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Proper development and project management should have seen it match the Mosquito. But quite difficult in times of conflict.

It is like an early version of a dehavilland hornet to me 6 years ahead of its time. Big mistake in not pursuing it's development and giving it the right engines. I think the perception of the ME110 failure probably gave the wrong perception to Dowding

I think you are absolutely right ! The Whirlwind was an unexplored wonder !!! Bravo for the video, one of a very few on the plane ...

Apparently, there were reports of the cannon mounting system being a bit too flexible causing some problems with gun function and aimpoint stability as well. I imagine this problem woud have been solved rather easily if the Whirlwind had been built in greater numbers.

A real beauty of a plane.

I think the Whirlwind is one of the best looking aircraft of ww2.

My favorite british fighter the whirlwind , and the typhoon!

They had to make choices about production resources. But it's a great shame it didn't get better engines. If it had the Battle of Britain - they wouldn't have just won - they'd have minced the Luftwaffe. But hey counterfactuals and hindsight...

Interesting video, I've always liked the Whirlwind and knew about the engine problems but never knew about the props.

Why is it that when a land battle is won the general gets the glory but with the battle of Britain Dowding barely gets a mention?

kinda looks like a prop driven ME-262

Fascinating to receive some actual info on a plane I knew only as an interesting-looking plastic kit 60 years ago. Very valid comment that a similarly-effective design which needs one engine is preferable to one which needs two, since there are then engines for twice as many aircraft! Sometimes difficult to accept that much of what defeated Germany and Japan was not only skill and bravery but - perhaps even more - hardware: tanks, jeeps, trucks and... fuel.

To just look at the whirlwind tells you everything that you need to know.

Surely "duraluminium"?

We can't make anymore because we need any spare RR engines for ... Fairey Battles. Duh.

I often see it as a precursor to the DeHavilland Hornet , which appeared to take some inspiration from the Whirlwind.

Reduce its speed by 24 mph is actually false.😊

My grandfathers cousin Geoffrey Warnes DSO DFC flew with 263 squadron. First RAF pilot to wear contact lenses. He was sadly lost over the channel in 1944 after his Typhoon had engine failure.

Interesting subject matter, but that narration was dire. I had to give uo after a couple of minutes.

I love to watch your videos

In other words THE SEXIEST PLANE OF 1940

I was going to say why didnt they just use Merlin engines

Interesting that both whirlwind squadrons were not far from their manufacturer Westland in Yeovil Somerset, it’s as if even the air ministry weren’t a hundred percent sure in the aircraft. On a personal note my grandfather and father and various relatives were involved in the whirlwind’s manufacture having been there since it was known as Petters.

This is a fine video. Good stuff. It was a good plane, certainly in its time, but as you highlighted, the props were a thorn in its side.

Pretty decent emergency fighter. Cheers from Canberra 🇦🇺

Westland should have re-engined it with Merlins.

That aircraft had potential and was pointed in the right direction. Heavy armament, single crew, visibility for the pilot that was superior to any other contemporary British fighter or fighter-bomber. Imagine! An aircraft designer realizing that it might be a good idea to be able to see just who might be preparing to ruin your day! It had the potential to be the British equivalent of the American lightning. It needed refinement, more reliable and powerful engines, and simply better tactics. It got none.

My husband was just published the book here in Australia via Avonmore books.

What if? How about a pair of jet engines? Whittle had a prototype running by 1937. Would have been a world beater. As it was, a great design went to waste thanks to Rolls Royce and DeHavilland.

Surely Dowdings comment about not wanting to use 2 engines on an aircraft where single engined variants could do the job at least as well made good sense. Also seems that this aircraft employed several overly complex systems, not good at any time but particularly so in something which is expected to suffer damage.

Fantastic looking aircraft

One of my favourite planes along side the Mosquito, for the mid to late 1930s it had a lot of innovations as you said including the Bubble Canopy which became standard later.

Nice video on a truely great what if fighter. You state that it was intended as a long range fighter. Its range and armament however shows that it was intended to knock bombers out of the sky. It was devised at the same time as the Fokker G1 prototype that had counter rotating props that the later P38 Lightning had. If indeed having the wlhat if Whirwind with Merlins the correct counter rotating props even with two in stead of four 20 mm in the nose with more ammo besides directly going for the "folly" of Mosquito's, providing top cover.......... 17:48

The belly landing footage is something I've not seen before

I lived and worked at Charmy Down back in the late seventies. All the RAF buildings were intact, we used them as feed stores. Some still had the bomb trolleys outside. One building had parts of an aircraft's landing gear half buried in one corner. I was told that Charmy Down was a satellite airfield to Colerne, and had Hurricanes stationed there. That landing gear definitely didn't come off a Hurryup though, that's for sure.. Very nice vid. Thanks and blessings.

Nice thumbnail.

Whilst the appointment of Teddy Petter almost certainly owed a lot to nepotism, there is no questioning his ability. After leaving Westland, he designed the Canberra and Lightning for English Electric and the Gnat for Folland. Henry Folland had been intending to retire and recruited Petter as chief engineer and deputy managing director. When Folland did retire, less than a year later, Petter became the managing director. Sadly, orders for the Gnat were conditional on Folland being merged with Hawker Siddeley and the effective demotion this would have caused, along with his wife's declining health, prompted Petter to resign.

This is a dark horse favorite of mine in war thunder.

Put some effort into your work you slime

Military aviation history

This is just an automated intelligence channel that somebody put up to get all your likes and all your money so don't buy into it go to a real channel

Okay dude your images that go along with your speech do not match at all you are showing yak 9 early jet fighters talking about cord with of propeller fighters on Mark 1 hurricane and spitfires you obviously don't know what the heck you are talking about and should stop now and leave it to the freaking professionals

Hey guys! What if a Mossie and a Beaufighter had a devil child?

Boomerang, a beautiful and useful aircraft.

Always loved it's look.

So did Rolls Royce arrange for the props to be installed in order to help kill off the aircraft, possibly with De Havilland?

About a quarter of them were paid for from South America, particularly Argentina. The British community in Buenos Airs set up a fund raising organisation called the Fellowship of the Bellows (so called because bellows make more air power!). It spread over South America and was widely subscribed by pro-Allied Latin Americans. Other types were also funded this way, particularly Spitfires.

Excellent vid. Sadly it wouldn't have made sense to re-design the Whirlwind for the Merlin engine because one of the main selling points of it was that it didn't use the Merlin. Sadly the prop issue was something no one had any idea about at the time, the Peregrine needed further development, the Whirlwind itself was expensive to produce, and difficult to service. Had there been other more experienced designers working alongside Petter I think some of this would've been caught in time, but it was still a cracking plane. A pity none were preserved.

That pilot at 13:49 appears to be doing some serious sideslipping for the photo op. Look at the rudder.