Beyond The Sprues
Current and Finished Projects => Physical Models => Aero-space => Topic started by: The Rat on May 30, 2020, 11:28:29 AM
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“Well, Jenkins, what does the irrepressible Mr. Farley have for us this time?” “An autogyro, Sir.” “Really? I thought they were rather an antiquated idea. Do you think we should pursue it?” “Yes, Sir, it does have unique capabilities that could be of use in a number of areas. As a naval spotter it could take off from a small pad on a ship and land back on it. It would give them an ability to immediately check on possible threats instead of calling for patrol aircraft that might take a while getting there.”
Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, digested this information for a few moments, then gave his aide a nod. “Right, then, grab your coat and off you go!”
‘Here we go again’, thought Perkins when he arrived at the Farley testing grounds. As with the previously viewed Flutterbug, here was another rip-off of the Westland Lysander. Hmmm…’, he thought to himself, ‘‘rip-off’, that’s a rather nice phrase, but it’ll never catch on. May as well forget it.’
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“Mr. Perkins again!”, said the Farley representative, one Egbert Blodge, “A pleasure to see you!” His enthusiasm seemed a little forced, but that’s often the job of a salesman. “This” he said with a verbal flourish “Is the Frigatebird. I thought of the name while watching the real ones soaring over the sea in the Antilles. Excellent command of the air, able to catch every tiny breeze and use it to their advantage, just like this beauty will!” “If I recall,” said Perkins, with his nose in the air and a superior tone in his voice, “They do it without their wings revolving in a circle.”
Before the red left Blodge’s cheeks, the engine coughed to life, and the machine lurched forward. The rotors spun up, and after a very brief run it was airborne, and began a slow lazy circle of the airfield. “Why the open cockpit for the pilot?” “Well, the position of the rotor support made it impossible to have a sliding canopy, and we moved the windscreen forward to give the pilot easier entrance and egress. Clever, eh?” “Yes, inconsiderate of Westland to design things that way.” There was an embarrassed silence from Blodge for the rest of the demonstration, which proved that it could at least take-off and land.
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The Frigatebird was not the success of it’s stablemate, the Flutterbug, and nowhere near the legendary Fruitbat. But the Admiralty did procure some for spotting, using a pad at the rear of battleships and cruisers. Predictable landing difficulties were encountered with turbulence from superstructure of the vessels as air passed by, resulting in all of the Frigatebirds being lost within the space of a year, fortunately without the loss of any crew. No intact airframes survived the war.
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Don't often see a genuine WW2 autogyro. Handsomely finished, copperish cowl trim is classy touch. Perhaps if they had less turbulent landing conditions there would be a survivor today. :smiley:
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:smiley:
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Darn! I was really hoping to see an armed Frigatebird :)
The Lysander definitely blends well in to the function of an autogyro.
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Very nicely done on a seldom done subject, the Autogyro
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It looks great! At first I thought it was a beefed up Cierva autogyro. Too bad the performance wasn't up to par. Nice spats!
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Love those rotor blades :smiley:
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very cool
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That's nice & really looks the part! :smiley:
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Very nicely done, really looks the part . . . :smiley:
Darn! I was really hoping to see an armed Frigatebird :)
Yep, definitely needs a depth charge or two . . . ! :D
cheers,
Robin.
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Very nicely done, really looks the part . . . :smiley:
Darn! I was really hoping to see an armed Frigatebird :)
Yep, definitely needs a depth charge or two . . . ! :D
cheers,
Robin.
It's still possible...
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Very nicely done, really looks the part . . . :smiley:
Darn! I was really hoping to see an armed Frigatebird :)
Yep, definitely needs a depth charge or two . . . ! :D
cheers,
Robin.
It's still possible...
. . . :D
(P.S. We need a 'Thumbs Up' emoji . . .)
cheers,
Robin.
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(P.S. We need a 'Thumbs Up' emoji . . .)
Like this?
:smiley:
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HAH !! I never noticed that that was a 'Thumbs Up' . . . :o :-[
But I was thinking more like this . . .
(https://i.postimg.cc/NFWdt0mK/thumbs-up.png) (https://postimages.org/)
cheers,
Robin.
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Okay, to ease the screaming of the fans:
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:smiley:
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Okay, I think the Farley Frigatebird is finally done. Looks a bit rough, but it was wartime, and the Farley Aircraft team was working in an old barn alongside sheep and a couple of horses. It is now armed with depth charges, and on the hunt for Kriegsmarine U-boats.
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:smiley:
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That looks good Dave -- :smiley:
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Has its own special kind of autogyro cool. 8) Can picture Frigatebird out on U-boat hunt. Good downward visibility.
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Cute little winglets! It looks great.
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All set to go open some tin cans . . . ;) :D
cheers,
Robin.
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Cute little winglets! It looks great.
Agreed :smiley: Are the 'winglets' upside-down Corsair wings?
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<<SNIP>> Are the 'winglets' upside-down Corsair wings?
The "winglets" are included with the Lysander kit. Most of the Westland Lysander Army Cooperation aircraft (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Lysander) had the option of attaching these stub wings to allow for carriage of ordnance and even a pair of 20mm Oerlikon Hispano Suiza cannons each fitted with a 60 round drum magazine.
***edit to correct details regarding 20mm cannon armament tested on the Lysander.
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Ah, got it ... thanks Jeff. So standard Lysander stub wings, just mounted a bit higher than usual :smiley:
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Yes, a little higher and maybe a little more exaggerated:
(http://www.historyofwar.org/Pictures/lysander_winglet.jpg)(http://www.historyofwar.org/Pictures/lysanderII_bomb_rack.jpg)
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Plus the spats on the original Lysander housed a Browning .303" machinegun with the ammunition being fed along a trough that was over the landing gear leg inside of the aerodynamic fairing. Pretty ingenious design.