The Plane that was Just One Giant Gun
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ม.ค. 2024
- In the 1930s, the RAF urgently needed a heavy fighter capable of long-range escort missions as the threat of war approached. The answer was the Westland Whirlwind Fighter, an aircraft that was anything but conventional.
Taking flight months before the war broke out, Its twin Rolls-Royce engines gave it a speed that left many of its contemporaries in the dust.
But speed wasn't its only asset. Armed with four devastating Hispano-Suiza cannons, it aimed to protect bombers deep in enemy territory. Its wings, crafted for precision and agility, were envisioned for swift, low-level attacks against any target.
A true innovation for its time, its bubble canopy gave pilots unparalleled visibility, a crucial advantage in the chaotic, wartorn skies. Yet, despite its cutting-edge technology and formidable armaments, the Westland battled itself with each sortie to take over the glory of immortal aircraft such as the Hurricane and Spitfire.
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Really good documentary. First time I ever knew about the Whirlwind. Thanks.
The mosquito was coming online more or less at the same time as the Whirlwind was losing its engines. It was faster, lighter, with more firepower, most importantly, made of wood, a non strategic material. The Whirlwind was just flummoxed by its obsolete engines, pretty though..
Its engines were not obsolete, they were just being made by a company that dropped them to prioritze Merlin engine production and development.
It turns out that the whirlwinds propellers was its downfall causing issues.
The Whirlwind was a heavy fighter, while the Mosquito was concieved as a fast bomber, so it would have happened anyway.
@@CaptainQuark9 However the Mossie was a Light Bomber, a Pathfinder, Strategic knockout attack, a fighter, a recon and photo aircraft. The Mossie did it all.
My bet on Politics
Yet another interesting piece from you. I will be looking up that 12-gun nightfighter variant to see if I can find out more about it. Many thanks for this series. 😀
Never in the field of human conflict have so many engines been endowed with so few horsepower
When you think about it, that's what killed the airships too.
10:52; "Westland engineers also came up with two experimental prototypes..."
* pulls up model of Boeing 367-80*
I noticed that also! I sure would like to have that model!
One of your best episodes. Well done.
Speaking of giant gun... The mosquito known as 'Tsetse", a fly with a deadly bite, with a 57 mm cannon !
Keep this writer on speed dial. Some of your best content to date. Liked and shared.
still horifically innacurate
Where is he inaccurate? RR Peregrine was the ultimate development of their 22 litre Kestrel.
All of the content made by Dark Skies is absolute garbage, barely a minute into the video he states that the Spitfire and Hurricane were armed with American made Browning machine guns, the Browning .303 which were a complete redesign of the American version by the British, and were built by the British. The Miles M.20 was the first british aircraft to feature a bubble canopy, and wasn't the Whirlwind as stated in the video. The choices of footage are also questionable in all videos, for example stating a type of aircraft and showing a completly different aircraft. There is little to no effort put into these videos. @@davidelliott5843
Interesting comment about the US Navy. The later developed the Tiger Cat of similar design.
I do love these videos. Keep up the great work.
Beautiful aircraft, maybe a mix between the Mosquito and the Me-110. I think that twin-engine heavy fighters had a role, but they were usually given up without the right modifications to survive the war, unlike a lot of single engine fighters that carried on through the years.
A great and informative video. Thanks.
Interesting craft! Thank you for sharing!
I enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
whoa, never saw that before, many thanks, much obliged!!!!!!!!
". . . when Britain stood alone."
Alone, apart from a world-spanning empire, right?
Always interesting. Thanks.
The later Hornet was a much more refined aircraft filling a similar role. Unfortunately, it came into production right at the end of WW2. Built by de Haviland. It fitted between the Whirlwind and the Mosquito as an aircraft type.
LOOKS LIKE A BADASS
I'm always impressed by the intense amount of research in these videos, and very enjoyable to watch too!
Excellent stuff bro
I think the biggest difference between the Hurricanes/Spitfires/Beaufighter night fighters (first fitted with Merlins) was that these were used as defensive weapons, whereas the Whirlwind rather was a good offensive weapons platform. At the time the RAF needed the former more than the latter.
Still, I think the Whirlwind is unique in the sense that it was the first RAF fighter aircraft providing such a good view in all directions. All-round-vision bubble canopies in Typhoons, Tempests and Spitfires were still a long way to come.
If Eric Brown thought the design under powered, it was. If it was under powered it needed a lot of development, in the form of basically a new engine. This was certainly not a short term issue. An 800 mile range isn't noteworthy and limits escort utility. The aircraft would have been useful intercepting bombers but at higher altitudes it became mediocre. I can see this plane excelling in islands in the Pacific defending at low altitude. The Aussies could have used them. The aircraft certainly looked the business.
at the time, I'm not sure that Winkle was aware of the Whirlwind problem. It was the props used in production models that encountered compressibility. There were other issues of course, but it wasn't the Perigrine engines.
For a time they were at RAF Ibsley in the New Forest as it had a long runway for it. The same air base where some of the film The First of the Few was filmed with David Niven. Thank you.
I visited Ibsley in the 1970's. Stil a lot of infrastructure there then.
It was all turned into a huge gravel extraction quarry in the 1980's onwards. A huge wild life lake now.
@@fredericksaxton3991 Yes the control tower and a few other things are still there. Sadly the control tower was bricked up and is now covered in spray paint. When it was an open building it was clean. Thank you.
The ME262 has a very similar look !
Excellent Video/Info.
Sounds like it was a great idea that should have been developed.
A similar role is filled today by the A-10. Not an escort aircraft but fills in the air to ground aspect...
It’s a downright shame how many of the WWII fighters and bombers were scrapped after the war and the years to come. There are no flying versions left today of so many of the aircraft.
Still a Cracking looking Aircraft , but sounds like it got Knifed , right out of Existance ..Good vid.
I love your content.
My father in law was a test pilot for the whirlwind. He flew the mosquito mkVI. until Japan surrendered.
Eric Brown loved it
If only those RR Peregrine engines could have had greater development, becoming more reliable and more powerful in the same way the Merlin did.
Ditto the airframe.
It could have been developed into a most formidable aircraft but, unfortunately, with limited resources available, the Air Ministry & Manufacturers had to concentrate on established designs.
The demise of the Whirlwind cioncided with the rise of the Merlin-powered Mosquito.
May not have been a Mosquito had the Whirlwind used Marlins. Timing.
@@patrickgriffitt6551 The Whirlwind was a heavy fighter, while the Mosquito was concieved as a fast bomber, so it would have happened anyway.
@@CaptainQuark9 maybe could have had both.
GREAT VIDEO...FYI - Blenheim pronounced "Blenim" by the English.
my uncle Hilton Ashton, from Virden Manitoba flew them. he didn't talk enough for us young guys about his flying, but he did mention flying Rhubarbs, and evading attack by flying between the rows of trees in an orchard. having all guns mounted on the centreline would have made aiming at close and distant ranges easier, with a denser grouping.
My supposition is the A/C was allowed to expire because it was an all metal A/C. It was so much cheaper to build the canvas skinned A/C Hurricane and Spitfires. The WWII English leadership never blinked an eye at seeing their military personnel getting the absolute cheapest equipment available. Canvas skinned A/C, short pants for the infantry, artillery, and armor troops in North Africa, Brody helmets, etc. The "England stood alone..." is claptrap. England had Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India to draw their monies and other needed items from.
The Brits had foresight, thankfully.
P.S.: Thank you for pronouncing "Kriegsmarine" correctly. It adds to your credibility.
Just a year too late,but as Pierre Closterman said,the first half of the war for the allies was always too little ,too late.
British military aviation was superb between the 1930s to the 1970s.
Not really, for every good aircraft the British built, there were three or four poor ones.
Britain still produced Concord, the Harrier, The English Electric Lighting and the Vulcan. All legendary aircraft in their own right.
The British good old days at most until the 1950s. Britian was national bankrupted in 1960s and til now
Youre dreaming
German technology was far ahead of anything British.
ROCKETS-!
America was far ahead of anything the little island of Britain produced..
SR-71 and XB-70.@@starsailor49
I would imagine all the pressure on RR to build enough engines for so many allied aircraft from Spitfire and Lancaster to Mustang and others............
amazing
The whirlwind story was much more complicated. A lot had to do with them fitting the wrong propeller for the wrong engine.
Interesting the last Whirlwind became a single seat executive transport.
Wow!
If it led to
the "Beaufighter" and the "Mosquito", thats good, right?
It seems like it was a good stopcap measure, and was quite successful in the short time it was used in battle.
Whirlwind my beloved
Say what you want about the Whirlwind, but the video really pushes home that it was capable of retracting its flaps..
That is a foxy airplane!
The plane was functional, but it was too expensive to build and maintain. The RAF could build and operate 2 Spitfires for the same cost in material and operational manpower as one Whirlwind.
They really should have developed that prototype at 10:54. I think that one could have shortened the war by years.
Looking back, it seems that the innovation in aircraft and armament was very fast. But in reality, it was painfully slow as GB let a lot of the technology slide until the threat became very, very real. History has a funny way of repeating itself. Cool documentary on a no-so-well-known aircraft.
It was actually quite conceptional... except the cruciform tail.
I liked the design engineers showing a scale model of a Boeing 707 @ 12:53 Fabulous pre-emptive design!!
The WOODEN WONDER !!!! Streets Ahead of EVERYTHING !!!in ITS CLASS g
Four cannons (as in the Whirlwind) and an extra four machine guns...
British aircraft had the oval rear end because it’s stiffer than a slimmer tube with bubble canopy. Even then, some types struggled with structural failures (e.g. Hawker Typhoon).
The problems with the Typhoon were later found to be down to elevator flutter in power dives putting highly localised vibratory loads on the fuselage, which caused rapidly opening fatigue cracks. Without that, the fuselage would have been fine
Thank GOD These Brave Men Didn't Live To See The Destruction ( Modern Day Self Hating Britain ) Of All They Fought So Valiantly For ...
Same with America glad they can't see what we have done to ourselves some anyway have sure committed treason more every day praying for both countries
Westland Whirlwind was the most Underrated, Underfunded & Unappreciated British Fighter of WW2.
It was robbed of the engines that it deserved &;was designed for - the R/R Merlin & was saddled with the engine that no other British Aircraft Manufacture wanted - the R/R Peregrine.
One of my favourite planes of WWII, had it only been made of wood those engines would have been sufficient and maybe successful enough a plane in multiple roles that a continuation of the manufacture of the Peregrine engines might have been decided by the powers that be, another what if is what if Rolls Royce had just given a copy of the Merlin plans to just one designer so he could scale down the measurements to the same size as the Peregrine engines, just one small shed may have been enough to produce enough mini-Merlins to keep the Whirlwind in service, such an engine would require a new name so keeping with Arthurian Legend it most probably would have been called the Morgana or the Mordred.
RR named its four-stroke piston aero engines for birds of prey, e.g. Eagle, Hawk, Falcon, Kestrel, Peregrine (falcon), Vulture, Merlin, Griffon (vulture).
When I saw this in my suggested videos, I really thought it would be about the mosquito. The Mk II had eight guns, twice as many as the Whirlwind. And it could carry bombs and was faster with longer range.
where did the Mozzie fit in with his plane.They seem so very similar
Interesting I never heard of it if that would of had the rolls in it could of been a game changer if it had Machine guns too would of been a bad ass
I suspect the reason for the lack of development was the extraordinary Mosquito.
Westland should have looked at a redesign the moment the Merlin engine became available.
I thought from the title, that this was going to be about the A-10.
I’ve never heard of this plane
Another lovely plane that was let down by the engines. What a pity, but the Mosquito provided a wider range of features.
The Whirlwind retained by Westland after the war was painted in a bright medium blue with white registration G-AGOI
The reason British planes were at such a disadvantage with their Browning Machine Guns isn't the Gun, it was that they insisted their Brownings be chambered in the 30 caliber (.303 British) instead of our more powerful 50 BMG that served America well into the Korean War....
.303 machine guns are like half the weight of a .50.
No, the licencing fees were too high for BSA to produce the 50 cal BMG. Business as usual for 'merica.
Imagine this thing with a couple of Merlins. We wouldn't have needed the Typhoon.
the original warthog with its own version of a bbrrrrrrttttttttt gun
The Germans had a similar idea. The fitted their superb 88mm gun in the Me.110 night fighter. They under estimated the recoil. When the pilot fired the gun the recoil caused the gun to stop. Sadly the aircraft didn't. Back to the drawing board.
DH 98 Mosquito's predecessor👍👍👍
All about tactics...
It not "blen-heim" bomber. Its "blen-im". The h is silent.
it is named after the battle of Blenheim (Marlborough), which is a village in Germany and it's original name is Blindheim. the h in town or city names with ...heim is indeed not silent. Of course as Blenheim is overtaken from Blindheim into English you can change it to blen-im
The Whirlwind kinda looks like a ME262, but with turbo prop engines.
I couldn't be a test pilot especially in the opd days..
It looks SO similar to the DeHavilland Mosquito.
Such a shame. Elegant what might have been!
The Westland whirlwind was the prelude to the dehavlland mosquito
With similar designs and engines and firepower
Twin engine fighters interceptors were the future during WW2
🕊️ Of ✌️
Birds of victory
Seems nothing ever ends up in the mission it was originally designed for.
The Whirlwind was a heavy fighter, while the Mosquito was concieved as a fast bomber, so it would have happened anyway.
There are very few aircraft without any kind of blemish, particularly if they have been conceived during the war itself. This was due to the sheer pressure to find immediate solutions to the threat offered. Examples would include such aircraft as the Typhoon which was both effective and dangerous at the same time Additionally, the strategic objectives themselves changed, witness the growing need for long range escort fighters like the P51 whereas earlier fighters were short range, point defence designs.
Sounds like what would have made the Whirlwind a real asset, would have been fitting the more common Merlins.
Documents exist in the Nation Record Archive on headed Westland paperwork stating they did successfully fit Merlins to the Whirlwind airframe and propose series production to the air ministry - awaits a whole bunch of people claiming this is not possible not realizing they are essentially arguing against the manufacturer and something they actually did
Mosquitos were fitted with a 6 pounder field gun and a Mossie once sank a U Boat
Allocation of resources ✅✅✅
Mosquito "Tse Tse" 57mm Auto fired Cannon in the nose And a number of rockets under the wing Also unconfirmed at wars end a 96mm cannon for testing It was scraped in 1946 for the jet age
Dark Angel: That's why it is STILL called "artificial intelligence! "
The Kestrel Engine was the First engine tested on the BF 109
I am a great fan of this channel but sometimes like on many others, there are some unintentionally humorous parts where incorrect footage of aircraft etc are put together to give continuity. At 10.55 it describes the "Westland engineers and some prototypes that never came into production"........clip shows 2 gentlemen holding a model of what looks like a Boeing 707, DC8 or possibly a Convair !! Great channel all the same.
I count 4 medium sized guns, not one giant gun.
yeah its bullshit there were many aircraft of that period with bigger and more armaments than this turd
The last variants had a single 37mm gun option. 11:06
@@martinbaxter3030 the title is still bullshit cause a 37 mm is not giant there were planes in ww2 over double that hell there was an me 262 that had a 50 mm in the nose that protruded several feet and a ground attack variant of the b25 that had a 75mm gun then the biggest i know of was an italian bomber that was armed with a tank cannon of over 100 mm
Ah, "one giant gun," a forerunner of the A10.
Again I point out that it's not "the two sixty third squadron", but "two six three squadron", etc.
Oh, interesting. Was that the norm, or was it to avoid confusion?
@@mikaelbiilmann6826 I confess, I don't know WHY the RAF uses that format for squadron numbers, but that is the way they have always done it. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, such as '19 ('Nineteen) Squadron' and others with numbers lower than 100, but otherwise it's just the single digit nomenclature.
@@CaptainQuark9 Aaah, I see. Thanks for the info. Always glad to learn something new.
The Royal Flying Corp that became the Royal Air Force was the first independent air force. They numbered the squadrons two six three (263) or one nine five (195) etc.
when the USA came along later they decided to use the two sixty third or one ninety fifth mainly because that’s the way they say things. So if you hear one nine five you know it is RAF and one ninety fifth is USAF.
@@briandugan4974 Yeah, but the whole issue is that the narrator DOESN'T say one nnie five...
Wonder what they would have been like fitted with Merlin's.
I never hear about the Magnus effect in bombing. Too early?
There are similarities with the ME262
If the thing is supposed to be a long range escort fighter then all it needs is enough firepower to bring down a fighter like a BF109, FW190 or possibly a BF110. 4 x 20 mm cannons would be overkill for that and extra weight at the expense of range or agility. The very effective P51 Mustang made do with 4 or 6 x .50cal machine guns. The cannons would be needed for an interceptor/bomber destroyer or ground attack role.
My father's Mustang (268 Squadron RAF) had 4 x 20mm cannons.
@@Jon.Cullen I hadn't heard of that. I guess it must have been modified for ground attack as the four cannons and the ammunition would be very heavy for a single engine fighter. The American fighters as a rule didn't use 20 mm cannons, notable exceptions being the P38 Lightning, the P39 Airacobra and the P61 Black Widow. Perhaps if the course of the war were different and they needed to shoot down a lot of bombers (other than unarmoured Japanese Bettys) that might have changed.
@@philiphumphrey1548 Hurricane IIc, Spitfire MkVc (and later variants), Typhoon, Tempest all single engine, all with 4 x 20mm cannons. All had varying degrees of success, and much to do with the power of the engine. I do know that 268 Squadron were not the only one to have the cannon armed Mustangs, but as far as I know, it was an RAF thing, not for the USAAF.
Let's not forget, either, that the Mosquito and Beaufighter had 4 x 20mm cannons in addition to 4 x .303in and 6 x .303in machine guns respectively, and finally the Meteor jet which had 4 x 20mm cannons.
A lot more Luftwaffe bombers would have been shot down during the Battle of Britain had the Spitfires and Hurricanes been armed with cannons, as the 0.303in machine guns simply didn't have the hitting power. That is the opinion of no less than Robert Stanford Tuck, who fell out with Douglas Bader over the issue.
Cannon armed Spitfires were operated in the BOB by 19 squadron but they had problems with jamming and were removed. Once the issues had been solved after the battle there was still opposition from Bader who for once later admitted he had been wrong.
@@ericadams3428 Yes, I ignored that case because of the jamming issues. They refused to fly them after too many jams, and I believe that not one enemy aircraft was shot down by them. The cannons were not removed, the entire fleet of Spitfires was replaced. If I remember correctly, it was the first squadron that Probationary Pilot Officer Johnnie Johnson flew with before his collar bone operation grounded him.
Bader may well have admitted that he was wrong, but that was after he had been shot down (allegedly by Buck Cannon, perhaps somewhat ironically) and became a POW. In his wing on that day, his was the only MkV Spitfire still armed with 8 x .303 machine guns, at his insistence.
I wonder why the Whirlwind wasn't upgraded (again) to Merlin engines?
The basic design as was couldn't take the Merlins. In Jan 1941 Westland wrote to the Air Ministry offering a new Whirlwind with Merlins and new nacelles and wing. The Air Ministry said no.
200 whirlwinds or 400 spitfires that’s why they did not get merlins
@@Chris-mh3vf Not totally true, ericadams3428 comment is correct, it was tried and threw all the aerodynamics out of kilter. However take a look at the later Westland Welkin?
7:09 "captain Eric Melrose Winkle Brown...test pilot that flew over 490 aircraft ".....how is it possible?😮
He flew alot of years and flew captured and other countries aircraft
@@keithparkinson6170 490 aircraft is beyond imagination, even if you combine captured and other aircraft. (I'm not an expert though...)
The way you style RAF Squadron numbers in the same or similar manner as the US Air Force is incorrect, for example 16 Sqn & 617 Sqn - the RAF do not say Sixteenth squadron and the Six hundred and seventeenth squadron, the RAF say Sixteen squadron and Six One Seven Squadron. The RAF say the full number from "One Squadron" to One Hundred Squadron, then after 100, simply say each number, 101 Sqn = One-O-One squadron, 617Sqn = Six One Seven Squadron, 303 Sqn = Three-O-Three Squadron.
What is the purpose of the disturbing noise in the background?
That's not a tee tail it's called a cruciform