Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "Ed Nash's Military Matters" channel.

  1. Propeller driven aircraft. It's a bit like fashion. If you wait long enough it will come back into vogue.
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  2. Hitler declaring war on America is a little bit different from what many people think. Because of America's involvement with supplying Britain with military equipment and clashes between the USN and Germany's U-Boats Hitler believed that America and Germany were already in an undeclared war. So as far as he was concerned all he was doing was formalising something which already existed. Germany certainly had a confused relationship as far as long range bombers were concerned. They did not think they were needed in Europe because for them the Luftwaffe was there to serve the German army. But they then did need them for bombing the US. They then had to cobble together the Mistel because they belatedly realised there were targets in Russia they needed to bomb but they did not have the long range bombers they needed to carry out the task. Meanwhile Britain and America where building long range bombers because both countries knew that they were needed to reach targets which were well beyond their own borders.
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  3. If this next aircraft has even more wings, is flown by a mottle crew which includes a sniggering dog and the are chasing a pigeon then I've seen it already.
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  4. Never underestimate A Bloke In A Shed.
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  5. If you successfully eject using a Martin Baker seat then you are entitled to own a tie commemorating the fact.
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  6. With a top speed of 78 MPH that means that WW1 biplanes could shoot them down.
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  7. A whole new meaning to 'we use cookies.' Mentioning the backblast reminded me of the ISIS video footage of the guy firing an RPG from in side a room through a hole in the wall. Killed by his own backblast.
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  8. I've long had a soft spot for the F-5. Not big and flashy, or expensive, like many of its contemporaries, but a great little workhorse.
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  9. The F-4 Phantom definitely in my top 5 Cold War jets. Always looked like it meant business.
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  10. There are several stories about what happened with the two MiG-31s. One of them is that there was a hanger fire which destroyed one or both of them. Another is that one of them was destroyed in a mock dogfight when a missile was accidentally deployed through the mind reading device, which is why it was never used again, and the second one is said to have lost control and crashed because it was too close to first one when it exploded. Something not often reported was the death of a Soviet airforce general soon after this event. It has been said that he was in someway involved in the loss of both aircraft. The second one is, of course, at Area 51. Where else would you put it. I say is. There is a rumour that it was actually lost over the North Pole because an alien from Area 51 was bored one day took it for a ride. Apparently it could not read his mind and fired the ejection seat. But that would be silly.
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  11. I knew of this aircraft but not much on the detail. So thanks for that.
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  12. Sometimes the wrong aircraft is the right aircraft it just needs placing in the right roles.
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  13. A business with its own army. I'd hate to have to visit their complaints department
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  14. Looks like the plans for at least three different aircraft which got mixed up.
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  15. Interesting that it was a Maryland which first reported the deparcher of the Bismarck. When the British Royal Navy lost contact with her later it was a Catalina which found her again. This time the American connection was even closer as the man who spotted the Bismarck, the pilot of the Catalina, was an American. As America was still technically neutral at this time this was not mentioned until much later.
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  16. Having seen the French navy with their pre-dreadnought floating hotels, the French airforce went one better with flying apartment blocks. You get the feeling it was a bad idea to have the design team right next to a vineyard.
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  17.  @jamesdeery5377  And not gotten any better. Remember the British soldiers killed in the first Gulf War because a couple of trigger happy A-10 pilots was so set on getting kills they attacked a British column claiming the were Iraqis. And they were supposed to be experts at vehicle recognition. An RAF Jaguar pilot sent to check flew at a higher altitude and recognised them as British.
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  18. Thanks, Ed. The Dutch airforce tends to be one of those which ends up in the sort of reference book which is a follow on to the one which covers all the main protagonists. As it includes all the 'also rans' it means they do not get the same attention as the main contenders. So it is good to learn a bit more about them.
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  19. Ye-8 sounds like something made in Newcastle. Interesting idea. It did remind me of what they did to the North American F-100. The North American F-107. But in that case the air intakes were on top rather than underneath. The F-107 also did not make it into service either.
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  20. Okay. I knew about this one as I used to work at the Blackburn factory, though by then it was Britsh Aerospace, and they had a model of it on display in the reception area. If those hangers behind are at Blackburn's then I worked in one of them.
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  21. The Blackburn factory was right next to the River Humber. So to protect the site there was a bank built around it between it and the river. To test the Firebrand's guns the tail was raised to sit the aircraft in a level position. The guns could then be fired at a target to make sure the were grouped correctly. This was done with the bank as a backstop for safety reasons. One day while testing the guns Blackburn got a telephone call from an irate ships captain wanting to know what he was being shot at. It turned out that because the same position had been used for so long the shells had drilled a hole through the bank. Whatever people may say about Blackburn they built the Buccaneer. The finest low level attack aircraft of its time. When flying at Red Flag the USAF could not get anywhere near it. Even when the fighters tried to catch them flying over the ridge to exit from the site the Buccaneer pilots just flipped it on its back and flew over the ridge upside down so the fighters could not get a shot.
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  22. I thought for a minute you had slipped up and you was about to tell use about an episode of Stop That Pigeon.
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  23. The Russians are losing tank at a rate of 150 per month but an only build 20 per month. That means that it will take over 11 years to replace the loses. So they are refurbishing some 90 old tanks per month as replacements.
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  24. A great display of Russian airmanship. 🙄
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  25. When the Soviet Union came to an end MiG tried to sell the MiG 29 to the international market and brought it to the UK. Some British RAF test pilots flew it and was very impressed by how easy it was to fly. The MiG representative said that this was because Soviet pilots were getting so little flying time they had to make it easy.
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  26. Ukrainian Supply Logistics: What! Their sending what!? When's the WW1 biplanes arriving?
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  27. To be fair that was their own fault. And they had done the same to France after the Franco-Prussian War.
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  28. Some of these aircraft look like they are from an episode of Dastardly and Muttley with their multiple wings. This one looks like it was in a Disney film. Flown by Baron von Razor-Strop. Interestingly the name floh, flea, would make a return. The motto for one of the German squadrons which flew the Me 163 was 'Only a flea but oh what a flea' (I am paraphrasing here somewhat).
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  29. The way drones are progressing it is starting to look like all the military people will end up working from home.
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  30. Hitting the wrong target is nothing new as we know. At the start of the Battle of France the first place the Germans bombed was one of their own towns. And they should have known it was there but due to a navigational error bombed. So, unless there was other evidence, I would go on the idea of it being a navigational error. As for the casualties then it would rely on what was happening at the base. It could well be possible to do two strafing runs with minimal casualties if any.
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  31. One thing with mines is that when you sink one ship it delays many others, especially if the ship sinks in a choke point. And stopping ships stops industry which starves armies.
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  32. When you mentioned about them going to North Africa I was rather hoping they had to face the Gloster Gladiator. Loses to a biplane which it was supposed to be faster than has got to be a humiliation.
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  33. They look fresh from the factory
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  34. A very deadly game of cat and mouse. These sort of flights could be a series on their own.
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  35. To be fair the Skyraider only stayed as long as it did because of the Viet Nam War. Having said that it now looks like propeller driven aircraft are making a comeback as it has been realised that using the A-10 in counterinsurgency is a lot like using a Rolls-Royce for pizza delivery.
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  36. Thanks, Ed. I did come across this helicopter some years ago and my first thoughts were surely this is just one big flying target. But after reading about its use in Viet Nam I did wonder why many more were not used. A couple of years ago I came across some interesting statistics with regards to the use of helicopters in Viet Nam with regards to combat time seen by US troops. In WW2 the average marine saw 40 days of combat while fighting in the Pacific. In Viet Nam a soldier would see 315 days of combat. Being able to move troops into and out of the field very quickly making the difference.
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  37. Thanks, Ed. I came across the P-43 many years ago but there was very little in the way of in formation given at the time. So it was great to have the blanks filled in.
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  38. I always thought the F-5/F-20 was much underrated. And considering how long they lasted and how many were built they should be better known.
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  39. Where would we be without the man in his shed.
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  40. With my first car I had, on occasion, to start it by hand. Not a fun thing to do at the best of times. On a cold wet and windy night it's surprising how many swear words you remember.
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  41. Somewhat ironic that the first prototypes used British engines as that is what Spain did to keep its Messerschmits flying
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  42. Thanks, Ed. I knew very little about the YC-14 and even less about the YC-15. So, thanks to you, that is no longer the case. I know the Soviets took to the YC-14 design for the Antonov An 72/74 but as they have so many grass and dirty airstrips you can see why. Maybe take a look at their version at some point.
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  43. A bit harsh on the Togolese Coast Guard aren't we.😀
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  44. I too wondered about the propeller being at the rear when it came to landing. I also wondered about the arrester hook as there did not seem to be a good place to put it.
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  45. The 159 always looked to me like they forgot to add the bottom wing to a biplane. Other that the fact it looks like the trainer I do wonder what advantage having the wing on the top would give, especially when you consider the how much sky it blocks out.
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  46. I do get the feeling that when aircraft like this one is the subject of the video it should be accompanied by theme for Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machine. As there were several perfectly flyable biplane bomber what made them think this would work. I understand they had a lack of experience, not that we needed telling, but at least take a look at what everyone else was doing. When I say everyone else I took it as read that excludes anything by Caproni.
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  47. The Manchester also brought down the Hawker Tornado which used the same Vulture engine. The irony here was that the Vulture engine was virtually trouble free on the Tornado. You have to wonder what would have happened if the Tornado kept flying and the Typhoon was dropped.
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  48. I'm more surprised that you still have milkmen. Poor mite is not going to be able to follow in daddy's foot steps. Reminds me of the old joke about a couple who have just moved to a different city. One morning just after they had moved the husband comes back into the kitchen, having just picked the milk bottles up of the doorstep, when he turns to his wife and says. 'that milkman must have one hell of a milk round.' 'Why do you say that,' asked his wife. 'Well,' said her husband. 'That's the same milkman we had where we used to live.' 'And that's 90 miles away.'
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  49. The problem for the Royal Navy was that aircraft and aircraft design was put in the hands of the Royal Air Force. Which meant that their requirements were not properly catered for. Though they did get control back they were having to play catch-up during WW2. The German Kriegsmarine in WW2 had the same problem in that the aircraft they wanted for their carrier but Herman Goring refused to let them have any. I once read an autobiography of a Royal Air Force pilot who served between the wars. It was suddenly decided that RAF pilots should learn to fly from carriers. It was not a decision welcomed by the RAF pilots, as you can imagine.
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  50. The Valiant was used during the Suez Crisis where the Egyptians used the MiG 17s to try to intercept it. But as the service ceiling for the Valiant was 2,000 feet higher than that of the MiG they never got close.
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