Hello,
My regular readers will know that I have an interest in old military aircraft.
Today I came across a type of which I had previously been unaware, the fastest ever, production, piston-engined British fighter, capable of 472mph (even faster than the super Napier-engined Hawker Tempest and also the Hawker Sea Fury. Mind you the Third Reich's Dornier DO 335 "push-pull" fighter was better at 474mph!)
It was called the de Havilland Hornet; like many advanced piston-engined types it came too late as jets were already flying.
The photograph in the Wikipedia article though, was absolutely irresistable for obvious reasons:
The hi-fi club?
Today I came across a type of which I had previously been unaware, the fastest ever, production, piston-engined British fighter, capable of 472mph (even faster than the super Napier-engined Hawker Tempest and also the Hawker Sea Fury. Mind you the Third Reich's Dornier DO 335 "push-pull" fighter was better at 474mph!)
It was called the de Havilland Hornet; like many advanced piston-engined types it came too late as jets were already flying.
The photograph in the Wikipedia article though, was absolutely irresistable for obvious reasons:
The hi-fi club?Tailpiece: regarding the wonderful Dorner DO335 I mentioned above, the story goes that at the end of the Second World War, when the Americans were gathering as much advanced German technology as they could under "Operation Paperclip" a captured DO335 was flown from Germany to Cherbourg for onward shipping to the US. It was escorted by a pair of P51 Mustangs (no slowcoaches these). They didn't stand a chance: the DO335 arrived 45 minutes before them!
Modern: The exciting Dornier DO335
A bientôt
Modern: The exciting Dornier DO335A bientôt
