a good idea after all. The above is from my recollection of an entry in the "World's Worst Aircraft" which is sitting in my bookcase at home while I'm sitting here at work so somebody may like to correct me... or I'll do a Google search later. Cheers, Stu. |
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Post by shorty on Feb 9, 2010 14:30:42 GMT 12
You got it, the idea was as soon as the wheels touched down the wings would fold like a bird and it wouldn't need a landing run. Worth a Google as there is quite a story about it!
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Post by shorty on Feb 9, 2010 15:17:34 GMT 12
That must have been a bit too easy so while waiting for Corsair67's next entry try this one.  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 9, 2010 18:08:05 GMT 12
That looks Heinkel-esque
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Post by shorty on Feb 9, 2010 18:49:27 GMT 12
No, sorry Dave, not even close.
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Post by mumbles on Feb 9, 2010 20:21:17 GMT 12
Well done team. Boy, I am going to have to come up with some better ones than this, considering it only took Mumbles 13 mins to knock this one over! Sorry Craig, the Goblin was one of the aircraft I was fascinated by as a kid, so that was an easy mark for me  |
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Post by mumbles on Feb 9, 2010 20:27:24 GMT 12
That must have been a bit too easy so while waiting for Corsair67's next entry try this one. I appear to have been usurped! ;D I have no idea what this is, but I will wager it is european (I'm getting a big Italian vibe, or maybe Dutch), and from the 1930's For my designated mystery item, I see your wierd pusher and boom type, and raise you this:  Spotted recently and instantly taken with (to the point of planning how I would kitbash a model of one) since it looks awesome in only the way that obscure Soviet heavy metal can... Clues will be offered if needed  |
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Post by lumpy on Feb 9, 2010 20:28:53 GMT 12
The wings look a little like the Supermarine Schiender trophy racers . Obviously its not , but any warmer ?
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Post by shorty on Feb 9, 2010 21:01:55 GMT 12
I would say that mumbles has unearthed the Mikoyen-Gurevich Ye-8, in this case the second (and last) onr built.
As for my one, yes, it is European and first flew in April 1933
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Post by stu on Feb 10, 2010 19:34:18 GMT 12
Anybody come up with a solution for Shorty's mystery machine - for some reason Saab pops into my head but numerous strange things also pop into my head from time to time for no apparent reason |
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Post by shorty on Feb 10, 2010 19:45:49 GMT 12
Someone pleas get it before the weekend! I'm off south for a couple of weeks then (incl Mandeville) and if no one gets it by then I'll have to spill the beans!
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Post by hardyakka on Feb 10, 2010 20:24:07 GMT 12
Is it a Russian Moskalyev design?
Single engine
Pusher Prop
Twin Boom
Single Vertical Stabiliser in line with the prop
Fixed Undercarriage
Buggered if I know then...
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