by captjeff | Oct 7, 2019 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
A man renown for his genius as a designer and inventor, Barnes Wallis turned his mind to helping Britain to win the Second World War by creating weapons that could defeat the industrial might of Germany. From his ten ton bomb Tall Boy to the bouncing bomb Upkeep, his remarkable talent ran from designing Airships to supersonic aircraft. This is his story.
Barnes Wallis as a young man in Naval Service.
Wallis’s geodesic design employed in the Wellington bomber allowed it to survive despite enormous damage.
The huge Tall Boy bomb, designed to penetrate deep into the earth before exploding.
The Swallow. Designed by Wallis as a variable geometry supersonic aircraft.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Royal Society on Twitter, The US Library of Congress, the Imperial War Museum, Royal Air Force and the RAF Museum Cosford.
by captjeff | Sep 29, 2019 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
This is the first of the four part story of Operation Chastise, the bombing of the great dams of Germany’s Ruhr valley during the Second World War. This Tale examines the life of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar who took on the task of forming the Squadron of Lancasters which would achieve world wide fame following the attack. Gibson was, to some, a flawed character but his leadership, skill and determination to achieve his aim was never in question.
Guy Penrose Gibson.
Gibson stands on the steps of his Lancaster with his crew around him as they depart on the Dambusters raid.
Gibson’s final resting place, alongside his navigator who also died when their Mosquito crashed.
The English Heritage blue plaque that marks Gibson’s house in St John’s Wood, London.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Royal Air Force, the Imperial War Museum, Edward X, Pandaplodder and Steenbergen.
by captjeff | Sep 22, 2019 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
A break from Tales of death and destruction with a little bit of aviation word play. What was your score?
by captjeff | Sep 15, 2019 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
The North of Africa holds the world’s largest hot desert, known as The Greatest Desert, or more commonly by the Arabic word Sahara. The Lady be Good’s WW2 mission hadn’t gone well and crew of the were hopelessly lost and running out of fuel when the first engine failed. They decided to abandon the aircraft rather than risk a crash landing and they parachuted out over, what they believed to be, the sea… only to discover it was a sea of sand.
The Lady Be Good as it appeared when discovered from the air.
The aircraft was in surprisingly good shape, considering it landed itself.
The aircraft’s weapons were still functioning.
Some of the guns were still able to be fired.
My apologies to the sharp eared amongst you as I misspoke when describing Lt Hatton’s take off, “Pushing up the throttles of his two Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp supercharged radials…” The Liberator is, of course, a four engined aircraft.
Images used under a Creative Commons licence with thanks to the US Air Force.
by captjeff | Sep 8, 2019 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
It was a hot and sunny day at the United States Airforce Base at Ramstein near Kaiserslautern in West Germany… a perfect day for their 1988 annual air show. One of the best parts of the show was going to be the Frecce Tricolori, the Italian formation team, doing their stunning display. After several minutes of what was a great performance, the team started one of the most impressive manoeuvres, the pierced heart. What followed was a disaster beyond anyone’s imagination…
The Frecce Tricolori.
The awful mistake that led to the tragedy.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the US Air Force, A Micheuand J Herzog.
by captjeff | Sep 1, 2019 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
As a military aviator he was exceptional. From a starting point that had him at a disadvantage, 40 seconds was how long it took him to get behind you for the kill! His flying skills weren’t the reason we remember Colonel John Boyd as his ideas would change the whole direction of military aviation. A maverick who would lead a like minded group known as the Fighter Mafia, he was a brilliant as he was controversial. His lasting legacy would include the concept of fighter manoeuvre diagrams and the OODA loop. This is his story.
Colonel John Boyd.
An illustration of the OODA loop.
An example of an F4 Energy Manoeuvre diagram.
Images under Creative Commons with thanks to the US Gov, P E Moran and John Golan.
