Current and Finished Projects > Stories
Jackrabbit
upnorth:
--- Quote from: apophenia on September 15, 2021, 03:02:45 AM ---Oh this is very cool! I'm already anticipating Macchis in Maple Leafs :)
Are you doing images to accompany the story?
--- End quote ---
I'm thinking about some images. Gotta get out the drawing pens and ink and get the rust out. :smiley:
dogsbody:
Ooh! Another Upnorth tale! Chair pulled up and coffee cup filled.
Chris
upnorth:
--- Quote from: dogsbody on September 15, 2021, 05:02:42 AM ---Ooh! Another Upnorth tale! Chair pulled up and coffee cup filled.
--- End quote ---
I can't promise this will be the long, drawn out tale that previous ones were. This year has been crazy on many fronts and the idea of losing the CL-41 has been bouncing around in my mind since I was still rewriting the post WWII history of Austria.
upnorth:
Operazione Coniglio
The initial stage of the competition at Marville had gone without a hitch for all three companies involved. While the RCAF were busy with closer assessment of the preformances of the aircraft, the three companies were making their way to Canada for the second stage.
A retired Aermacchi engineer recalls the time:
"The second stage of the competition focused primarily on cold weather performance and range. The Jet Provost had a bit less range than our 326, but it could still compete with us there. Of the Gnat, we were confident we had it roundly beaten as far as range was concerned.
Fitting the 326 out for cold weather operations proved to a be a straightforward task. We could imagine that the Jet Provost team wouldn't have too much trouble with that, but we were very sceptical that the Gnat would survive the cold weather operation aspect. The Finnish air force had experienced all sorts of problems with the Gnat almost as soon as they took in into service in 1958, part of those problems were due to the harsh operating environment in Finland.
Our 326 was doing well for itself so far and we were very optimistic. Our marketing team had created "Operazione Coniglio" to market the aircraft specifically to Canada. In English, that translated into "Operation Rabbit". The name was chosen after our marketing team did some research and saw that the RCAF had some aircraft named after wild animals like the Chipmunk, Beaver, Otter and Caribou; they felt giving the 326 a name that fit in that pattern could only help in the competition.
To push the point home a bit further, the two aircraft we took to Canada were appropriately registered as I-JUMP and I-LEAP and had the silhouette of a leaping rabbit painted on the fuselage just below the cockpits."
GTX_Admin:
:smiley:
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