Sunday, January 13, 2019

Westland Whirlwind

It was not appreciated


4 comments:

  1. It looks a lot like the Mosquito, except that the Mosquito had a crew of two and was a light bomber.

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  2. A late in the war Brit "night-fighter" answer to the German Heinkel He 219?

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  3. The Whirlwind was a pre-war experimental aircraft designed in 1938 to test the feasibility of the escort fighter. The RAF had taken note of the ME 110 and thought they might need a British counterpart to escort RAF bombers. One of the features the Whirlwind was made to test was the all cannon armament, which proved so successful that by 1940 all new RAF fighter designs (Typhoon, Tempest, Spiteful, Meteor etc) were specified with cannons. The Whirlwind was the right airplane at the wrong time. Bomber Command decided to focus on night-bombing so an escort fighter was not needed. The radar used by night-fighters required a two-man crew. Its troublesome RR Peregrine engines were less powerful than Merlins and had single speed superchargers so performance deteriorated at altitude. It did well in the ground attack role but was overshadowed by the Hawker Typhoon.

    Al_in_Ottawa

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  4. Modern aircraft are superior to the classics in every way except style. There are very few modern aircraft that look as stylish as the old school prop planes. And the handful that do look good are usually fighter jets.

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