CAC CA-15 “Kangaroo’; The Aussie Mega-Mustang
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militarymatters...
Hi Ed, I have some film footage of the CA15 in flight if you are interested. Perhaps not much existing.
Ooooo! That is interesting!
Must admit, I dont intend to do anymore on the CA15, but if you post it please feel free to put a link in here and let me know. I could pin it for those interested.
Otherwise I could upload it as is and give you credit.
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters here is link th-cam.com/video/UmNEJFEDCJw/w-d-xo.html
Nice!
Is the link gone now?
@@Colt45hatchback Probably been removed by YT due to copyright strike
In my opinion, any aircraft named after a marsupial should be equipped with an internal bomb bay....
It seems only fitting.
When you stop and think about it you are absolutely right.
Cleverest YT comment I've read in quite a while.
Or to have a level that ejects the copilot for "extra speed in an emergency"...
Oh that’s cheeky LOL!
What about an internally stored aircraft.
I have been an Airplane nerd for over 45 years and you have shown me how little I still know Ed. You have found a niche in an very crowded TH-cam category. That is very impressive when you stop and think about it. :)
Age will inform you of the fact that " the more that you learn , the less that you know "
I concur............................................................
Same.. I am a self confessed Spitfire/WW2 nerd.. I buy Aeroplane & Flypast magazines every month 🤓.. but still find myself learning new facts like this! 👍🏼
"... and then they cut it up for scrap"
Words that have, sadly, been said about far, far too many historic objects. Its enough to make you weep
Sad but true unfortunately. 🙁
Makes me look at the alloy bullbar on my old landcruiser and wonder if at some point it was a N1K or something else exciting
"Aussie Focke Wulf " ??
Yeh, but Nar.
That would have been a Dingo.😁🐕
"Dingo", I like that.
@@306champion
Yeh.
Certainly not a Wulf.😁
It's a real shame the Allies didn't supply a few hot Radial donks to get that thing up and going, it really could have been war winning in the air.
Boom-Tish!
Awesome
@@davidwatson2399
Dirty politics at work...
remember the TSR-2 British aircraft that was far ahead of any US aircraft. Ditto here...
every US aircraft engine manufacturer told by US Govt...nah mate, can't have that...it makes their aircraft better than ours....
Shortly after WW2 ended, my grandfather spent 6 months in Canberra working with the RAAF while they updated their CAS doctrine.
I remember him telling me that “Aussie pilots were rough. They’d fight anyone at the drop of a hat, and they’d drop the hat.”
Coming from a Marine, that was high praise.
Adopted Canberran here.
Remember chatting with a old guy who came out for public service work in the 50's,he reckons it was a bit like the wild west back then.
Everyone boozing on a Friday afternoon and office problems solved with fistfights outside the pub,his department head punching on with a new bloke on account of some disagreement.
I'd normally have my doubts,but this old bloke was pretty damn genteel.
love it
that yarn reminds me of a time in my 20s when a young bloke (who was holding 2 cans of Bundy) said, "I'd drop two cans of rum to punch you in the head"
to which I replied, "well you're holding two right now" to call his bluff, thankfully he didn't drop those rum cans, he was 6'4-5" to my 5'9", and therefore had longer arms...
@@frankryan2505 Haha. From what he told me there was no shortage of boozing and brawling. Great friends to have in a fight, and I’m sure that was part of his deep admiration and respect for Australia. I doubt that’s changed at all.
He was a marine working with RAAF?
The CAC Woomera was also a really interesting aircraft that few know about. It was a twin engine dive bomber with remote controlled turrets located in the engine nacelles that looked somewhat like the lovechild of an unholy union between a Bristol Beaufort and a BF 110.
Thanks for the info, it's a beastly thing that I love.
Australia was pretty pragmatic when it came to 'enemy aliens' working in the defence industry, so you might be surprised to know several German aircraft designers who fled Europe ended up working at CAC.
While Fred David was designing the Boomerang, he also had to report to police regularly as an enemy alien!
true
A dumb question: why was he an enemy alien?
@@paoloviti6156 he might have been a jew but he was born in Austria ( part of Germany in ww2) and Australia was at war with Germany.
@@tHeWasTeDYouTh thanks for replying because I know nothing about Fred David, now I understand...
@@paoloviti6156 I presume because he was from Austria. I was told this in the 1990s by a group of CAC employees who worked with him on the Boomerang design. It has always struck me as ironic.
If the P-51 Mustang ate more and then worked out, this is what would result
(Minus the engine sourcing issues)
I love that. I read somewhere that The Kangaroo was a P51 on steroids. 😅🤣
if only we could put a few US servicemen in the engine compartment and an outlet out the back, we'd have had the worlds first jet in 1943. Rumour has it that damned yankies blew harder than the santa anna winds back in the war years. Quick translation, a "blow-hard" also called a trumpeter is someone who talks up his ability
@@kingofthejungle3833 You must never have met an American of the Greatest Generation, as they didn't "talk up their abilities"...
@@kingofthejungle3833 Take your hot wind and shove off
@@davidhollenshead4892 Well said, old chap.
Kangaroo with Double Wasp... ok, that's sounds... AMAZING!
It’s a shame the CA15 wasn’t tried with a turbo-prop. That would have predated planes like Embraier Tucano by 50 years.
Thanks for posting this video. Great to see some recognition for Australian engineering. Sadly we’re terrible at getting projects off the ground, sometimes literally, and even worse at keeping them in the country.
When you rely on a foreign aircraft engine manufacturer subject to political pressure from their Govt.....you can't win.
They won't let you develop something that could be better than their own products...and lose the sales of aircraft to Australia, both in war and in peacetime...
Even Rolls Royce took their toys back....
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk It wasn't just some great conspiracy against Australia.
There were genuine fears that the Axis might take Australia.
After the war, I doubt that Brittan & the States wanted to prevent arms production by their Allies. Had Australia built a practical weapons system that was better, they would have purchased it, just as both nations still purchase weapons systems from their Allies...
@@davidhollenshead4892
David, look up EMS rifle and TSR2 aeroplane history.
The fact is that the US dominates all global arms sales to it's "allies".
Reciprocity would be a good thing....but no.....
Back in the early 2000's I went on a 000 call to an elderly gentleman who was unwell. I saw his pictures with him in his plane on his wall. He was really surprised when I asked "Did you fly that Boomerang?". Most people he said didn't recognize it.
That comment alone would have done more to help him feel better than anything else! You recognised his Boomerang and by default his War Service for Australia back when he was a young man and his country was in peril.
@@markfryer9880 Thanks. It did cheer him up and me too. I've met some great people when responding to help them, but sadly most from that era have passed now. I remember a DFC recipient from only last year and a 6'2" Lancaster Tail Gunner. He said he refused to be a radio operator just because of his height.
I wonder what were his impressions about the Boomerang...
I quite like that airplane!
@@RaduB. If I remember right, He really loved it. He had 3 or 4 photos on his wall over his bed.
Anyone who is interested in the Boomerang should visit Temora on a flying day to see it in the air! :)
She actually looks more like a Martin Baker than a P51. Nevertheless, she fits into that category of the ultimate prop driven fighters developed at the end of the war. Never heard of this plane before. Thanks for expanding my horizons.
My pleasure.
On another channel, these last propellor fighters are called "Superprops", which seems a good name. Most of them never got developed let alone saw combat.
Great video. I was aware of the Boomerang but not this aircraft. Thanks for bringing it to life.
AS ALWAYS, BEST IDEAS NEVER DONE RIGHT AT THE RIGHT TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great video, Ed - when people start shouting at you to make videos on certain subjects, you know you have arrived on YT. My RAF dad was seconded to the RAAF at Edinburgh in South Australia for two and a half years, between 1965 and 1968. I consider it a privilege to have seen the CAC F-86 Sabre, Bristol Freighter and C-47 still in front line service.
CAC-27 Sabre... another great story of Australian engineering design taking a great aircraft and making it better. Another video pending perhaps 🤔 ?
Paul
We never had the F-86
CAC received the plans and modified the designs to accommodate the rolls Royce Avon power plant.
Removal of the 6 machine guns
For twin cannons, and gas expel ports
And complete modifications to the nose cone for greater air ingestion
For the Avon
Plus other modifications internally ....
It was known as the CAC- C-27
SABRE
Sabre
@@stevenyoung7277 Ah, thanks for that, Steven. I think I was 9 at the time, so my memory has faded a bit. I had always just assumed it was the F-86, so thanks for putting me straight. :) That airshow was also significant in that it was the first time I ever watched Tom & Jerry cartoons - they were running at the base cinema. ;)
Hats off to those designers. Thinking about sketching that out on paper, pre-computer, then adjusting over and over - must’ve been maddening.
Literally the first time I have heard this splendid piece of kit called the “Kangaroo”!
The sudden unavailability of vital US components plagued the development of the Sentinel tank too, it became quite clear that the US wanted Australia to use their equipment and not develop our own. Looks like the same happened here.
Similar to the Avro Arrow
@@mikeeberhardt5190 And TSR2, though craven Labour played its role there too.
Recall that effective resource management was one of the key reasons the Allies (and especially the US) had such great performance logistically. One good example is the prohibition of metal group insignia. The US saved several tons of paint & metal from that alone.
In this case they had to allocate scarce resources for best results. The engines went to designs already in production and service. That's also why the Spitfire & 109 were in production the entire war.
It was less about "control" than logistical efficiency.
@@Caseytify Meanwhile Australia was supplying the US with food, clothing, ship repairs and more. To such an extent that we were in lend lease credit at the end of the war.
Being a pragmatist….
It was inevitable.
The US ended up very rich and pretty much untouched (Hawaii,Guam excepted) . They finished the war a super power (along with the USSR) and the U.K. bankrupt. The U.K. won its freedom(for which we are eternally grateful) but it wasn’t without cost. Same for Canada and Australia. There was a new supremo and one which was determined to stay. To be honest that’s no different from what the U.K. would have done before 1914….
Splendid. Reporting of obscure aircraft that " should have been" is always a favourite of mine.
Or "might have been" as the actual performance in the field is not obvious when testing a prototype...
Thanks for a great review on our little- known fighter. Also, thanks for your pronouncing RAAF!
Dare I mention, if you like the obscure 'what might have been', the magnificent CA4 Woomera? The finest medium bomber of the war that never was?
Timing is everything and time ran out for the Aussie Mustang , I mean the Kangaroo Messerschmitt. lol
I've been reading history books for many years. This is the first time I have heard of this machine. It's a shame it didn't get a chance to prove itself. Thanks for the information. I look forward to more of your releases.
Whack a coal-fired engine in it and scomo would finish the project now.
Thanks for making this as my Dad was a war correspondent and spent a lot of time photographing it. I have found a couple but I have boxes and boxes of wartime pictures to go through to sort them in the future. It was the only thing he talked about after the war to me, the rest of it on the Kokoda in New Guinea was a closed topic. I realise now that he and his brothers shared memories that were too much to discuss and answered a lot of questions how he handled it.
As usual,Aussies got shafted,sad....same with us,a country "of second level importance" always getting second level attention even when we can make a difference; we are always waiting for "someone" to aprove our next step,so we are late even when it is important for our own survival
Well done Squire Nash .
A fascinating desertion about CAC efforts during the WW2 yrs. You might want to explore how CAC Melbourne Labs fixed at no cost to the Yanks the early prototype of the F111 or Aardvark as the Yanks called it. Aust Govt also was THE first customer to order the then, just about to be cancelled F111 from McDonnell Douglas . Orders from the US Marines followed and the Aardvark was saved . The best fighter bomber of its day and in combat use for over 30yrs.
CAC Melb Labs was so keen to get delivery from MD that the little problem of swing wings falling off mid flight was fixed gratis by the same guys that invented the Hills Hoist to dry your laundry efficiently. Didn't charge our American friends . Which was clearly a mistake .
Another great aircraft I didn't know about. Keep them coming Ed. Looking forward to hearing more bout the Boomerang. With this plane they wisely did things the other way around. Start with an engine that was easy to get, out of a DC3 and design your plane around it.
During the war there were even DC-3s built without engines and towed as gliders. If they survived the landing operation then they were fitted with engines and flown out. I think that this mostly happened in Burma.
@@markfryer9880
Only one C47 experimental glider conversion XCG-17 was ever made.
It was a better glider at 14:1 ratio than the best purpose-designed military gliders, and required no ballast after the engines were removed...but was not continued with because it was far more valuable as a freighter with engines than as a throw-away glider.
It was towed into the air by two DC3's in tandem, (the SKYTRAIN) then the front DC3 left the second to carry on towing the glider by itself....
Ref "The DC3, The story of the Dakota", Carroll V Glines and Wendell F Mosley, published 1967 P. 177-183
It resides on my bookcase as the only tangible prize I ever won at High School...
It comes in handy every 50 years or so....nerd heaven....
Better yet, the motors were in local production at CAC for the Beaufort bomber, being built next door at DAP/GAF.
There's only so many ways you can put together an in-line engine, tear drop canopy and squared off wings. Almost all of them result in a Mustang-looking thing.
In nature it's called convergent evolution.
By the time it properly flew, the war got cancelled!
Quote Aussie pilot: Oh Bugger!
Yay , I'm Australian know hardly anything about the CA 15 . So forgiven for not covering Australian types I do know about .
you do realise that that means there was another 14 aircraft before the 'Roo". The I just looked up the CAC there's an ag plane the CA-28 which is kind of like a twin seat AT-601 or 801 with a Piper Pawnee fin.
By this stage of piston driven aircraft, they'd gone from powered airframes to steered engines.
This was a terrific video! As seems to be the case here with many of my fellow Total Airplane People, I had never heard of the CAC CA-15, a real "if only" project. Considering how many terrible designs actually got built during the war, it is too bad that some with such promise, such as this one, never got an opportunity.
Bit like the Owen gun...we want it in .38, no we now want it in.455 Webley....
political bureaucrats everywhere all get up to the same stupidities...
interesting. Best to keep essential industries in country going for times of war, or pandemic. Not having aircraft production to start off WW2 was a serious handicap for the Aussies. Just like here in Canada, during Covid, we can't make our own vaccines.
In Australia we used to make planes, and cars, we used to make lots of things.
Now, we just sell our raw materials and import everything.
sigh
Yeah, it's making the mining magnates rich. I just imagine the loss to the country of any possible manufacturing and scientific advancements and the skilled workforce that would go along with it. The only substantial thing, in the eyes of the world, to come out of Australia will remain ...the kangaroo. Oh, the irony of ads of SpaceX raffling off seats on the next space flight...will never happen in Oz.
Blackburn Firebrand next plz Ed. Good onya for doing some Aussie stuff 👍 🇦🇺 I’d buy you a beer or ten 😁
@10:05 ok Rolls wants their engine back, lets redesign the fuse to retro fit a jet engine, it's already sleek enough. Just chop off the prop, put the intake behind where the prop was, drop the underslung intake, and run the exhaust through the fuse, chopping the bottom section of the rudder off, to allow for the outlet
Hey! That's our Mustang at 4:55. A68-71. It's under slow restoration at Moorabbin. I've been working on the Aft Radiator Duct. I could use some help..have to finish a P-40 first.
Excellent Ed....just excellent. Our war-time engineering achievements in weapons and munitions production were extraordinary for a country of just 7 million or so.
Les Griffiths
Very good , thank you .. That wing looks like a NACA laminar airflow profile .. Wikipedia says it's a NACA 66 Series
The reason engines were all of a sudden unavailable...... the US worked at keeping air superiority and had influence with the britts. In Canada we knew this game so when we developed the Arrow we designed our own engine. and the US FBI came gathered all the blue prints forced our govt. to cancel the aircraft and destroy 2 working aircraft. I believe the main reason is Avro Canada was going to sell the iriquois engines. the Arrow would have been the most advanced plane in the world 10 years ahead of its time.
Not surprised at all. The yanks always had a close eye on commercial advantage, even with Allies. The Nordern bombsight is an example, as is the difficulty with engines for the AC1 Sentinel, including refusal to licence Australian production.
I’m Australian never new about CA-15 to bad Australia didn’t continue with Aircraft even up to today
Three most over-used terms in aviation:
Would’da
Should’da
&
Could’da
I believe the CAC was set up as a subsidiary of General Motors Holden, by managing director Sir Lawrence Hartnett, without approval from GM head office. He was appointed director of ordinance production during the war, and directed all Holden manufacturing toward the war effort (copping a lot of flack from head office). GM sacked him in 1946, just as the Holden prototypes were being unloaded from the ship ,the Wangaratta.
Sir Lawrence, is remembered as the man most responsible for the creation of the Australian built car, the Holden.
For reasons of accuracy The Australian CAC was not the Australian “Commonwealth Aircraft Company” as you stated @ 1.32 this was the name of a USA manufacturer from Valley Stream New York which was originally the Rearwin Aircraft and Engines Kansas City and was renamed the Commonwealth Aircraft Company in 1942 and made combat gliders under contract to the WCo Aircraft Company and a few other types after World War 2 they became Bankrupt and wound up in March 1947, the correct name of our Australian CAC is “ Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation” and has nothing to do with the other “ Company”
Looks like a world beater, quite an attractive aircraft. The R-2800 version would have been a formidable fighter-bomber.
I'm facepalming at the lack-of-engine issues.
Thanks for the great video.
My Grandfather served his apprenticeship at CAC and worked on the design of CA-15 as well as the Boomerang and Wirraway. It was for this reason he was not sent to fight. From what he told me, it was known at a fairly early point that the plane was really a non-starter, not from a technical point of view but that more practical options were available. Highly developed planes could be had or built and the sense of isolation felt before and early in the war had largely passed (that desperation had motivated the hasty adoption of the Boomerang).
CAC was a fantastic place to be at this time I was told, and my Grandfather had some acquaintance with both Sir Lawrence Whackett and Fred David, who despite being considered an enemy alien, loved living in Australia and stayed on after the war.
Thanks again for the video.
Cheers for using the word "prang" as that's a very common word in Australia... :-)
"The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) was an Australian aircraft manufacturer. The CAC was established in 1936, to provide Australia with the capability to produce military aircraft and engines."
CAC became a fully owned subsidiary of Hawker de Havilland in 1985 and was renamed Hawker de Havilland Victoria Limited in 1986. This company was purchased by Boeing Australia in 2000, hence the Loyal Wingman.
@@valenrn8657 My point was that the correct title was ... Corporation!
The tail looks like a Canberra as well!
The real tragedy is that the test aircraft was scrapped. But then, so many other aircraft were scrapped after the war and not one example retained - like the Barnes-Wallis bouncing bomb Mosquitoes that were at Temora. :( Not one entire example of a CAC Beaufort either, but at least a Beaufighter survived!
Wow the CA-15 had a climb rate of 4900 ft/min!
On engines, Australia did fully manufacture aircraft engines(in fact GMH built aircraft engines first before car engines) from 1941 starting with the Gipsy Major Aero engine, through to mass producing P&W R-1830 Twin Wasps by 1943. The problem was getting the latest American and British designed engines released to CAC. However, GMH, Ford, Chrysler and BMC, were also mass producing truck engines by 1945. The State Library of South Australia has a terrific WWII photo collection of aircraft production in Oz.
Built Aussie Beaufighters (4x20mm cannon + 4 x.50 Cals in wings). Mosquitos, Aussie Mustang had unique Me109 inspired alloy engine mount!
The first layout yielded a hell of a profile.
It would have been something!...
The comments at 4:20 to 4:35 denegrates the efficacy of superchargers on the R2800 engines. The loss with regards to the service ceiling was about about 5000ft coming down from about 41,500ft to about 37,500ft. However, if CAC had gone with the R2800 variant used on the Corsair (also a supercharged version) the loss would have been about 500ft.
Don't forget that both the Merlins and Griffons are supercharged engines.
Then, there is also the added complexity and weight of the turbo-supercharger unit... Just my humble opinion though...
Australia? Yuck. Too hot and it's full of spiders, snakes, crocs, sharks, and Aussies. NZ is the best place down under.
You’re channel continues to showcase aircraft I’ve never heard of. Thanks for broadening my knowledge. I think the plane should have continued to bounce on landing.
It seems blatantly obvious that US interests relentlessly stuffed the CAC about throughout the entire development process for the CA15.
Sounds like the Australians needed engine manufacturing of their own.
There was an attempt at this. The Winjeel was originally intended to have a locally made engine called a Cicada. I'm not sure of the detail, but it was probably an accountant who suggested saving a lot of money by using the P&W R-965 Wasp Junior.
De Haviland of course having airframe manufacturing here subcontracted their engine manufacturing to GMH. (I'm not sure if GMH was manufacturing any engines prior to WW2 or this was what gave them the courage to manufacture after the war.)
How many engines were promised then withdrawn. That comes close to sabotage by 'friendly' AC companies.
Having the foresight to develop an aeronautics industry of its own, has shown that the govt of the 1930-40s was considerably smarter than the present incumbents.
Remember PM Abbott Shut the Auto industry and wanted to do same with our propellant and Ammunition Industry.
...and, no doubt, reports of confused questions from Japanese pilots, wondering how the Germans got there.
Love the use of the word Prang, very Australian! :)
Now it's time to appease the CANADIANS!!! ahahaha
The quotation of performance “at sea level” has always amused me. Tradition dictates that flying in the middle of the air works much better than trying to do so at its wet and salty lower limit.
Seems that the Australians ran into the same problems that Canada did and ended up with mostly American aircraft in the RCAF.
It looks great, but i have had a soft spot for the CAC boomerang too.
Thanks so much for this. I knew about the CA-15 and like many assumed it was developed by the Australians from the Mustang, not as much for its similar shape but also the use of a laminar wing. I also thought many design cues were taken from the British MB5 also in development at the time.
Astounding its design in fact goes much further back and more FW190/P38 than P51. I knew it used the Griffon (had no idea about the prev aborted P&W radials or designs) but in that, always wondered why they went for a 4-blade instead of 5-blade spinner.
Just a note: I may be wrong, but I was under the impression the Spitfire XIV used the 65 series, not the 61 series (although admittedly the 65 was a tweaked 61).
Commonwealth Aircraft CORPORATION 👍
I would be very happy if the RAAF had made their own FW190.
Word has it when they retired the boomerang they could not figure how to get rid of it because it kept returning to base......😂
Seems to me (as a Yank mind you), the only "problems" the Aussies really had in development were they did not develop their own damn engine (first) and instead relied on their "allies" in time of war. ;)
We just didn’t have the industrial base to do so which is why we developed our own car industry after the war. The Aussie car manufacturing industry finally died a couple of years ago with the withdrawal of Federal Government subsidies and the exiting of several international manufacturers. We only import cars and trucks now..
Sure sounds like the yanks and the brits were busy throwing wrenches into the budding australian aviation industry. Sounds rather canadian doesnt it.
Give us our engine back, what would the Aussie do with out England? Got save king charles
Politics has always played a part in aircraft production, just is in Britain our politicians have repeatedly sold us out.
Remember the TSR-2....
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk and the flying tail just given to the US and in doing that America went ahead while the UK went down the the gurgler. New Zealand has also had this kind of problem. Canada seems to be the only advanced Commonwealth country that hasn't done this but I could be wrong.
The drop bears are gojng to eat XI JIN PING and be hungry one hour later. HA HA HA.
*Like in Poland .... something ALWAYS is standing on the way to achieve a great success at the time of its great importance !!!!*
Never knew about the Kangaroo. 😁 Thank you. I remember those little Vampire jets well. When I was a kid, I would lay on the back lawn, in South Windsor and watch them take off from Wilberforce base Richmond. Absolutely beautiful craft. Oh and the Canberra bombers as well. 😁👌
Love this! Australia should rebuild their capacity to design and create competitive fighter aircraft!
🍻 smacks of big brother not wanting a rival to their big name brands hence why the engines wertn available
How about a video on the other CAC aircraft on steroids, The CAC version of the North American Sabre F86?? I think one is still display flying in Oz.....
Very interesting, this is a great Video , such a shame the Aussie CAC CA-15 RAAF Kangaroo never quite got off the ground , well it did but with all the hiccups with engines it wasn't given its best chance......
2:10 "Bradley - Second to None" with the "World Beater "soundtrack starts playing.
As a lover of all things Australian, this amazes me. I have never heard of the Kangaroo. It doesn't surprise me about it's fate though, looking at the design problems, etc. It was catch up football for us during the war. Too little too late! Another story I heard recently is that the Japanese "Zero", had it's design roots here in Australia. Two brothers from Ipswich in Queensland , mad keen on aeroplanes, must have decided that they would do something about our overall military sittingduckedness. So they presented a design for a fighter plane. The Australian Government knocked them back, so the brothers sold it to the New Zealand Government. They then sold it on to Japan. When it went to Japan, and became the Zero, it was very much an embarrassment for the brothers, and their family. My mate who told me the story, lived in and around Ipswich all his life, and is still alive. He was able to speak to the brother's sister many years after the war, and mentioned the Zero story. He said it touched a nerve in her, and she didn't want to go there. The brothers had imported a kit plane from England in the early days of aviation. It was known as the "Flying Flea". They built it and then flew it at Archerfield Aerodrome in Brisbane. My mates father , then a young man, had cycled to Archerfield from Ipswich to watch the maiden flight.
I've heard that rumour before, but I don't think the Roberts brothers had anything to do with the design of the Zero.
@@atomicmillenial9728 Why so?
The P-51 is interesting because of the NASA /Davis Laminar flow wing design and the tight wing fit to fuse without wing fillets. Along with slab sided boxy fuselage and the Laminar flow wing the P-51 had very low drag numbers and could outperform most aircraft in range and speed. All new stuff in aircraft design that went into Jet aircraft design.
We would call it the Flame'n-Dingo not Focke-Wulf
those poor bloody engineers screwed around so many times and to end up with thier baby destroyed at the end
I'd never heard of this bird. It's a gorgeous plane! The Mustang-ness is just coincidence. A damn good layout is a damn good layout!
Australia has always been kicked about in such a way. Promising designs and manufacturing, but, rely on someone else for a part, “sorry, it isn’t available anymore”, or you can’t have it, even though it would make a fantastic machine.
Like dug in Douglas MacArthur, relegating Australian troops to backwater battlefields, because he couldn’t stop the Japanese army.
One of the great what if’s.
Guys in the australian airforce just say 'raff' for RAAF
Imagine having an aircraft ready multiple times just to be told there are no damn engines, I can only imagine the frustration the designers after getting screwed around that much
Terrific stuff yet again Ed. And yes l did know of this nearly made it ! But l'm a nerd on aircraft of WW2. Your knowledge is far greater in many more subjects but l think your enjoying this subject perhaps more than you thought you would . Thanks Ed.
Lol yes, an aero historian I never thought I'd be.
Ed, thanks so much for taking this request on. You found a number of photos I have never seen.... and I visited the factory in the 1980s! You have of course gained a rod for your back as we Aussies will love for you to weave your magic and come up with videos on the; Wirraway, Woomera and CAC-27 Sabre, to name a few. A wonderful video mate.
Well done Ed, R “double A” F
Much easier :)
"Dare I say it?"
Dare! Dare! My all time favorite is the Ta-152H. It is a shame they didn't get an Aussie Thunderbolt running. Also a huge fan of the Boomerang.
It's a pity that CAC lacked the capacity to just build their own Double Wasp (or similar-performing engine) from scratch rather than needing to have one provided to them.
The plane actually flew with a 2 cylinder diesel tractor engine from a John Deere tractor. Prop was over 12 meters in diameter.
She actually flew comfortable at 1820mph and was armed with 4 40mm Bofors.
I'm surprised you weren't aware of these universally agreed on facts. 👍
My mate reckons that it was actually a Chamberlain horizontally opposed twin. But as Chamberlain were manufacturing in WA, it was quicker to import the JDs from the US than to rely on commonwealth Railways to get them from Perth to Melbourne.
@@campbellsharp8303 lol 👍
Never mind the Mustang, i'm getting a severe Martin Baker vibe.