Magnificent Monospar - The World's First Light Twin
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- The Monospar was designed by Helmuth Steiger. A total of 105 were built between 1932 and 1938; only two survive as of 2024. Dr John Morris wrote a delightful book about flying his Monospar from Australia to London in 1961, entitled 'Two Men In A Flying Machine' and well worth finding a second hand copy.
Music: ‘Honeysuckle’ by Honeyroot.
Maps: National Museum Of Scotland and my own collection.
Photos: Air-Britain, Jack Meaden, Geoff Goodall, Dave Welch and others. Contact me if you want a credit in the description.
Newspapers and Journals: British Newspaper Archive and others.
Aerial photos: ‘Britain From Above’ and others.
#monospar #pobjoy #hanworth #croydon #gloster #flyingforfun #aeronca #aeroncac2 #aeroncac3 #aeronica #airknocker #flyingbathtub #douglasdc3 #douglasc47 #spitfire #hurricane #worldwar2 #ww2 #ww1 #airport #airstrip #automobileassociation #rac #aa #vintagesportscarclub #vintageaircraft #vintageaeroplane #vintageairplane #aeroplane #plane #flying #aerodrome #england #praga #oldengine #microlight #cornwall #thrustertst #vauxhall1440 #vauxhall #airplane #magneto #lathe #railway #propeller #makingapropeller #pietenpol #fordmodela
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This plane is a true charmer by any standards.
Definitely 👍
Agreed 👍🏽
Brilliant video! Well done. - I knew that the Air Ministry had sponsored the building of the first monospar wing and had it displayed at an exhibition in London in 1929, but I had no idea it went on to be put onto a Fokker Trimotor. The hill in the background at 1.33 minutes into the video is Coopers Hill - famous for the annual cheese-rolling contest. Gloster's Brockworth aerodrome was near the foot of the hill. The haughty-looking gentleman second from the right 5.12 minutes into the video looks to be William Forbes-Sempill, 19th Lord Sempill, the notorious "Master of Sempill" who was later found to have been a spy for the Japanese. He piloted the Monospar Croydon on the first leg of its journey to Australia.
It is indeed that treacherous blighter Sempill, he flew as second pilot as far as Karachi and then came home. Mr Crocombe - designer of the ST-18 - replaced him as fourth crew member. Thank you for your comments, much appreciated.
Thanks for sharing Nick. This plane appears to be a gem. It is amazing how much they upped the hp over the years. The 50 year owner must of been heartbroken when he lost it to fire.
Yes, it's a sad ending to the story.
Another wonderful aircraft of the Golden Era . Thanks .
Yes, I’d like an ST-25 with the double fins and rudders, a very useful machine 👍
Beautifully produced Sir, thank you! Typical Brit plane, big on the 'important' bits, just no salesmen employed!
You are right; I believe the pre war success of DeHavilland was the prolific use of dealers and service centres. Very advanced for the day.
what a beautiful little aircraft
Yes, isn't it. I'd like an ST-25, a delightfully practical vintage twin.
One of the largest airlines in Brazil VASP (active between 1933 and 2005), started with 2 Monospar ST-4 (PP-SPA and PP-PSB) starting operations on November 12, 1933. Its 3rd aircraft was a DH 84 Dragon Rapide which arrived the following year. As a curiosity, it operated the Junkers JU-52 for years (a total of 4 units), but after the start of WW2 its maintenance became increasingly difficult. Greetings from Brazil.
Thank you for your comment. I knew about the Brazilian registered Monospars but didn’t mention them; your contribution is most welcome.
Thank you for such a great video.
My pleasure, I learned a lot during the research.
@FlyingForFunTrecanair I had heard of monospar, but I didn't know anymore about them.
Great research on this airplane. I enjoy this kind of information. Thank you for posting.
I enjoy the research; other than being able to identify a Monospar, I knew comparatively little about the type until I started making the film.
Thank you for such a great video.Greetings from Brazil
Thank you, and greetings!
Fascinating as always. The monospar sounds very reassuring from an engineering point of view. As a big fan of the Salmson cars of the 20s I knew little about the aviation radial engines but after jumping down a google rabbit hole now i do. Interesting use of multiple engine suppliers - While I do love a simpering Pratt and Whitney there is nothing like a pair of big Bristol's.
The Pratt and Whitney engines were only used on the Croydon due to the under development of the Bristol Aquila. I’ve flown about a 1000 hours behind P&W radials and had several fail in flight; it’s no wonder the turboprop reigns supreme, a wonderful power unit without all that reciprocation. Terribly dull though!
Yeah, you can't beat a pair of big Bristols, you naughty boy!
@@FlyingForFunTrecanair Yes the sound of P&W powered DC3's flying overhead was the sound of my childhood. They were used for topdressing where I grew up in in New Zealand.
What a great video. Well done!!
Thank you. I enjoy the research and find all manner of other things on the way.
I read the book on VH-UTH's journey from Australia to the U.K. I am local to Newark and have visited the aircraft a few times in N.A.M.
Thank you for yet again a super little video. Such a shame that the Croydon that made it to the reef wasn’t salvaged at some stage….but those were different times I guess.
Seringapatam Reef is generally under several metres of water; it was fortunate than an exceptionally low tide had exposed it that day. The Croydon was submerged within hours of the forced landing and therefore completely ferkulated and not worth salvaging.
@@FlyingForFunTrecanair That's most interesting....they were indeed very lucky. Thank you for this and thank you again for all your hard work in creating your super videos. 👌
What a beautiful aircraft. Cutting edge design, perhaps as others were, let down by engines that were still catching up. Looked the goods too, perhaps proving the old axiom.
I’m sure all the early multi engine aircraft were hampered by poor training and understanding. The Monospar didn’t have full dual controls and training is limited when using a ‘throw over’ control wheel. Also, the necessity for stopping the rotation of a failed engine wasn’t understood. It takes a lot to stop a windmilling propeller in flight; years ago I switched off a motor in a Rapide (at altitude) to see how easy it was to stop a fixed pitch propeller from turning. It wasn’t at all easy and needed to be slowed down almost to a stall for rotation to cease. A simple propeller brake would have achieved almost as much as a feathering propeller but the dynamics weren’t understood.
Thanks. I heard there were no Monospar's left - I am glad to see I am misled. I saw Van Asche's Monospar land and taxi at Masterton airdield in the early 1980's. It stood out as being really different to all other planes of the day and really, it's engine sound was almost musical - a real pleasure to hear. I understood he used it for Aerial survey & mapping. Sadly missed.
It was a tragic ending to a fine machine.
03:28 I love the period correct identification of the people, “pipe” and “cheroot”! 😆 Now I wonder if the plane had ash trays at each position?
Amazing win in the air race, with only 2x90, truly a mark of excellence. Thanks for making and sharing.
The race win was a splendid achievement, there's a Pathe newsreel of it on TH-cam.
@@FlyingForFunTrecanair oh, I’ll check it out, thanks!
Ooh, I lve near Newark but have not seen the museum for years. I knew about the Monospar in the early 1050s from my father's cigarette card booklets.
I like cigarette cards, they feature regularly in my films 🙂
Lovely video, thanks! I can also recommend John Morris's book "Two Men in a Flying Machine", beautifully written by a man with an adventurous spirit and a humorous cast of mind. Sadly I believe Dr Morris died in a Cessna 185 crash in Australia in the 1980s.
My parents gave me a copy of the book many years ago, it's a fine story. I didn't know Dr Morris was 'the late......'.
A bit of sleuthing found the accident report. Dr Morris was killed flying a C185 reg. VH-RCM on the 2nd April 1981, at Tuena, NSW. A sad ending to a fine chap.
@@FlyingForFunTrecanair Indeed...
Again an interesting Video about a great little airplane ,,,highly regarded as ambulance plane in Denmark, thanks for that vid, all the best and greetings from northern Germany 👍🍀🛩️
Greetings, thank you for your comments on this and other films 👍
In the late 1960s' I met Dr Morris and having a copy of his book, "Two Men In A Flying Machine", it is still on my bookshelf, was able to talk about the aircraft. He most unfortunately died in an aircraft crash some years later. UTH had a checkered history having had an incident on 11 June '36 which badly damaged the starboard wing while carrying the Australian PM of the day, William Morris Hughes.
Thank you for your post. Dr Morris was killed in 1981, in a Cessna 185, VH-RCM.
I can recall seeing the Monospar belongjng to Pete Van Asch at its hangar in Hastings (NZHS0 when learning to glide at the aerodrome
Yep and she flew too. Originally used for aerial mapping and stayed in Piet's company as they moved on to later models of aircraft. I recall them using it to airdrop lollies for a lolly scramble at Bridge Pa, in the 80s, I think. I believe the engines had square cut reduction gears in the front, made an interesting rattling noise.
Sadly, was later destroyed in a hangar fire.
The fire was probably caused by static electricity from nylon clothing whilst working on the fuel system. A shame they were doing such maintenance inside, had the task been done outside then vapour build up would have been much reduced.
@@bobirving7460 I remember the lolly scrambles so must have been late 70s early 80s.Health and safety guy would have kittens today if that sort of thing was suggested!
Nice.
Thank you, it was fun to research.
In December of 1936, Piet Van Asch imported a ST-25 Monospar to Hasting New Zealand, for the purpose of Aerial Mapping, the name of the company Mr Van Asch founded. The aircraft was hangared and meticulously maintained In Hastings. The NZ registration for this Monospar was ZK_AFF.
Sadly in 1986 just before the Monospar`s 50th aniversary flight, it was totally destroyed by fire
@@barryansell5981 It is mentioned in the film if you watch it.
There was an active pobjoy powered Monospar ST25 active on Bridge Pa aerodrome Hastings New Zealand when I lived there in the 1970s but unfortunately it was destroyed when a spark from static electricity ignited a fire while it was being refueled in June 1986
It's mentioned in the film if you watch it properly 🤣
Nicely done
As alway’s brilliant . Would you by chance be attending Oshkosh ( air-venture) this July
No, Oshkosh doesn’t really appeal to me. Flying is a delightfully solitary pursuit as far as I’m concerned.
G'day,
Thanks for that, I've previously only had a smattering of impressions about the Monospars, gleaned from decades of Aeroplane monthly magazines.
Who could have guessed that the vile underpowered, slow, overweight, clumsy, ungainly, ugly and useless
Rohrbach/Beardmore "Inflexible"...; could have
Inspired anybody to design anything as generally pleasant, useful & efficient as the Monospar series of
Little Light-Twins.
Once one gets past their resemblance to a gigantic twin-engined
Tadpole with Wings ; they even
"Look Right" - all bar that
Stick-Insect looking
Tricycle Undercarriage with the
Training-Wheel retrofitted,
Forever adding fuelburning
Weight & Drag to every Flight attempted...(!).
Presumably, the reason why nobody
"McGyvered..." a Jury-rigged Tailskid - to enable the stranded Croydon to get back off the Reef...
Sometime
Before the arrival of the next
High-Tide introduced the Airframe to the concept of Ocean-Beach Surfing, and Wave-Riding...;
Would have been the fact that
From that spot,
After flying all that way to get there,
They would have had barely enough fuel left in the tanks with which to fly a circuit,
After they busted that Tailwheel in the Coral.
And there was no Rowboat towing Drums of AvGas from a Cargo-Steamer waiting there to refuel them, upon their unplanned impromptu (unintentionally misguided) arrival...
So, that there Reef served them very well indeed, by affording a solid surface upon which to alight, and then to walk around upon, unloading, inflating, provisioning and launching their Rubber Boat (shaped-object)..., at their comparative leisure.
Their track out of Darwin looks rather like someone accidentally stowed something Ferrous with a bit of a serious Magnetic Field, somewhere near the Compass - close enough to induce a constant deviation to the West, when flying WNW.
Some Aircraft of the time used a Compass unit mounted in the rear-Fuselage, behind the "Cabin" - with the Cockpit having mere a "Repeater Dial" on the Instrument Panel... ; I bid, as a speculative conjecture - a leather or canvas Bag of Tools (eg, Spanners, Wrenches & etc for performing scheduled Engine-Maintenance or effecting unscheduled repairs, when far away from the home Base....), casually (thoughtlessly) stowed at the last moment, perhaps by a well-wisher staying behind in Darwin, rather too close to the Compass itself...
But, that's all quite a complicated chain of causation....
Ockham's Razor suggests that they
Simply
made a mess of
"Swinging the Compass" - which (if that's what happened ?) must've occurred in Darwin prior to departure, or else they would never have found Darwin - in the first place...(!).
The trouble with long over-ocean Flights is that it's such a very
Long way to
Swim back
Home...;
Therefore, thus, and because,
I habitually avoid all such
Fright-Planz...(!).
Such is life,
Have a good one.
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
I think you are right about the wonky compass or sack full of spanners upsetting the deviation; the course from Darwin was cockeyed from the start!
@@FlyingForFunTrecanair
Yeah, it was a plot-twist in a story by Joseph Conrad, of Moby Dick & Heart of Darkness fame, if I recall rightly...; an old Sea-Captain who'd gone into debt to keep the Tramp-Steamer in a state of (vague) repair, wilfully hanging his Coat over one of the Balls on the Binnacle..., with a Spanner in the Coat-Pocket to peturb the Card and put the Vessel onto the Rocks, off Hong Kong, at night, while the Captain was in his Cabin & an Underling had the Watch on the Bridge...
It seemed to me to be a good-ish starting point to hypothesise from..., in terms of how likely it is to have happened by chance due to an excess of good intentions applied without sufficient wholistic understanding of the
AEROPLANE, as a whole - rather than what might be most convenient when maintaining the Engines in the
Muddle of
Nowhere (that anybody at home had ever previously heard of...!).
Engine Fitters
Are not
Airframe Riggers,
And a Rigger would have known better to use the
Space around a Compass Master-Unit - to stow any Cargo containing Iron or Steel.
Engine-Fitters though, in the 1930s, maybe not so much...?
Guild Demarcation-disputes may have a lot to answer for...(?) !
Have a good one,
Stay safe...
;-p
Ciao !
PS,
Conrad's old Captain wanted to sunk the Ship, to pay off his debts and retire on the Insurance Payout...; the Mate figured it out when he went to hand the Coat to the Captain in their way to the Lifeboat.
When the weight of the Steel came to his attention...
Without wanting to sound too potty, it strikes me that a replica Monospar would go rather well with a pair of Rotax 914 engines. I know the engines are modern and look like a dogs dinner but they could be hidden behind round cowlings ala Pobjoy.
Not a potty idea at all, a similar thought had crossed my mind. The Monospar is quite a complex structure; the Hordern-Richmond Autoplane would probably be a better contender for a replica as it's a simple wooden airframe.
I recoil at the idea of Rotax in a Monospar. I heard those Pobjoys at Masterton in the early 1980's and that was an audio delight. Rotax would destroy the charm.
@@kiwikeith7633 I agree the Rotax possesses none of the joy of a Pob. It was just a comment about a replica, given that the original engines are nearly a century old.
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