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  1. oldironside

    Links to interesting aviation films/videos

    I'm not sure what the mods attitude to this will be, but from time to time I come across interesting videos on youtube and other video sharing sites (as I'm sure we all do), and I thought it might be a nice idea to have a thread for this. A while ago we had a thread about the Blackburn Cubaroo...
  2. oldironside

    The Fairey Battle: Was it really that bad?

    To avoid derailing the Hawker Henley/Martin Baker thread, this thread is to discuss the pros, cons and myths of the Fairey Battle. Put simply, I would say it was a decent design that fulfilled the customer's requirements, but that was overtaken by events. It failed utterly in the face of...
  3. oldironside

    The most ridiculous aircraft design

    Admiral Beez gave me the idea for this in my Greatest Aircraft Designer thread. So, what was the most ridiculous design that ever flew? Paper projects are not allowed, so the hilariously stupid Junkers 187 with its rotating tail is barred. However, the Natter actually flew (once and...
  4. oldironside

    The greatest aircraft designer of all time.

    As it says in the title, in your opinion who was the greatest aircraft designer of all time. Although there are candidates from WW1 (Tony Fokker?), I personally think the winner will be from the golden age from the 1930s to the 1950s and personally I would nominate RJ Mitchell. Although he...
  5. oldironside

    Your favourite Post-1900 quote

    It could be something funny... ... something motiviational... ... something that looks ridiculous in hindsight... ... or something illuminating... ... but what's your favourite post-1900 quote?
  6. oldironside

    AHC: Screw Up The Luftwaffe Worse Than Udet

    Ernst Udet (1896-1941) was Germany's highest scoring surviving ace of World War One, a likeable character, a brilliant pilot and definitely not a Nazi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2CBx7x5GCI Although he wasn't really interested in politics or admin, he became head of the T-Amt (technical...
  7. oldironside

    Worst Aircraft Designed By A Genius

    “A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.” Frank Lloyd Wright ... and an aircraft designer will see them flying, if he's lucky. Apologies and thanks in equal measure to Shevek23. I'm starting this thread, but the idea is purely his as...
  8. oldironside

    Innovation over conservatism - The Kriegsmarine takes a different path

    Taking the inspiration from Gudestein's current thread (and every other German carrier and Sealion thread ever), the purpose of this thread is to try to analyse how the Germans could have used new technology to overcome the RN's numerical superiority. Basically they have to accept in the early...
  9. oldironside

    WI: No Hawker Hurricane

    Adolf Galland once described the Hurricane as "a beautiful plane to shoot down". In spite of this Hurricanes destroyed more Lw aircraft during the Batte of Britain than all the other defences put together. What would have been the effects on the first two years of World War Two if the...
  10. oldironside

    Worst Idea In Military Aviation

    My thanks to Saphroneth who gave me the idea for this. Can anyone come up with a worse OTL concept that this? This is an Me262 towing a 250kg bomb on a rigid tow bar. The idea was that it would dive towards the target, separate the bomb from the plane with explosive bolts and the bomb would...
  11. oldironside

    Worst Ground Attack Aircraft Of WW2

    Yes, it's another one of my "worst" threads. I feel that they are not only entertaining but they also uncover a lot of fascinating and useful bits of information I'd never heard of. So, we are looking at the worst ground attack aircraft of the Second World War. It can be single engined or a...
  12. oldironside

    Worst Possible WW2 single engine carrier fighter.

    Once again the subject of German carriers has reared its ugly head, which set me to thinking. Was there a single engine fighter in World War 2 that would have been less suited to carrier operations than the Bf109T? It suffered from: weak undercarriage ground handling issues due to the...
  13. oldironside

    Wanking The Cubaroo, or the Blackburn Behemoth

    This is an offshoot of an idea pdf27 gave me in my Worst Possible Name For A Combat Aircraft thread. So, allow me to present the Blackburn T.4 Cubaroo. Designed and built as a coastal defence torpedo plane, it must have made contemporary jaws drop. An 88' wing span - look at the guys...
  14. oldironside

    Worst Possible Name For A Combat Aircraft.

    So, what would you consider the worst possible (but still mildly plausible) name for a combat aircraft. There have been a few Lightnings (P38, Arado 234, Macchi 205), a few unique classics (Spitfire, Flying Fortress, Störtebecker, Rigorous Sword), and some embarrasing efforts from the...
  15. oldironside

    What if R J Mitchell lives?

    R. J. Mitchell died of bowel cancer in 1937 at the age of 42. He originally had a colostomy in 1933 and it seemed this had been successful. However, the cancer returned in 1936. In his short life he designed a wide range of sea planes from the Walrus to the Stranraer. He pushed the...
  16. oldironside

    A Midget Submarine Raid On Scapa Flow in 1939

    Okay, I can't believe I'm about to do this, but I'm starting another Scapa Flow thread. At first glance this is slightly more realistic than Ovaron's magnum opus or that current business about gliders. Whilst back in England last week I was lazing in front of the History Channel with a beer...
  17. oldironside

    A VTOL airliner in 1970 with four RR Pegasus.

    This just popped into my head. I was watching a vid about the Dornier 31, which had two Pegasus, but was undone by politics and the dead weight of its extra lift engines. Can anyone build a viable four jet VTOL airliner which could operate between the world's smaller airports?
  18. oldironside

    1982 World Cup - Keegan and Brooking fit

    After qualifying for the first time since 1970 (and actually going through a qualifying group for the first time since 1962), England won a potentially tricky first round group with maximum points, only to go out in the second round group with two goalless draw against West Germany and an...
  19. oldironside

    WI Willi Messerschmitt had been killed in 1928?

    Messerschmitt first came to prominence with is M.20 monoplane... ... which suffered a series of fatal crashes, including the first prototype on its maiden flight. Since it wasn't totally unknown for designers to hitch a ride on test flights (Roy Chadwick was killed when the prototype Avro...
  20. oldironside

    AHC - Make FIFA noticably less corrupt.

    Given the ongoing scandal of migrant workers being exploited to death in Qatar, what would it have taken for FIFA to be an honest enough organisation for the World Cup to have never been given out on the basis of brown envelopes? PoD is anytime from it's foundation in 1904 onwards.
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