Messages

646

Combat Warplanes / Re: Quizzzzz

« on: December 17, 2007, 09:58:28 PM »

What about the Fokker PJ-2?
Though.......by the time this type was manufactured Fokker was not any longer involved and maybe we should call it the General Aviation PJ-2. The PJ-1 was same type with pusher propellers!

That fuselage was indeed the AGO 225 mock-up.

647

Combat Warplanes / Re: Quizzzzz

« on: December 16, 2007, 12:43:42 PM »

Let's try now a REAL challenge!!???
Any guesses?

648

Combat Warplanes / Re: Quizzzzz

« on: December 15, 2007, 01:32:52 PM »

Any idea on this one?
To be honest I don't even know myself what type it is.
It is pre-WW II and it might be German!
So.....new data are welcome!!!!!

649

Combat Warplanes / Re: Quizzzzz

« on: December 15, 2007, 01:23:58 PM »

It's the North American NA-16 prototype!

650

Combat Warplanes / Re: Quizzzzz

« on: December 15, 2007, 12:29:22 PM »

Let's try another easy one: can you identify this??

651

Combat Warplanes / Re: Quizzzzz

« on: November 28, 2007, 04:30:51 PM »

Correct! It was in fact an ex-USAF Martin A-26B Marauder bomber (no. 41-38281) converted into a civil transport plane by Rhodes Berry Co. Los Angeles CA. Known as the 'Silver Sixty' it was flown as a prototype in 1960, but only one was built. It carried the civil registration N5510V. It must have been quite a hot ship to fly!!

And by giving the correct answer, it is now your turn to put a photo of a 'mystery plane' on this forum!

652

Combat Warplanes / Quizzzzz

« on: November 28, 2007, 01:16:11 PM »

Here are two photos of a nicely looking and highly polished high wing passenger plane.
Can you identify the type?
I know what it is and No. 1 knows; it is now up to you to find out.
And.............there is no civil registration you can check with Google!!

653

Combat Warplanes / Re: Moslty Savoia

« on: November 03, 2007, 10:44:46 AM »

Indeed a very nice collection!
My collection of Savoia-Marchetti's is much more modest, but I can contribute at least two shots from the Netherlands:
-the S.55X at Schellingwoude (Amsterdam)
-the S.56 at Waalhaven airport.

654

Warplane Art / Re: Machtrainer- almost ready

« on: October 26, 2007, 06:47:22 PM »

I have to inform you that printing of the Machtrainer book has been delayed.
However, it has been delayed for a very good reason: I have obtained from a friend lots of new information that gives a quite different 'view' on the Fokker S-14 history as always thought and as always given by 'officials'.
And...............this is all based on confidential information never released before!
I have also received from this friend a number of very rare and unpublished photographs of the S-14.

I would say: just wait until the book is released! I hope final delay will not be more that just a few weeks!

655

Combat Warplanes / Re: Italian Jet

« on: October 26, 2007, 01:41:42 PM »

In fact the Caproni Campini was not even a pure jet plane!
It used an Isotta Fraschini piston engine to compress air into some sort of afterburner device mounted in the rear part of the fuselage.
This may also explain the plane's very poor performances since it is not a very efficient propulsion system!
However, a lot of publicity was given in the press and at that time it was even regarded as the 'first jetplane in the world' (which it wasn't!). This picture from an old book (from 1946!) shows how it worked!

656

Combat Warplanes / Re: Italian Jet

« on: October 26, 2007, 10:57:23 AM »

The Caproni Campini is  now exhibited in the Italian air force museum at Vigna di Valle near Rome.
I have seen it during a visit many years ago. At Vigna di Valle also the Fiat G.82 and the Caproni Trento F.5 are exhibited.

657

Combat Warplanes / Re: Italian Jet

« on: October 23, 2007, 09:37:19 PM »

You are possibly talking about the Fiat G.80 or the more developed G.82. They were jet trainers in the same class of the Fokker S-14 Machtrainer.
Because the U.S.A. dumped T-33's at NATO countries for very low prices the Fiats were never put into production.
However, Italy had more jet trainers. Procaer built the Cobra as a single prototype, which was in the eighties further developed into the Promavia Jet Squalus. Both machines were only built as prototypes!
Another unsuccesfull trainer was the Caproni Trento F.5 light jet trainer.
So, just pick your choice. If you want to see photos on the forum, ley me know since I have them!

658

Combat Warplanes / Re: Warplanes in Movies

« on: October 11, 2007, 09:16:33 PM »

And don't forget the Convair XF-92A prototype disguised as a "MIG-23" in the fifties!
I believe that in the movie 'The Rights Stuff' a Hawker Hunter was very convincingly converted into a Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket!
Also the Northop XB-49 flying wing appeared in a movie: 'The War of the Worlds' (the first one with Orson Wells!).
It was the plane dropping an 'atomic bomb' on the alien spaceship (whithout results!).
Another nice example is a Swiss registered Focke Wulf FW-44 Stieglitz that appeared in one of the 'Tirolean porno movies' of the early seventies.
And in 'Raiders of the Lost Arc' with Harrison Ford we have even seen a big (fictive) Horten flying wing freightplane of the Luftwaffe taxiing on the ground.
The most impressive movie still remains 'The Battle of Britain' with its many wooden Spitfires and Hurricanes exploding on the ground and the impressive in-flight shorts with the many Hispano Buchons and CASA 111's from the Spanish air force!

659

Warplane Art / Re: Machtrainer- almost ready

« on: October 06, 2007, 12:26:22 PM »

Yes, that is typically test pilot Gerben Sonderman in action with the S-14 prototype! Let's say it is a homage to a great pilot that died too early!
We have plans to use this illustration for the title page of the book. Book cover will show another and very beautiful S-14 illustration by the Dutch artist Lam van 't Hof.
We are now all working very hard to get everything ready for printing in November and for book release early December.
I haver already seen the first printed pages of the layout design and I can only say it looks GREAT!!
Book will be A4 size with hard cover and it will be some 175 pages with many illustrations. Book will be fully bi-lingual Dutch-English since not very much people outside my country speak our beatiful and colourful language!
The publisher doing the S-14 book has very recently released a book on the Fokker D-XXIII twin-boom fighter.
A reveiw will be placed on the website in a few days!

660

Combat Warplanes / Re: Unknow aircraft?

« on: September 30, 2007, 09:50:13 PM »

Yes, No. 1. You are absolutely right; it didn't fly!
The photo shows the Italian Caproni Idro-Noviplane of 1920.
It was powered by six 375 hp engines but proved to be so underpowered it never lifted off the water!