This one is a flawed aircraft of the current era that is a copy of a very successful aircraft of a bygone era. That said Indonesian airline TransNusa have just ordered a number of these aricraft, no doubt at much discounted rates by the Chinese.
The Short Seamew. As one test pilot is said to have remarked "Access to the cockpit is difficult. It should be made impossible".
seamew.jpg
They say that if an aircraft looks right it will fly right. The Short Seamew looked wrong and indeed it was wrong, eventually killing the one test pilot who could tame it's aerodynamic oddities!
The handling characteristics of the Seamew were poor. The prototypes were heavily modified with fixed leading-edge slats, slots added in the trailing-edge flaps, alterations to the ailerons and slats added to the tailplane roots. Although something of an improvement over the initial models, the handling was never wholly satisfactory. Arthur Pearcy wrote "only Short Brothers' test pilot Wally Runciman seemed able to outwit its vicious tendencies and exploit its latent manoeuvrability to the limit."
- from Wikipedia
Runciman was subsequently killed while looping the aircraft at an air display.
I wondered who had designed it and found that it was this chap.
As ever, an interesting post by C16, leads to further investigation which leads to other interesting aircraft. I note that the Short Seamew's designer David Keith-Lucas went onto to be honoured in his profession and guessed it was not because of the Seamew, after all all these aircraft were designed back in the day when there was a modicum of a meritocracy still inherent in British society, and the British honours system, unlike today where it has been totally devalued by the inclusion of a large number of spivs, government lackeys political party donors, so-called "celebrities", perverts, dictators, and sundry other nonentities, hangers-on, and the like.
David Keith-Lucas was honoured thus:
President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 1968[2]
Doctor of Science Queen's University, Belfast, 1968[3]
Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 1973
Honorary Doctorate, Cranfield University, 1976
Emeritus Professor, College of Aeronautics, 1976
Gold Medal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 1975
No doubt David Keith-Lucas was an excellent academic and administrator, but his design, or involvement in the design of the following aircraft, made him a good aerodynamicist too!
From 1945 to 1965 he was with Short Brothers and Harland Ltd in Belfast, holding the posts of chief designer, technical director and research director. His work included research on swept-wings which culminated in the Short SB-5 research aircraft. Other projects included the Short Belfast heavy freighter, the Short Skyvan, and the SD-330 and SD-360 freight-commuter series.
The design of the Short SB-5 is a case in point, it was designed to test multiple parameters associated with wing sweep, including the desirable/undesirable factors associated with the T tail, and laid the ground for the development of the English Electric Lightning, so in a sense was an intentionally flawed aircraft that was a masterpiece of test/research aircraft design.
The Short SB.3, like the Seamew, was however, eccentric, to say the least! As the chap in the video says, rather amusingly, it was the Joseph (aka John) Merrick of aircraft!
Re: Flawed aircraft of bygone eras....
Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2022 6:18 am
by TheGreenAnger
One last salute to the Seamew. A "camel amongst horses".
Despite having a voice that one might associate with an "anorak" this chap's videos are generally very good. I recommend this one to the house.
Once again thanks to C16 for sparking this anorak's interest.
Re: Flawed aircraft of bygone eras....
Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2022 10:39 am
by Woody
As ever the South American website has a solution to this thread
As ever the South American website has a solution to this thread
For once, you evil beguilement will not work Woody, cos I own it already!
TGA
I have bough the Pa Woody one though. I am a dead man walking!
Re: Flawed aircraft of bygone eras....
Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2022 11:45 pm
by tango15
Well, now that we have denigrated our own aircraft industry, here are a few foreign-built types for consideration: USA
The Boeing SST,(1) the DC-5 (12), The Budd RB-1 Conestoga (20) , Northrop YC-125A Raider (23) FRANCE
The Deux-Ponts (20) -they will doubtless claim it was an A380 prototype, Dassault Mercure (12) (some have claimed it was a prototype for the Airbus, though Airbus refutes this totally). the HD-31,32 and 34. (11). GERMANY
The VFW-614 (19) USSR
TU-144 (16) TU-114 (32)* Developed from the TU-95 Bear.
* A little-known fact about this aircraft is that the door sill is so high, that when Khruschev flew to the famous shoe-banging United Nations meeting, the steps provided at Andrews AFB had to be brought from Idlewild, but were still not high enough and he and his acolytes had to first descend a ladder in order to reach the standard steps.
Well, now that we have denigrated our own aircraft industry, here are a few foreign-built types for consideration: USA
The Boeing SST,(1) the DC-5 (12), The Budd RB-1 Conestoga (20) , Northrop YC-125A Raider (23) FRANCE
The Deux-Ponts (20) -they will doubtless claim it was an A380 prototype, Dassault Mercure (12) (some have claimed it was a prototype for the Airbus, though Airbus refutes this totally). the HD-31,32 and 34. (11). GERMANY
The VFW-614 (19) USSR
TU-144 (16) TU-114 (32)* Developed from the TU-95 Bear.
* A little-known fact about this aircraft is that the door sill is so high, that when Khruschev flew to the famous shoe-banging United Nations meeting, the steps provided at Andrews AFB had to be brought from Idlewild, but were still not high enough and he and his acolytes had to first descend a ladder in order to reach the standard steps.
