Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Al; I've been holding back because I wanted to let someone else share the floor, but I think you nailed it. If not, I guess we're both wrong. I'm including my already prepared answer as background. I hope you don't mind. Thanks; Ernie P.




Answer: The Aichi E13A “Jake”





The Aichi E13A (Allied reporting name: "Jake") was a long-range reconnaissance seaplane used by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 1941 to 1945. Numerically the most important floatplane of the IJN, it could carry a crew of three and a bombload of 250 kg (550 lb). The Navy designation was "Navy Type Zero Reconnaissance Seaplane" (零式水上偵察機

Operational history

In China, it operated from seaplane tenders and cruisers. Later, it was used as a scout for the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and was encountered in combat by the United States Navy during the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway. It was in service throughout the conflict, for coastal patrols, strikes against navigation, liaison, officer transports, castaway rescues, and other missions, along with some kamikaze missions in the last days of war.



One Aichi E13A was operated by Nazi Germany alongside two Arado Ar 196s out of the base at Penang. The three aircraft formed the East Asia Naval Special Service to assist the German Monsun Gruppe as well as local Japanese naval operations.[1]



Eight examples were operated by the French Navy Air Force during the First Indochina War from 1945-1947, while others were believed to be operated by the Naval Air Arm of the Royal Thai Navy before the war. One example captured by New Zealand forces was flown by RNZAF personnel in theatre, but sank and was not repaired after a float leaked.

Operators

France

·

· French Navy

o Aeronavale

·

· French Air Force - Captured Japanese aircraft.





Japan

·

· Imperial Japanese Navy

o

o Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service





Nazi Germany

·

· Kriegsmarine





Thailand

·

· Royal Thai Navy[5]





People's Republic of China

·

· People's Liberation Army Air Force - surplus or derelict Japanese aircraft

Specifications (E13A1)

Data from Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War



General characteristics

·

· Crew: 3

·

· Length: 11.3 m (37 ft 1 in)

·

· Wingspan: 14.5 m (47 ft 7 in)

·

· Height: 7.4 m (24 ft 3 in)

·

· Wing area: 36 m2 (390 sq ft)

·

· Empty weight: 2,642 kg (5,825 lb)

·

· Gross weight: 3,640 kg (8,025 lb)

·

· Max takeoff weight: 4,000 kg (8,818 lb)

·

· Powerplant: 1 Χ Mitsubishi MK8 Kinsei 43 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine

·

· Propellers: 3-bladed metal propeller



Performance

·

· Maximum speed: 376 km/h (234 mph, 203 kn) at 2,180 m (7,152 ft)

·

· Cruise speed: 222 km/h (138 mph, 120 kn) at 2,000 m (6,562 ft)

·

· Range: 2,089 km (1,298 mi, 1,128 nmi)

·

· Endurance: 14+ hours

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· Service ceiling: 8,730 m (28,640 ft)

·

· Time to altitude: 3,000 m (9,843 ft) in 6 minutes 5 seconds

·

· Wing loading: 101.1 kg/m2 (20.7 lb/sq ft)

·

· Power/mass: 0.2163 kW/kg (0.1316 hp/lb)



Armament

·

· Guns: 1Χ flexible, rearward-firing 7.7 mm (.303 in) Type 92 machine gun for observer

Some aircraft fitted 2Χ 20mm Type 99-2 cannons in a downwards firing position in the belly

·

· Bombs: 250 kg (551 lb) of bombs

Hydro Junkie

I was wondering when you guys would figure this one out. I figured:
clue 12 referring to "special mission" squadrons would point to Kamikaze units and Japan
clue 14 might point to an aircraft carrier since it was normally "cat" launched from battleships and cruisers
clue 9 would lead you to the Arado AR196 float plane, flown from the German Deutschland, Hipper, Scharnhorst and Bismarck class ships

SO, what actually gave it away guys?
MR GUNN, You're up!!!!!

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

To me, the most revealing thing was "three crew members" and "Single engine". That narrowed it down, but there are a couple of dozen of those, at least. When you added in "cannon and machine guns", that pretty much clinched it. However, I kept shying away from it being a Japanese aircraft, because they didn't share with others very much. I was thinking French, American or British for a while. Thanks; Ernie P.

Hydro Junkie

So, if I had said it had a crew of two, which plane would you have picked then?

Top_Gunn

My Feedback: (6)

Well, the single engine and crew of three clues got me thinking about Japan, but not being at all sure. In addition, you've asked a number of questions about Japanese planes (test-taking tip no.1: "What does whoever makes up the test like to ask about?"). Then nothing else struck me much until "special missions" and CAP, which seemed to confirm Japan, so I started looking at planes used by Kamikaze units and there it was.

Now I have to find a subject, which shouldn't take a whole lot of time. Probably late tomorrow.

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

That depends on how far along we were with your clues. After all "defensive fire, CAP and Special Missions (clue 12)" all scream out a Japanese plane. If your first clue had been "two seater", I'd have started looking at US Navy aircraft first. Probably the Dauntless, until your said the plane carried cannon. But clue 12 would have had me looking for a Japanese plane, certainly. Thanks; Ernie P.

Top_Gunn

My Feedback: (6)

New quiz!

Looking for the name of a warbird.

1. Single engine monoplane.

2. Fighter.

3. Designed and the first prototype produced in a matter of months.

Hydro Junkie

P-51 Mustang, it was rolled out of the hanger in roughly 120 days

Top_Gunn

My Feedback: (6)

I thought I'd get a P-51 answer, but it wouldn't be a lot of fun if it were that easy. Here's your bonus clue; keep trying.

Looking for the name of a warbird.

1. Single engine monoplane.

2. Fighter.

3. Designed and the first prototype produced in a matter of months.

4. Part of the explanation for the short development time was that the design incorporated portions of another airplane that was already being built by the same company.

Hydro Junkie

Bristol Beaufigher, 12 months from proposal to first flight due to the use of Beaufort parts for much of the aircraft

JohnnyS

CAC Boomerang?

Top_Gunn

My Feedback: (6)

Well, that didn't take long. Well done JohnnyS. It is the Boomerang, which seems never to have shot down an enemy plane, but which nevertheless helped out at first by deterring some bombers which would otherwise have been able to operate unopposed. And later on it was used for ground attack, recon, and other non-aerial-combat duties. And it does have one striking similarity to the Beaufighter in addition to fast development, because it used the same engine as the Beaufort, which was at the time being built in Australia and whose engines CAC was already manufacturing.

Wiki here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_Boomerang

JohnnyS

Oh crap: I don't have a quiz ready!

May I please open the floor to anyone who wants it? If no-one picks it up I'll figure something out, but I won't be able to do anything until Wednesday, sorry.

Hydro Junkie

Not a problem if we have wait until Wednesday. I've had to make everyone wait on more than one occasion. If you can't come up with something by then, open the floor at that time.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

JohnnyS I too have kept them waiting. It build their anticipation.

JohnnyS

OK, here goes.

1. Low wing monoplane.
2. Twin engines.
3. Never saw service in the war it was designed for.
4. The first attempted flight of the prototype couldn't get off the ground.
5. However, officials were so impressed with the design that it was ordered off the drawing board three months before the first successful flight of the prototype.

JohnnyS

New clue:

1. Low wing monoplane.
2. Twin engines.
3. Never saw service in the war it was designed for.
4. The first attempted flight of the prototype couldn't get off the ground.
5. However, officials were so impressed with the design that it was ordered off the drawing board three months before the first successful flight of the prototype.
6. It had exceptional range, and set a record for distance flown that remains to this day.
7. It was designed as a fighter but had multiple roles.

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Dang it, JohnnyS; here I am trying to lay back and you go and throw those last two clues out there. A fighter with a distance record? And one (Clue 4) that couldn't get airborne on its first attempt? Gotta be the F-82 Twin Mustang. I really was trying... Thanks; Ernie P.


Answer: The F-82 Twin Mustang



The North American F-82 Twin Mustang is the last American piston-engine fighter ordered into production by the United States Air Force. Based on the P-51 Mustang, the F-82 was originally designed as a long-range escort fighter in World War II. The war ended well before the first production units were operational.



In the postwar era, Strategic Air Command used the planes as a long-range escort fighter. Radar-equipped F-82s were used extensively by the Air Defense Command as replacements for the Northrop P-61 Black Widow as all-weather day/night interceptors. During the Korean War, Japan-based F-82s were among the first USAF aircraft to operate over Korea. The first three North Korean aircraft destroyed by U.S. forces were shot down by F-82s, the first being a North-Korean Yak-11 downed over Gimpo Airfield by the USAF 68th Fighter Squadron.

Design and development

Initially intended as a very long-range (VLR) escort fighter, the F-82 was designed to escort Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers on missions exceeding 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from the Solomon Islands or Philippines to Tokyo, missions beyond the range of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning and conventional P-51 Mustangs. Such missions were part of the planned U.S. invasion of the Japanese home islands, which was forestalled by the surrender of Japan after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the opening of Soviet attacks on Japanese-held territory in Manchuria.



The XP-82 was to be powered by two Packard-built Rolls-Royce V-1650 Merlin engines. Initially, the left engine was a V-1650-23 with an additional gear in the propeller reduction box to allow the left propeller to turn opposite to the right propeller, which was driven by the more conventional V-1650-25. In this arrangement both propellers would turn upward as they approached the center wing, which in theory would have allowed better single-engine control. This proved not to be the case when the aircraft refused to become airborne during its first flight attempt. After a month of work North American engineers finally discovered that rotating the propellers to meet in the center on their upward turn created sufficient drag to cancel out all lift from the center wing section, one quarter of the aircraft's total wing surface area. The engines and propellers were then exchanged, with their rotation meeting on the downward turn, and the problem was fully solved. The first XP-82 prototype (44-83886) was completed on 25 May 1945, and made the type's first successful flight on 26 June 1945. This aircraft was accepted by the Army Air Forces on 30 August 1945, whose officials were so impressed by the aircraft, while still in development, that they ordered the first production P-82Bs in March 1945, fully three months before its first flight.



Record-setting



On 27 February 1947, P-82B 44-65168, named Betty Jo and flown by Colonel Robert E. Thacker, made history when it flew nonstop from Hawaii to New York without refueling, a distance of 8,129 km (5,051 mi) in 14 hr 32 min. It averaged 347.5 miles per hour (559.2 km/h). This flight tested the P-82's range. The aircraft carried a full internal fuel tank of 576 US gallons (2,180 l; 480 imp gal), augmented by four 310 US gal (1,173 l; 258 imp gal) tanks for a total of 1,816 US gal (6,874 l; 1,512 imp gal). Also, Colonel Thacker forgot to drop three of his external tanks when their fuel was expended, landing with them in New York.



It remains the longest nonstop flight ever made by a propeller-driven fighter, and the fastest such a distance has ever been covered in a piston-engined aircraft (the record for the longest unrefueled flight by a propeller-driven aircraft of any type is held by the Rutan Voyager). The aircraft chosen was an earlier "B" model powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines (see "Survivors" below).

JohnnyS

Ernie, You got it right: The F-82 was the mystery aircraft. It's hard to stump you for long!

Please take it away!

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Thank you, Sir. You had a good question, it just happened to be an aircraft I had read about some time in the past. My question concerns a very successful aircraft; but one which will always be remembered for being second best. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks; Ernie P.


What warbird do I describe?



1. This aircraft was, by all accounts, a perfectly acceptable combat aircraft.



2. It was, in fact, probably superior to any enemy combat aircraft of the same type and flying at the time.

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Morning clue. Thanks; Ernie P.


What warbird do I describe?



1. This aircraft was, by all accounts, a perfectly acceptable combat aircraft.



2. It was, in fact, probably superior to any enemy combat aircraft of the same type and flying at the time.



3. It was, however, always compared unfavorably to another aircraft of the time.

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Afternoon clue. Thanks; Ernie P.


What warbird do I describe?



1. This aircraft was, by all accounts, a perfectly acceptable combat aircraft.



2. It was, in fact, probably superior to any enemy combat aircraft of the same type and flying at the time.



3. It was, however, always compared unfavorably to another aircraft of the time.



4. The other aircraft was flying at the same time; and flying for the same side.

Top_Gunn

My Feedback: (6)

I keep thinking about the Hurricane, although I think the conventional wisdom is that the Bf 109 was better. The 109 was faster and had a better rate of climb, but the Hurricane was more maneuverable and maybe a steadier gun platform, so a case could be made. So here it is, if only to get it out of the way.

Hydro Junkie

For that matter, you could say the same thing about the Wildcat when comparing it to the Hellcat or the Hellcat when comparing it to the Corsair so, that said, it could be either one of the Grumman "cats" as well

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Neither the Hurricane nor any of the "cats". But here's a couple of bonus clues to reward your efforts. And a tip: The Hurricane should be compared to the Spitfire; not the Bf 109. Thanks; Ernie P.


What warbird do I describe?



1. This aircraft was, by all accounts, a perfectly acceptable combat aircraft.



2. It was, in fact, probably superior to any enemy combat aircraft of the same type and flying at the time.



3. It was, however, always compared unfavorably to another aircraft of the time.



4. The other aircraft was flying at the same time; and flying for the same side.



5. And so our subject aircraft became the “ugly sister” to the preferred aircraft.



6. Still, significant numbers of our subject aircraft were produced; although not nearly as many as the “preferred” aircraft.