Is this the worst aircraft to fly? The Saunders Roe Lerwick

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  • Опубликовано: 13 окт 2024
  • Is this the worst aircraft to fly during the Second World War? The Saunders Roe Lerwick, is not a terrible looking aircraft, however its handling qualities were far from it. Considered to be unstable both in the air and on water, only 21 were built. Of these 21, eleven were lost, ten of which were to incidents. Designed to a 1936 specification, the Lerwick would first fly in October 1938. It entered service in mid 1939, however was found to be a difficult aircraft. It could not be flown hands off, had vicious stall characteristics and could not fly on a single engine. That is just a start of the list of issues. While it remained in service at the beginning of the Second World War due to Britain having a shortage of machinery, it was quickly replaced in 1941 with the Consolidated Catalina flying boat. Continuing on briefly as a trainer by the end of 1942 all had been retired and were heading to the scrappers.
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Комментарии • 69

  • @DataRew
    @DataRew Год назад +10

    I will keep on pumping your channel because I have no clue how you have just under 5K subscribers, you make such great historical videos!

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      Thank you, appreciate it. The channel is growing👍✈️

  • @Nastyswimmer
    @Nastyswimmer Год назад +13

    Unstable and difficult to fly - perfect for training squadrons :p

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад +1

      Yep makes a lot sense. Why not teach inexperienced pilots the hard way first. 😅
      I read a first hand account somewhere (the website was a little dodgy looking) that another difficulty in training was that there was only one set of controls. So, the instructor couldn't even teach the student through the take-off, but simply give them verbal instructions. However I did find only a single photo of Lerwick cockpit, and it showed two sets of controls, so not sure how true the account is.

  • @neiloflongbeck5705
    @neiloflongbeck5705 Год назад +11

    The Blackburn Botha is also strong candidate for that Crown.

    • @Raminagrobisfr
      @Raminagrobisfr Год назад +1

      Or the Breda 88

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад +1

      Indeed. Interestingly from a similar time period too. The 1930s definitely produced some interesting aircraft

  • @joeschenk8400
    @joeschenk8400 Год назад +8

    Very interesting, the Lerwick looks something like a smaller Sunderland or the Boeing Sea Ranger (which might make a good video...hint, hint). I find all flying boats very interesting. Thanks for the post.

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      Thanks. Yeah it does have that look to it. Ideally this would of worked alongside the Sunderland. Agree, they are quite cool and interesting. Thanks for the idea, I'll have a look into it 👍✈️

  • @raypurchase801
    @raypurchase801 Год назад +1

    I've seen photos of the Lerwick in publications published during the war.
    I never knew much about it.
    Until now.

  • @philiphumphrey1548
    @philiphumphrey1548 Год назад +9

    Good job we had the Short Sunderland and Consolidated Catalina.

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад +2

      Thanks. The Short Sunderland and Catalina's performed well and were good assets for the Allies

  • @BearHilda
    @BearHilda Год назад +1

    My Father served with 461 Squadron RAAF in Sunderlands and said that their nickname for the Lerwick was "The Flying Pig". He also said that they were almost impossible to get unstuck from a glassy surface on take-off.

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      That is very interesting. I'm not surprised, it seems quite the handful to fly.

  • @johnjephcote7636
    @johnjephcote7636 Год назад +3

    I have a wartime picture book of photos. The Lerwick's details cannot be released 'but pilots state that it is pleasant to fly'. I wonder whether any pilots were actually asked!

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      That is, while interesting, honestly quite funny. I would say no pilots were asked. Probably done as part of wartime propaganda. You couldn't really tell your population that one of your aircraft were terrible to fly

  • @briansteffmagnussen9078
    @briansteffmagnussen9078 Год назад +13

    Only by the first impression i see high wing load and short stubby geometry which will lead to a stall and flat spin. Do not build planes that looks like a cartoon from Disney.

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      That makes a lot of sense. It seems there were structural issues with the wings too if the floats kept breaking off

    • @WarblesOnALot
      @WarblesOnALot Год назад

      G'day,
      Hush yo' mouf ; Infidel...
      When the Hull were
      Lengthificated,
      And the Wing
      Extendified,
      With an extra pair of Engines...
      (An emergency Tactic later employed by
      Avro - with it's benighted
      Manchester/Lancaster
      Metamorphosis...).
      The
      Lerwick
      Became-ified the
      s
      Short
      Empire-Class
      Flying-Boat...; and then
      It was armed and given slightly
      Swept Wings
      (To compensate, CG-wise, for the
      Extreme Fatness, Weight and Mass
      Of yonder Tailing of the
      Turret...(!).
      Short Brothers used a different
      Method
      To proof their Designs.
      They built and flew a
      50% Scale
      Sterling, with 4
      Pobjoy Niagaras and
      Seating for one...
      Perhaps that was the inspiration for the
      Recently sensational
      "Barling Bomber".
      An
      "Experimental" Registered
      1/3 Scale Single-Seat version of a Boeing B-17 - powered by 4 Zenoah Ultralight Motors.
      Mister Barling flew it to Oshkosh a few years ago, and displayed it on the Ground, before flying home again - and then going silent.
      Mabe CoViD-19 got him...?
      Such is life,
      Have a good one...
      ;-p
      Ciao !

    • @robertpatrick3350
      @robertpatrick3350 Год назад

      It’s more like a Studio Ghibli design……..

    • @tmorganriley
      @tmorganriley Месяц назад

      I take issue! "TaleSpin" was a great show, and is the number one reason for my life-long love of flying boats!

  • @tedsmith6137
    @tedsmith6137 Год назад +2

    I assume they were used for training on the idea that if you could control a Lerwick, you could handle anything!

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      It seems so. I would imagine anything would be better to fly after the Lerwick.

  • @cathylarkins9949
    @cathylarkins9949 Год назад +7

    MY DAD FLEW THE CATALINA! He flew SeaPlanes during WWII and later went onto fly Bombers …

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад +1

      That is interesting. They were brave men. Lest we forget

  • @kevanhubbard9673
    @kevanhubbard9673 Год назад +3

    I wonder if the brass kettle came as standard!

  • @laszlokaestner5766
    @laszlokaestner5766 Год назад +2

    Saunders Roe didn't always design planes for roles that no longer existed. Sometimes they designed ones that simply didn't work properly.
    They seem to have had an unhappy ability to design brilliant planes that nobody wanted and terrible planes that people would of wanted if they were any good. The Lerwick for instance, had it been a good plane would have found many ready roles and been as famous as the Sunderland, which ironically Saunders Roe ended up building on license as they had spare capacity because the Lerwick was a dud.

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      Indeed they do. It is rather interesting that ability too.

    • @MrDino1953
      @MrDino1953 Год назад

      “would of wanted” makes no sense. You should write “would have wanted”.

  • @paulkile9998
    @paulkile9998 Год назад +1

    They should have utilized Martin PBM Mariners under Lend-Lease!

  • @ianbell5611
    @ianbell5611 Год назад +3

    Wow sounds like down right dangerous

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      It sure does. Definitely not something I would like to fly

  • @stop-the-greed
    @stop-the-greed 6 месяцев назад +1

    Training crews on how to bail out of a flying boat ....did they not put a jet in this airfarme ?

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  6 месяцев назад +1

      It seems like it. I'm not sure about the yet. Saunders Roe did produce a few flying boat jets but I don't think this was one 👍✈️

  • @tomellis487
    @tomellis487 Год назад +1

    How do you ground a flying boat?

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      In the context, I was referring to grounded in that the aircraft were ordered not to be flown.

  • @philliprobinson7724
    @philliprobinson7724 Год назад +1

    Hi. If it looks right it'll fly right. This one didn't and didn't. Cheers, P.R.

  • @Justwantahover
    @Justwantahover Год назад +1

    Not enough wing area compared to the fat fuslage and underpowered.

  • @GaryJohnWalker1
    @GaryJohnWalker1 Год назад +1

    So someone did have the right idea early on with that prototype with twin rudders, yet they were dropped?

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      Yeah it seems so. Throughout its service life there was also quite a few other things they trialed to try and fix issues with the aircraft, however very few wherever introduced.

  • @williamscoggin1509
    @williamscoggin1509 Год назад

    I wouldn't want to be a new pilot flying that plane....,

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      No I wouldn't want to either. I don't think I would even want to be an experienced pilot flying this.

  • @maxpayne2574
    @maxpayne2574 Год назад +3

    The Canadians must get supplied like the Marines if no one else wants something give it to them.

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад +1

      It wasn't unusual for Commonwealth countries or other countries in general (i.e. free Polish squadrons) to get given what Britain didn't want. In the late 1930s when Australia was setting up aircraft manufacturing and looking for a general-purpose fighter/aircraft to build, Britain suggested the Lysander. Thankfully it was rejected, and Australia chose the North American Texan instead.

  • @TannithVQ
    @TannithVQ Год назад +3

    It's pronounced Ler-wick. I know. How is anyone supposed to know?

    • @grahamleiper1538
      @grahamleiper1538 Год назад

      I figure he went by the pronunciation of Berwick.
      It is possible the people flying the plane also pronounced Lerwick wrong?

  • @MrDino1953
    @MrDino1953 Год назад +1

    Did they not test models in wind tunnels before building the full scale planes? Design by intuition seems like a terribly unprofessional way to run an aircraft manufacturing business.

  • @hughjohnson2674
    @hughjohnson2674 Год назад +1

    Can you ground a flying boat?

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      Haha that is a very good point. I guess if you fly it bad enough you end up running it onto the shore and thus "grounding" it 😂

  • @HarborLockRoad
    @HarborLockRoad Год назад +1

    Too short a span, too short a fuselage, too chubby. Bad aerodynamics. Nobody noticed that?

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад +1

      Seems not. Once it was tested and the list of problems reported on, perhaps then they did.

  • @Ubique2927
    @Ubique2927 Год назад +2

    Lerick
    As is Lur wick. (Lurpak)

  • @dennisnaylor2965
    @dennisnaylor2965 Год назад

    Certainly a loser, but compared to the effort and treasure poured into the Me.210 or He.177 , it was a world beater.

  • @garyhooper1820
    @garyhooper1820 Год назад +2

    In my opinion, the list of worst British planes is rather long , as the great planes list is rather short .

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      I would agree.

    • @adriancash7063
      @adriancash7063 Год назад +1

      Is any country’s tally of great planes a long one? It was war time and a lack of time and resource led to flying lemons from every side.

    • @AntiqueAirshow
      @AntiqueAirshow  Год назад

      @@adriancash7063 That is very true and a good point raised

  • @keithlemon457
    @keithlemon457 Год назад +1

    Please find a narrator who can pronounce English place names properly !

  • @malcolmbrown3532
    @malcolmbrown3532 Год назад +2

    The name is pronounced LER-wick, rather than LAR-wick. Ler as in Err.....

  • @williamchamberlain2263
    @williamchamberlain2263 Год назад

    Chonky boi