Whiffs found surfing

[PR19_Kit]

Magic stuff, just the sort of thing that I expected actually. 

[Rheged]

Magic stuff, just the sort of thing that I expected actually. 

Thank you, sir!!  Now for the next challenge..........Winkle Brown's report on the Triebflugel.  This may take a great deal of time, thought and cups of tea.

[NARSES2]

Magic stuff, just the sort of thing that I expected actually. 

Thank you, sir!!  Now for the next challenge..........Winkle Brown's report on the Triebflugel.  This may take a great deal of time, thought and cups of tea.

I think Winkle may well have needed something stronger after the flight 

[Old Wombat]

May I point out that they may have merely been hand-me-downs from the RAN Sea Beau squadrons?


https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=45904.45

[Pellson]

The reason for  the RAAF owning folding wing Beaufighters is really quite simple.

   The Beau was first flown as a night fighter by the RAF in late 1940, and as such attracted the attention of both the USAAF  and USN  military attaches at the US London embassy.    Even before the USA  entered World War 2, the USAAF was urgently planning a twin engined, long range, night fighter based on those attaches' reports.  The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force website states that " The British Bristol Beaufighter filled the need for an effective night fighter in the U.S. Army Air Forces until an American aircraft could be produced. When the USAAF formed its first radar-equipped night fighter squadron in January 1943, the only American night fighter available was the makeshift Douglas P-70, a modified A-20 bomber using the U.S. version of the Mk IV radar ; so the first USAAF night fighter squadrons went to war in the more capable British Beaufighter.   The 414th, 415th, 416th and 417th Night Fighter Squadrons received more than 100 "reverse Lend-Lease" Beaufighters.  Although purpose-built American P-61 Black Widow night fighters began to replace them in December 1944, USAAF Beaufighters continued to fly night cover for Allied forces in Italy and France until the closing days of the war.

            In June 1941, the Beaufighter-equipped  272 Squadron of  Coastal Command, based on Malta, claimed the destruction of 49 enemy aircraft and the damaging of 42 more. They were also very effective throughout the Mediterranean against Axis shipping and ground targets. This was reported on by USN observers who described the Beau as "a versatile and  powerful anti shipping strike aircraft" which should be acquired for the USN.  However, enmity between USAAF and USN over   aircraft acquisition and operation meant that  (put very simply)   any aircraft under USN command had to operate from an aircraft carrier.    A batch of 15 folding wing Beaufighters was therefore ordered  as the initial stage of an attempt to circumvent this ruling . These were actually produced to Bristol's design by Westland .

            At this point sanity briefly prevailed in the ongoing battle between USAAF and USN and a compromise was  reached whereby the US Marine Corps would operate land based  Beaufighters , technically "owned" by the Army  Air Force but tasked by the Navy.  The US Marines operated over 150 anti-shipping  Beaufighters in South East Asia and the Pacific with great success. Although the folding wing aircraft were allocated to the Marines, their non-standard wing-fold mechanism made maintenance difficult. As a result, all 11 remaining machines were written off charge  when an American aircraft transport docked in Sydney, and they were  immediately "assimilated" into the RAAF, who rapidly discovered that the  folding wings meant that they could accommodate  twice as many airframes in a given hanger space. 

So really it's all very simple. Folding wing Beaufighters in Australian Air Force markings  happened because of the never-ending strife between two branches of the US armed Forces.

Pure backstory writing education 

[zenrat]

Folding the wings while in flight enabled RAAF Squadron Leader Anthony "Plugger" Lockett to fly THROUGH the sydney harbour bridge thus winning a bet he had made with his mates at the pub.

[NARSES2]

Folding the wings while in flight enabled RAAF Squadron Leader Anthony "Plugger" Lockett to fly THROUGH the sydney harbour bridge thus winning a bet he had made with his mates at the pub.

Now I've heard about one USN F-8 (I think) which managed to take off whilst it's wings were folded, but that's a new one on me 

[nighthunter]

Folding the wings while in flight enabled RAAF Squadron Leader Anthony "Plugger" Lockett to fly THROUGH the sydney harbour bridge thus winning a bet he had made with his mates at the pub.

Now I've heard about one USN F-8 (I think) which managed to take off whilst it's wings were folded, but that's a new one on me 

Chris, you're correct, it was a F-8, but the pic I found was of a USMC bird.

[PR19_Kit]

Didn't an F-4 get fired off the cat with its wings folded too? Bells are ringing somewehere................

[scooter]

Didn't an F-4 get fired off the cat with its wings folded too? Bells are ringing somewehere................

Yup
https://theaviationist.com/2014/02/19/us-navy-fighters-folded-wings/



And the F-14 prototype...to apparently see how well it handled in an asymmetrical wingsweep.

[PR19_Kit]

That's bizarre. How come the Launch Control Officer didn't notice something as obvious as the wings still being folded! 

One thing's for sure, it could NEVER happen with a Hawkeye or a Greyhound!

[NARSES2]

Chris, you're correct, it was a F-8, but the pic I found was of a USMC bird.
[/quote]

Ah right 

[NARSES2]

And the F-14 prototype...to apparently see how well it handled in an asymmetrical wingsweep.

Tophe will love that 

[Tophe]

Yes I do!

[McColm]

And the F-14 prototype...to apparently see how well it handled in an asymmetrical wingsweep.

Tophe will love that 

Well naturally the pilot is signalling that he is turning right