Picture of the day

Pressurized crew cabin for high altitude. Vickers Wellington Mk V, Mk VI & VA

Mk V


The Mk V and Mk VI were both attempts to produce a high altitude version of the Wellington. The two versions were visually distinctive. The front of the aircraft was remodelled to include a pressurised cabin, somewhat resembling a single cigar case, in line with the top of the fuselage, with a bubble canopy for the pilot (the basic outline somewhat resembles the shape of fighter aircraft such as the Spitfire, with the crew pod where the engine would be).



The Mk V used two 1,425 hp Hercules III engines. Three prototype Mk Vs were constructed, but the Hercules engines was not a great success as high altitude, and so work was abandoned in favour of the Rolls Royce Merlin powered Mk VI.


Mk VI



The Mk VI was developed at the same time as the Mk V, but using Rolls Royce Merlin 60 engines, providing 1,600 hp. These proved more successful than the Hercules III engines used in the Mk V, but high altitude flight provided problems of its own, as many of the liquids used in the aircraft froze in the extreme cold. Sixty four Mk VIs were produced, and it was intended to use them with pathfinder squadrons to mark targets for the main bomber force, but by the time the Mk VI was ready for service the Mosquito had appeared, and was very obviously better suited to the role. The surviving Mk VIs were scrapping in 1943."
 
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"Whoa, what's happening??"

That nose is just crying out for one of those shark-faced paint jobs!

The pilot's got his little bubble on the world, but it doesn't look as if the rest of the crew had much of a view.
Look at the poor wireless operator--did he even get a window seat? I hope he wasn't claustrophobic.
And the "Loss and Incidents" summary is written with classic British understatement. One can only imagine the
horror experienced by the four blind crew members' as this aeroplane made its final dive into oblivion.
It appears that bailing out was never an option.
 
Meanwhile, in Italy:

cc2-5.jpg


A piston-powered jet. Kinda. Ducted fan? Sorta...

Campini%20Caproni%20CC-2.jpg


Truly weird, in the way a lot of pre-war Italian stuff was. Brilliantly out-there stuff, it was. Some info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Campini_N.1
 
^x2 on Italiano flair.
Conceptually nifty, and credited as the first "jet". It flew under compression alone [truly ducted fan, but not efficient unless vane tips exceed mach] with 3stage compression, and could introduce n' ignite fuel. Not only a true jet (fuel introduced n' the stream-afterburner style), but also a piston powered ducted fan.

See mig inspirations anyone? Fuselage is part of propulsion, and cockpit is just a nuisance for flow!
 
camster said:
^x2 on Italiano flair.
Conceptually nifty, and credited as the first "jet". It flew under compression alone [truly ducted fan, but not efficient unless vane tips exceed mach] with 3stage compression, and could introduce n' ignite fuel. Not only a true jet (fuel introduced n' the stream-afterburner style), but also a piston powered ducted fan.

See mig inspirations anyone? Fuselage is part of propulsion, and cockpit is just a nuisance for flow!
Click to expand...

so piston powered ducted fan with afterburner.... interesting
 
woodchopper said:
so piston powered ducted fan with afterburner.... interesting
Click to expand...

Not really an "afterburner", and was a poor word choice. Fuel could introduced/mixed then ignited in the flow post compressor to augment thrust. Although efficiency of the example was poor, it did fly under compressor alone, which was a milestone.
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
Meanwhile, in Italy:

A piston-powered jet. Kinda. Ducted fan? Sorta...

Campini%20Caproni%20CC-2.jpg


Truly weird, in the way a lot of pre-war Italian stuff was. Brilliantly out-there stuff, it was. Some info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Campini_N.1
Click to expand...

On 30 November 1941 an N.1 flew from Milan's Linate Airport over Pisa and then landed at Rome's Guidonia Airport. The pilots, De Bernardi and Giovanni Pedace, were met by Benito Mussolini, as well many members of the press and aeronautical establishment. The 320 mile flight was promoted as the first cross-country flight by a jet aircraft, as well as the first jet-mail delivery.[citation needed] However, during the flight the combustion chamber was never operated in order to save fuel, thus the aircraft used the propulsion given by the ducted fan more than the propulsion given by the exhaust gasses.
Click to expand...

So unless the Germans carried mail in one of their jets, the flight of the Avro Jetliner from Toronto to New York in 1950 would be the first jet airmail flight in the world.
ht tp://www.avroarrow.org/Jetliner/JetlinerIntro.html"]http://www.avroarrow.org/Jetliner/JetlinerIntro.html
 
"First jet air mail[edit]
To demonstrate the capabilities of the Army Air Corps, Chilstrom and fellow pilot Captain Robert Baird carried out the first transport of air mail by jet aircraft on June 22, 1946.[22] Carrying a collection of mail that included a letter for Orville Wright, Chilstrom flew a P-80 Shooting Star from Schenectady County Airport in Schenectady, New York, to Dayton, Ohio.[23] After stopping at Wright Field, he flew on to Chicago, Illinois to complete the air mail delivery.[24]"

from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_O._Chilstrom
 
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