Remember the Days When Aircraft had Names? II Quiz

Answer: Stratofortress

The Boeing B 52 Stratofortress became the 'Big Stick' of the US Strategic Air Command (SAC) from the late 50's till the end of the 80's when it was on constant alert ready to deliver America's response to any aggressive move from the Soviet Union. The Stratofortress with its huge swept back wings and eight turbojet/fan engines hanging in podded pairs from a high mounted wing made an awesome sight. Early in its career it became the first aircraft to drop test a thermo-nuclear bomb (H Bomb) when it dropped the MK 15 'Zombie' which missed its target and detonated 8 kms. from the aircraft.

The B 52 survived this test with slight damage and was a graphic demonstration of the combat that could be expected when Armageddon finally broke out. This scenario was depicted in the black comedy 'Dr Strangelove' but the movie 'Bombers B 52' was more like the strategic deterrence image the SAC liked to project to the public. Ironically it was as a conventional bomber in Vietnam that the Stratofortress finally saw combat. During the final Linebacker II missions in late 1972 when the US was attempting to 'bomb the North Vietnamese back to the conference table' waves of B 52's pounded the North against heavy opposition but suffered more casualties than in the previous 8 years of combat in the process.

The B 52 was such an adaptable aircraft it was employed in low level penetration missions in later years and deployed a huge arsenal of weapons ranging from standoff missiles to freefall bombs. The B 52's employed the unique bicycle undercarriage Boeing pioneered with its immediate predecessor the B 47 Stratojet and its huge drooping wings had to be supported by small outrigger wheels on the tips. This meant the Stratofortress could not rotate on take-off but kind of 'popped off' the runway because its wings were set at an 8 degree angle to the fuselage. A total of 844 B 52 Stratofortress's were produced the last of which is the 'H' model and is scheduled to remain in service for many years yet. The B 17 Flying Fortress and the B 29 Superfortress were the well known bombers from WWII.

Answer: Peacemaker

The reference was to the Convair B 36 Peacemaker's unique power plant arrangement consisting of six 3500 hp radial piston engines driving pusher props along the main wing trailing edge and four General Electric J 47 turbojets mounted in podded pairs near the wingtips. The Peacemaker was the end result of an initial request by the US government in 1941 to develop a bomber that could strike European targets from the US mainland at a time when the outcome of WWII was in doubt. The project was initially given the highest priority but this was later dropped as the progress of the war ensured that bases in Britain would be available for the strategic bombing offensive against Germany. Development of the Peacemaker continued after the war and a new role for it was soon identified for it as the standoff with the Soviet Union developed into the Cold War. Early nuclear weapons were huge affairs and the B 36 Peacemaker with its capacity to carry 32 tonnes of ordinance 16000 kms at an average speed of 600 kph made it the ideal delivery platform. In its heyday B 36 Peacemaker's formed 10 wings of 30 aircraft each and gave a global reach to General Curtis LeMay's SAC. Crew numbers, which could reach 22 in some versions, travelled in comfort and style with the provision of eight bunks and a galley to relieve boredom on missions which could last up to 24 hours. This was a stark contrast for crews who had been accustomed to the austere conditions of the Flying Fortress and Superfortress. The huge aircraft was nicknamed the 'magnesium cloud' by its crews because of the huge shadow it cast when near the ground. The main wing was so large that there was a tunnel down the main span which enabled a crew member access to maintain the engines while in-flight. Convair's assembly plant at Fort Worth was 1.6 km long and turned out 386 B 36 Peacemakers. They served with the SAC for 11 years before being withdrawn in 1959 when they were replaced by the more formidable B 52 Stratofortress.

There was no Megafortress.

Answer: Vulcan

The Avro Vulcan bomber was an example of one of those rare occasions where the design was going to be a winner right from the start. Four powerful Olympus turbojets buried in a tailless delta wing configuration gave the Vulcan the handling qualities of a contemporary fighter despite its size.

It was designed to deliver Britain's nuclear deterrent during the Cold War along with its stable mates the Handley Page Victor and the Vickers Valiant. The Vulcan was at first armed with free-fall weapons but the later Mk II version had more than double the original engine power and was equipped with stand-off Blue Steel missiles.

It first went into service in 1957 and with in-flight refuelling had the range to strike targets deep in the Soviet Union. With the improvements in air defence the Vulcan's had to switch to the low-level penetration mode like the B 52 a task for which they were particularly suited with their low radar signature due to their unique design.

The Vulcan finally saw action right at the end of its service career during the Falklands conflict in 1982 when single aircraft, supported by a fleet of tankers, made successful strikes against Port Stanley airfield in mission's code named 'Black Buck'.

In its final role the Vulcan served as an aerial tanker. A total of 136 were built. The Convair B 58 Hustler was a supersonic bomber which had a thin section delta wing with four massive turbojets mounted on pods and served with the SAC between 1960 and 1970. This was in contrast to the Vulcan with its thick section wing with engines buried at the wing roots.

Answer: Bear

The Tupolev TU-95 'Bear' was for many years mis-identified by Western intelligence agencies as the TU-20 but there was no mistaking the identity of the aircraft with the long slim fuselage, swept back wing and tail surfaces and turboprop engines installed in pencil thin nacelles. NATO gave it the code name 'Bear' in line with its tradition of naming Soviet bomber types after animals beginning with the letter 'B'. At first it was dismissed as a serious threat because turboprops were regarded as second best at a time when pure jets were all the rage. When Tupolev was designing the 'Bear' pistons engines had reached the peak of their development and there no jet engines powerful enough to meet the required performance specifications. They turned to engine maker Kuznetsov who supplied these turbo's which eventually produced 12000 hp and drove eight bladed contra-rotating props. This combination resulted in the fastest propeller driven aircraft to enter service giving a maximum cruising speed of 920 kph a near match for contemporary multi-engine jets. In 1961 a suitably modified 'Bear' dropped the largest nuclear device ever tested, a 50 Mt monster, over the test range on Novaja Zemala. Like its contemporary, the B 52, the 'Bear' has had an incredibly long career mainly because of its suitability for modification to various roles as the profusion of bulges and probes for various specialised roles which appeared in later versions has showed. Ironically the 'Bear' shared a common ancestry with the B 52 as Tupolev used its experience gained from building the TU-4 'Bull' which was a reverse engineered copy of some impounded B 29 Superfortresses when designing it! A civilian airliner the TU-114 Rossiya was also developed from the 'Bear'. It is estimated some 500 examples of the TU-95 'Bear' in its various forms have been produced and it is scheduled to soldier on in one form or another till 2040.
The Tupolev TU-16 Badger is a twin engined jet medium bomber and was supplied in large numbers to Soviet allies around the world.
The Myasischev M-4 'Bison' was a four engine strategic bomber designed to strike targets in the US but proved to have insufficient range. In contrast to the TU-95 'Bear' the 'Bison's capabilities were vastly over estimated by Western Intelligence agencies.

Answer: Neptune

Developed for the US Navy, the Lockheed P 2 Neptune went on to serve with the naval arm of many air forces from the 40's till the 80's. Although the Neptune was one of the first types to make effective use of the new Wright Turbo-Compound piston engines delivering 3700 hp two small J 37 turbojets were fitted to supply supplementary power for takeoff because of the heavy fuel load carried for its long endurance patrols. Ski-equipped US Navy Neptunes supporting Operation Deep Freeze in the Antarctic had more extra power in the form of JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) bottles attached to the rear fuselage to assist with takeoff from ice runways making it the only aircraft to utilise three different forms of propulsion, piston, jet, and rocket! JATO bottles were actually small rockets produced by Aerojet and used by various aircraft in special circumstances but the term 'Jet' stuck in popular usage. The distinctive tail boom of the Neptune (and featured in other ASW aircraft) contained a MAD (Magnetic Anomaly Detector) which was used to detect submarines as the aircraft made grid searches at low level over suspect areas. In 1946 a specially prepared Neptune called 'Truculent Turtle' set a new endurance record when it flew unrefuelled 18000 kms from Perth Western Australia to Columbus Ohio in two and a half days. This was an exercise to demonstrate the capabilities of the Navy's new ASW aircraft and a test of crew endurance.
In later days Neptunes have found new life as fire-fighters which is a testament to the types ease of maintenance which has kept it in service so long
The Lockheed P 3 Orion was the Neptune replacement and was developed from the Electra airliner.
The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod is an all jet ASW type operated by the RAF and was developed from the Comet airliner.
The Breguet Atlantic is a twin turboprop engine ASW aircraft operated by several European air forces.

Answer: Globemaster II

The Douglas C 124 Globemaster II was built using lessons learnt during the Berlin Airlift where a few of the early version Globemaster I's proved highly successful because of their large payload capacity. Douglas based the Globemaster design on its successful DC 7 airliner using the same wings, engine, and undercarriage and marrying them to a cavernous fuselage with clamshell loading doors beneath the nose. Globemasters supported Operation Deep Freeze in the Antarctic for eight seasons where they airdropped construction materials for remote bases like the South Pole. On one occasion a Globemaster was delivering a bulldozer to the South Pole Station using its belly hatch and had spent about 40 minutes with the hatch open waiting for the right moment to make the drop. A ground witness takes up the story: "As the load tumbled out of the aircraft, I saw one chute; two chutes open ....Oh no! the prolonged exposure to cold temperatures had chilled the load to the extent that the nylon straps which connected the load to the three parachutes had lost all their tensile and elongation properties and they snapped when the full impact of the load (6.3 tonnes) hit them. From that moment the bulldozer was in freefall and it impacted just outside the ring of barrels that denoted the position of the true South Pole. The main body of the bulldozer penetrated the ice to a depth of 11 metres and the engine continued on to 24 metres!" A meteorologist who witnessed the drop from the ground was knocked down by debris from the impact and broke a crown in one of his teeth. He later described the incident as a 'snowquake'. These Globemasters operating in the Antarctic were not ski equipped and operated from McMurdo Sound's ice runway at Williams Field, which was built for wheeled aircraft. They operated a shuttle service from bases in the US across the Pacific to Operation Deep Freeze HQ in Christchurch New Zealand.
The legacy of 'Old Shakey' lived on when the USAF named its new C 17 strategic transport Globemaster III
The Douglas C 133 Cargomaster was a turboprop transport used to shift outsized loads
The Douglas C 54 Skymaster became a legend during the Berlin Airlift.
The Martin P 6M SeaMaster was a strategic bomber flying boat built for the US Navy that was cancelled before it went into production.

Answer: Freighter

The Bristol Type 170 Freighter is perhaps best known in Britain as the aircraft operated by Silver City Airways which offered a cross Channel car ferry service between Lydd airport in Kent and Le Touquet in France in the late 40's and 50's. Powered by two Bristol Hercules radial engines the freighter was unpressurised with the pilots perched above the main hold in a cockpit accessed by ladder. Its construction was very simple and it did not use any expensive alloys making it easy to effect field repairs. SAFE (Straits Air Freight Express) became the largest operator of Freighters using them on regular general freight runs between the North and South Island of New Zealand where they pioneered the use of pre-loaded palletised cargo known as 'patons'. Bristol Freighters were used extensively in New Zealand by both the RNZAF and civilian operators. RNZAF Freighters supporting New Zealand's contingent in Vietnam were the subject of many an amused comment by American personnel on their antiquate appearance as they passed through bases like Da Nang.
The Blackburn Beverly was a box-like four engine military transport with a fixed undercarriage
The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy was a twin boom four engine turboprop transport
The Aviation Traders Carvair was an adaptation of the successful DC 4 and was developed as a replacement for the Freighter for the cross Channel car ferry operation

Answer: Canberra

The English Electric Canberra strike bomber made an ideal ground attack aircraft and served as the front line strike element of the RAF many foreign air forces. When the USAF was evaluating designs for the light strike bomber role in the early 50's the Canberra won and the Martin company acquired the design rights and produced a modified version as the Martin B 57. The main distinguishing feature between the Martin B 57 and the Canberra was the substitution of fighter style tandem seating for the two crew enclosed in a teardrop canopy and the use of J 65 turbojets. The original Canberra versions had side by side seating enclosed in a bubble canopy but later versions adopted the teardrop canopy offset to one side and housing a single pilot while the navigator had a sideways facing station in the main fuselage. The Canberra was characterised by a short stubby wide chord wing with two Avon Sapphire turbojets mounted mid span in a similar arrangement to Britain's first operational jet fighter the Meteor. Canberra's first saw action during the Suez crisis where during a week of intensive combat they disabled the main Egyptian airfields for the loss of one aircraft which was bought down by a Mig 15. The Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971 saw Indian Canberra's and Pakistani B 57's in combat on opposite sides. However during the Vietnam conflict American B 57's and Australian Canberra's served side by side and proved themselves once again to be robust performers. The Canberra was used as a test bed for many research programmes and was developed for the reconnaissance and intelligence gathering role. Over 1300 Canberra's and B 57's were produced including some under licence in India and Australia.
The Harrier and the Hawk were two later British designs adopted by the US armed forces.
The Hawker Hunter was a British designed fighter which saw extensive use abroad but never served with the US armed forces.

Answer: Hercules

If there is an example of an aircraft where designers get everything just right then the Lockheed C 130 Hercules would have to be it. Some of the features which have endeared themselves to operators around the world include high mounted wing, the unimpeded cargo hold, the rear loading ramp, and rough field performance provided by four powerful turboprops driving large diameter paddle like four bladed props. The main undercarriage is contained in special housings on the sides of the fuselage thus avoiding the use of ultra long undercarriage legs from the wing. This layout is now standard for cargo aircraft and has been adopted by types like the Short Balfast, Transall, Douglas Cargomaster, Lockheed Starlifter and Galaxy, and the various Antonov designs. The operations of Hercules world wide over the past fifty years are well documented in aviation books and magazines. Perhaps a great example of the lengths to which an operator will go to keep a Hercules in service was provided when a US Navy Hercules supporting Operation Deep Freeze was disabled. This Hercules was abandoned at a remote location after a JATO bottle broke loose destroying one of the engines and it was deemed unrecoverable. Over the next 16 years it was slowly buried in ice. When the crash site was relocated by a French expedition the US Navy decided that it was worth recovering as Deep Freeze was suffering a budgetary shortfall at this time. The operation went ahead during the 1987/88 season and after much effort the plane was made sufficiently airworthy to fly to Christchurch where more extensive repairs took place.
Over 2200 Hercules have been produced since 1954
The Lockheed C 5 Galaxy is the largest strategic transport in the US inventory
The Transall C 160 is a twin engine turboprop transport developed by a Franco German consortium.
The Short Belfast was a military transport similar to the Hercules and used by the RAF.

Answer: Shackleton

The combination of four powerful Rolls Royce Griffon engines driving six bladed contra-rotating props and the suitably modified airframe of the proven Lancaster bomber resulted in the long lived Avro Shackleton. It was developed as a result of Coastal Command Liberators having to be returned to the USA or scrapped under the terms of the Lend Lease arrangements at the end of WW II. Later versions had wing tip fuel tanks to extend endurance up to eighteen hours, improved radar, and a tricycle undercarriage among other features. The all up weight rose by 10 tonnes from the original to the last version and this required the installation of two small turbojets in the rear of the outer nacelles to assist with takeoff in a manner similar to the Neptune. The ASW Shackleton's were replaced by all jet Nimrods in 1971 and the AEW versions soldiered on until 1991 when they were replaced by Boeing Sentry's.
The Avro Lancastrian was a simple conversion of the Lancaster bomber to the civilian role and briefly used as an airliner after the war.
The York was also based on the Lancaster but had a new fuselage optimised for passengers, a triple tail and was used as an early post war airliner. Yorks took part in the Berlin Airlift and were responsible for over half the tonnage that the British contributed to this effort.
References used for these quizzes include Wikipedia, World Aircraft Information Files, Gateway to the Ice, and my own boyhood memories from when I grew up on an International airport where many of these aircraft were like old friends.