the fact that no Boeing clippers have been saved is incredibly devastating; after travelling to Hawaii as a little kid and seeing so many photos and promotional images from way back when featuring these Pan Am clippers... it's honestly shocking how such a legendary aircraft does not exist anymore.
@@celebratingaviationwithmik9782 don't lose heart... ...there is a full size replica, built from original Boing blueprints, and it is on display at the Foynes flying boat and maritime museum in Ireland...
Sadly, the only action the YB-49 flying wing saw would be the single sortie in which one example dropped an atomic bomb on the nest of Martian war machines outside Los Angeles in the 1953 film version of "The War of the Worlds."
Wasn't a hydrogen bomb as usually defined; but I am sure it was a more developed than the WWII atomic bombs. Was it a "boosted" design? What was the yield? Obviously not enough as the Martian war machines were not stopped but still of interest.
@@scottrichardson8158 A radio reporter on the scene had this to say: "Now, we've been warned that this bomb is ten times more powerful than anything previously used, it's the latest thing in nuclear fission. Nothing like this has ever been exploded before..." It might conceivably have been a "boosted" weapon. It was almost certainly not a legit hydrogen bomb. The first US hydrogen bomb test had only taken place the previous year, and the Teller-Ulam device detonated in November 1952 was not really a practical weapon. Those would only come a few years later.
I believe those Orenda engines could have pushed the Arrow close to Mach3. Mike knows the 2 books relating to the Arrow. Look for, Fall of the Arrow by Murry Peden.
@@n2uid01 I'd read it but I'd just get mad all over again. Dief should be dug up and shot just to make sure then buried face down for the usual reason. Just rhetoric of the outraged. Pay it no mind. :\(
3 года назад+9
The canadian government killed the project but saved its memory. It wouldn't have been that praised if it was left to agonize as a dated design. Remember that it rolled out at the same time Russia sent Sputnik, thus announcing ICBMs were going to be the main strategic force. Usage as an ASF would have been impossible. Low level deep strike and reconnaissance not plausible for the defensive RCAF, and also probably impossible because low level high speed is quite stressful. It killed the Vickers Vaillant. The CF-105 would have been a costly tool to escort a couple of maritime patrol planes, and keeping it would also have been a boondoggle,. Remember, the quite analogue XF-108 was also terminated. Fast interceptors did live a little bit longer in the USSR, but moslty because of the SR-71, and then because it's a good thing to have fast recon
Post WWII USA. Don't make your own stuff just share your own knowledge with us. Buy our stuff. No we're not making that stuff buy our other stuff. Repeat until no other aerospace industry exists. Americans.
My grandfather was a member of the engineering team that designed and built the Martin P6M. I saw one of these take off and land in Middle River at the Martin plant. Beautiful aircraft.
Jack Northrop's X Planes is what I meant, "The Flying Wing" bomber of the late 40s. I know the concept is in use today but the prototype aircraft, priceless but gone
You really know your facts. Nice change from the terrible channels that misidentify aircraft routinely and just fill up their time with blathering and pointless stock footage. You’ve got a new fan.
Those flying boats were so wonderful. When I was a kid, many many years ago, a family friend had a Grumman Goose. Dear god I loved that plane. Told him on many numerous occasions that when he was ready to sell, let me know. He didn't. And it's since been scrapped. Broke my heart.
@@katrinapaton5283 The cancellation of the TSR-2 was not America's fault. It was the fault of the Labour government of the early 1970s and the American option was just an excuse.
That's why the Secretary of the Air Force shouldn't have involvement with one of the companies (Convair) the fact he threatened Jack Northrop in front of witnesses that if he didn't accept a merger with Convair he'd be "Damned sorry.." Oh and by the way, Secretary Symington later on became head of Convair.
Oh sure did! Mr. Northrop was so disgusted by the bureaucracy involved in the flying wing projects, and Convair desperately trying to screw him up that he left the aeronautics industry completely by the late 1950s. It wasn't until a few years before his death that he eventually sent his flying wing research data to NASA so as to not "lost in time", and in an ironic twist, leading to the stealth bomber program being awarded to Northrop instead of Lockheed, giving us what is now the legendary B-2 Spirit. I'm a massive aviation fanboy alright, but flying wing designs have a special place in my heart, and judging from concepts I'm excited on what NASA have in mind for future commercial flying wing designs.
@@Nafeels agreed. the story of them bringing old Jack Northrop in to see the designs for the hyper classified B-2 spirit shortly before his death brought me to tears.
@@leftcoaster67 Wasn't that SecDef Louis Johnson(A Truman appointee) who had close ties with Convair? I've read that he was the one who ordered the destruction of all XB-335s and YB-49s. Shameful, eh?
I'd submit for additional consideration under the "Flying Wings" category the Northrop N-9M which was a one-third scale craft designed and flown as a development model for the XB- and YB- 35's. Four of them were built and flown; all but one of them "N-9MB" were scrapped. N-9MB was successfully restored by a museum; but was destroyed in a crash and subsequent fire which also claimed the life of the pilot just a few years ago in April of 2019 that was highly reported on by media from across the country.
Mike, I remember reading Wings and Airpower when I was a teenager, early to late twenties. Loved those magazines and all the articles about these planes. Also this was a great video.
While the original Boeing 314s disappeared, there is a full scale mock-up of one at the Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland. The museum is situated at the site of the original transatlantic flying-boat terminus.
There are actually two left in existence! They are both at the bottom of the ocean after having an engine failure, and being sunk after landing and getting all the passengers off.
I was hoping we would see a new post from you!...These aircraft are the stuff of legend,...and of forward thinking...it's a lot of fun to see all these planes...thank you again, Mike!
One of the most over used phrases is, "ahead of its time." But in the case of the Northrup YB-49 flying wing bomber it certainly applied. Sophisticated, computer fly by wire technology did not exist at the time this aircraft was flown. The YB-49 suffered from yaw instability as well as deadly stall characteristics. The latter resulted in the death of test pilot Glen Edwards.
I appreciate the comment about the AVRO ARROW. My mother was the chief weights engineer on the program and I grew up respecting the forward thinking of the engineering team. Canada lost a generation of aerospace engineering and some of the top engineers went to NASA and helped America get to the moon.
A complete nose section & landing gear (not sure whether nose or main) survives in the Aviation museum in Ottawa. Also an Orenda engine survives somewhere. You mention Canada building the 104 Starfighter under licence as an eventual replacement, but it was the CF-101 Voodoo purchased directly from the USA that eventually took on the interceptor role in Canada. The Starfighters were used in the ground strike role as Canada's NATO contribution in Cold War Europe.
Great video! Really fun and interesting as well as sad they are all gone. I always thought it was cool that George Pal used the YB-49 to deliver an atomic bomb in the 1950s movie version of the War of the Worlds. I also think it interesting that in two movies Nazi flying wings were prominent, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Captain America the First Avenger. The one from the the Captain America movie included parasite fighters as well. Again thank you for presenting a wonderful video!
When I was growing up and saw Raiders of the Lost Ark I went home and looked through my dad's airplane books to see if I could find it; it really did look like a real airplane.
On the USS Bennington, I worked around A-7s which were similar to the Crusader F-7s in that both had low -slung intakes. This made working near them very dicey! I feel really glad the Navy discontinued them; an A-7 nearly sucked me into its intake! That was January, 1968.
It's totally a shame that many of those do not exist today. Fred over at Airailimages channel had some photos that included a Consolidated 20-A Fleetster sitting in a California airfield right after WW2 last week that was rotting away even then. I have never seen another example in the modern day.
I will accept the design and performance aspects. The concept, no. The concept behind the B-70 was the building of a manned bomber to meant to drop nuclear weapons.
Hello Mike, we met at a Washington Airline Society meeting where you were the guest host many years ago, a great presentation! About the Golden Era of Flying boats, all is not lost! The last aircraft Sikorsky made were 3 Flying boats, the VS-44a's, of which 1 survives today, totally restored, in the New England Air Museum. Arguably the best of them, with longer range and faster than the Boeing or the Martin boats, but I'm biased as my Dad worked on them as his first job in a lifetime Aviation career. They were his favorites, and I did get him there many times to see "his" favorite, NC-41881, Excambian, both during restoration and completely finished, a beautiful aircraft! Many thanks Mike also for your painting "Dance of the Valkyrie"!
Fun fact: Douglas DC5. A couple of those were used by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in the dutch West Indies. This makes KLM the only airline which operated all marks of DC aircraft. From the DC2 (DC1 being only a protoype), via the DC3, DC4, DC5, DC6, DC7, DC8, DC9 to ultimately the DC10
Thank you for crossing the pond. As a small child, my mother pointed up to the Princess flying above us. I didn't understand the significance until much later. I also recall seeing the Rotadyne at Farnborough.
The Stilleto wings look similar to the Starfighter's! As a kid, I was lucky enough to see 4 Scorpions flying in close formation over north Mississippi at about 500 feet in the late 1950s. Great video! Brought back a lot of memories! Thanks!
The Stiletto is far and away the most pleasing aesthetically, it is gorgeous but didn't perform as designed. Note the wings, though, they went into the design of the F-104 Starfighter/ Widowmaker.
Good video. Three Saro Princess flying boats were built. One flew. All were scrapped. Oh and the nose section of Avro Canada CF-105 number 25206 survives, on display at the Canada Aviation Museum. Not, yes, no complete airframe.....
Great video! When I was a kid my grandparents used to take me to the Isle of Wight on the ferry from Southampton, we used to see two of the cocooned Saunders-Roe Princess flying boats lying up in storage at Calshot, would have been in the early 60's.
I just discovered your videos, Mike: It's great to find material like this done by someone who knows what he's talking about. As a Brit now living Canada, I was happy to see that yours was not an exclusively US-centric review, and that you tip your hat to some extraordinary contributions to aviation from other countries. Thank you for that. I'm guessing that you only scratched the surface. I'd watch an hour-long video from you any day. You probably had a lot of other material for this one that you had to leave on the cutting room floor, and that probably included the British TSR-2. Thanks again, Mike: You just got a new Subscriber!
Thank you Andre - appreciate the great comment! Actually, both TSR 2 airframes survived - one is at RAF Museum Cosford, the other at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. Their Olympus engines are at the Gatwick Aviation Museum.
The F-111B was not a Grumman plane -- The F-111 was a Convair bird. The 2 companies DID team up on the navalized B version, but that was largely due to Grumman's experience with carrier aircraft, NOT because of the swing wing. Thanks for mentioning the Sea Dart. My father was an engineer on that plane, and I'm the surviving member of the restoration crew for the example on display in San Diego (and the only member of the crew who did not work on it originally, as i was in high school during the restoration).
Flying boats and seaplanes are a great concept that I think is overlooked in today's world. Not sure why. No runways and airports has to be one advantage
That's the point.....maritime safety in inshore waters/harbours = insurance risk, certainly for commercial purposes??, plus the financial model on landing rights on open water.....???
To my way of thinking, it's not terribly surprising that there would be a great many examples of aircraft that never went beyond the prototype stage and which subsequently became "extinct." The odds of going extinct are pretty good if only a few examples are ever constructed, you start losing them in crashes during test flights, and, in the end, either the design proves less than successful or the prospective end user decides for whatever reason that it just doesn't fit their needs. Still, a number of the types outlined in this video were certainly worthy of being preserved for one reason or another. It's a shame that they're gone. That being said, I find much more interesting the stories of aircraft that actually went into production, saw service, and later vanished entirely. I think those stories are worth pursuing in more detail.
The XB-51 what designed as an attack airplane to replace the A/B-26 Invader series, and the XB-51 was beaten by the Canberra, which Martin produced under license
Thanks again Mike for everything you do. There have been some great examples of aircraft over the ages. Some of these I have never even seen or heard of before. Again we have some of the best designs in the world and even though they may not come to fruition we have some of the best designing minds in the world.
I always like the P6M Seamaster... even without the bombing mission, this seaplane could have been widely used in submarine warfare and coastal surveillance ... what a waste :(
Even today with sufficient upgrade it could've still been successful in it's primary role, because it's highly unlikely the United States would ever create something that wasn't modular.
I also am a lover of the flying boat. there's a great example at the New England Air Museum of the Sikorsky VS-44 and of course everyone should go see the H-4 at Evergreen!
There is a Sea Dart at Lakeland airport in Florida. It's currently on the aviation academy side. Used to drool over it every time we went to Sun and Fun fly-in as a kid. Never realized how rare they are.
4:40 More were build... 4 of them survived. Brefly after Wikipedia : XF2Y-1 Sea Dart no. 137634 - Smithsonian Institution warehouses, Washington. Awaiting restoration, not exposed. no 135763 - San Diego Air & Space Museum , exposed at the entry YF2Y-1 no 135764 - Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum, Horsham Township, Pensylwania finally YF2Y-1 no.135765 is the one at w Florida Air Museum, Lakeland. looks like Navy was really determined to go with this project despite all inconveniences. jet speeds and waves don't match well.
Excellent!! So much information in such a short period of time. There are a lot of valuable metals tied up in those airframes and then there is the issue of the technology being valuable to someone else. The DOD had all of the retired F-14 airframes shredded to prevent someone from buying parts that could wind up in Iranian hands to keep their ever shrinking squadrons of flyable F-14's going. A large number of railroad locomotives suffered a similar fate. Not one NYC J-3 Hudson or Pennsylvania RR T-1 was preserved. They were sold as scrap because their owners could make a buck off of the steel by selling then off.
The Martin Baker MB5 is the one that leaves me gutted - potentially the best single seat prop driven fighter of WW2, but came too late to see production. Ended up being used as a range target.
Thank you for an interesting but in a sense a sad review. It is a shame that there was not the foresight to save at least one of the planes where several were built. In many cases a dozen, two, dozen, a hundred; yet all gone. Watching this I remembered the line of the song Big Yellow Taxi - "That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone". And as a Canadian a big thank you for mentioning the Avro CF-105 Arrow. Many of us wish they had saved one. At least there are still the photos to show a lot of forgotten aircraft that helped pave the way in aviation.
I guess that in a lot of cases these aircraft were not worth saving at the time due to financial viability. If you didn't scrap it you had to store it and if you store it, what do you do with it? Not a lot of retro fitting since technology was changing by the month back in those days. By the way, up here in Canada the Arrow fiasco is still considered a political criminal act! Another informative video, Mike!
Thanks Adam, and yes, great point! Storage of airplanes no longer in military inventory wasn't very practical back then - especially with the flood of new designs and proposals.
I suspect maintenance costs helped kill the flying boat. Operators not only had to maintain a sound aircraft, but a sea going vessel, as well. Imagine the battle against salt corrosion!
After WW2 suddenly there were airfields on every other island and everywhere on the mainland. The whole point of a flying boat is to turn any open section of water with a dock into an airfield, once proper airfields were availiable.
Very fine commentary and surprising, too, that so many of these aircraft never saw physical survival to this day. My dad worked for Pan American World Airways and worked on the flying boat engines for many of these large sea-landing aircraft in the Pacific and South America.
I really wished that all the flying wings weren't scraped, it was ahead of it's time----it was "flying art" Your smart, yes I built a Fairey Rotodyne. Time to go, it's the end of a long day...... Again another great watch.
How about hours long? Many of these birds are well deserving of their own hour long video, including one I can think of that isn't even included in this video (The Martin P4M Mercator, which actually saw combat).
I seen some of these aircraft on display at Edwards AFB, California . I use to go there TDY in the 1980's and 90's working on telephone cables. Seen a lot of test aircraft flying around and sonic booms galore . A lot of history there. Great video by the way.
Thank you, Mike. This reminds me that I should pick up the book written by the pilot of the Pan Am Clipper that flew around the globe in December 1941on a flight from the west coast to Hawaii and other destinations, but after the attacks on Hawaii and the Philippines were told to return to the US by any means possible. The scarcity of proper aviation gasoline for the engines was only one problem they dealt with. Another was the lack of aviation charts for the remainder of their incredible journey. Amazing. Thanks for the F-8 Super Crusader, too. While Dad was assigned to Hickam AFB, we lived near Kaneohe Bay MCAS, and as kids enjoyed watching the F-8E Crusaders. I'm glad we returned to the mainland as they transitioned to the F-4J...
Thanks Mike! Good, but sad vid. Like you, I've got a soft spot for flying boats. Cut the yard of a guy that flew PBY's with the black cats. His stories never got old, then he flew water bombers. Good memories, thanks!
Thanks Michael, and yes, I started writing for Joe Mizrahi in the mid-1980s, and purchased the magazine from him in 2001, just as print media was starting its downward spiral.
There are many such stores, such as the AR-234 dumped at Pax River. There was just not much thought about preserving old airplanes from those terrible World Wars at the time...
Good observation, and their size was dictated by the technology of time, and all the vacuum tube equipment and radar they carried. It was a very different era!
Actually, what these interceptors were designed for was flying a very long way, very fast, to attack bombers. The USSR's Tu-28 "Fiddler" was even larger than the Arrow and served operationally for quite a while, patrolling the northern Soviet border. They all would have been toast against air-superiority fighters like the successors to the great WWII fighters. But the latter-day air-superiority (or "point-defense") fighters didn't have the range necessary for an interceptor operated by a huge country. The day of the multi-role aircraft like the F-4 was still in the future.
You may want to double check the opening date of the museum in Dayton. Maybe it wasn't officially open yet, but they had aircraft on display when I was there in '67. My uncle worked at the air force base at the time. I'm from Canada.
Thanks for the comment, and the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio dates back to the early 1950s when most airplanes were kept in a large storage yard. The beginnings of the current facility were built in the 1960s with continued expansion over the years, and up to the four main buildings it has now. Thanks for watching!
@@mikemachat That sounds about right. That was long ago, but I don't recall any buildings then. All the aircraft were outside if I remember correctly. My uncle was there on a Canad/US Air Force exchange program of some kind. Lots of big old war birds. We got to go inside a few of them. Cool stuff. My dad was also a pilot, so there was lots of reasons to go there.
Hey Mike, my dad was employed by the Burns Aircraft company in the early 70s they built 2 flying prototypes in Starkville MS the aircraft were mid wing 6 place twins. a couple manufacturers were interested since they did not offer twin engine aircraft.My dad flew with their test pilot to Alexandria Minnesota(Bellanca) and KervilleTX(Mooney) to sell the airplane.dad went along as the mechanic.
Woo 125 likes and zero dislikes! Don’t punch out the content too fast, you might run out! Great video; presentation, pace, content, everything was perfect. 👍 You need a patreon ASAP!
Mike, great job on this! I'm a big fan of the Glenn L. Martin Co; is there a chance you could do a video on the Martin SeaMaster P6M? Would really enjoy your perspective on this rare and unusual Navy flying boat.
the fact that no Boeing clippers have been saved is incredibly devastating; after travelling to Hawaii as a little kid and seeing so many photos and promotional images from way back when featuring these Pan Am clippers... it's honestly shocking how such a legendary aircraft does not exist anymore.
Agreed!
If I was a Tycoon I would own and travel the world on a Clipper …. Or a PBY
@@celebratingaviationwithmik9782 don't lose heart...
...there is a full size replica, built from original Boing blueprints, and it is on display at the Foynes flying boat and maritime museum in Ireland...
@@miklosernoehazy8678 Maureen O’Hara was Patron of the Museum until her death in 2015, and there are many personal items of hers on display.
@@timorvet1 ..cool factoid!...
Sadly, the only action the YB-49 flying wing saw would be the single sortie in which one example dropped an atomic bomb on the nest of Martian war machines outside Los Angeles in the 1953 film version of "The War of the Worlds."
Northrop's flying wing research came in handy when Northrop developed the B-2.
That was all stock footage.
Wasn't a hydrogen bomb as usually defined; but I am sure it was a more developed than the WWII atomic bombs. Was it a "boosted" design? What was the yield? Obviously not enough as the Martian war machines were not stopped but still of interest.
@@scottrichardson8158 A radio reporter on the scene had this to say: "Now, we've been warned that this bomb is ten times more powerful than anything previously used, it's the latest thing in nuclear fission. Nothing like this has ever been exploded before..." It might conceivably have been a "boosted" weapon. It was almost certainly not a legit hydrogen bomb. The first US hydrogen bomb test had only taken place the previous year, and the Teller-Ulam device detonated in November 1952 was not really a practical weapon. Those would only come a few years later.
oh wow heh
Avro Arrow just a dagger in the hearts of Canadians.
I believe those Orenda engines could have pushed the Arrow close to Mach3. Mike knows the 2 books relating to the Arrow. Look for, Fall of the Arrow by Murry Peden.
@@n2uid01 I'd read it but I'd just get mad all over again. Dief should be dug up and shot just to make sure then buried face down for the usual reason.
Just rhetoric of the outraged. Pay it no mind. :\(
The canadian government killed the project but saved its memory. It wouldn't have been that praised if it was left to agonize as a dated design. Remember that it rolled out at the same time Russia sent Sputnik, thus announcing ICBMs were going to be the main strategic force. Usage as an ASF would have been impossible. Low level deep strike and reconnaissance not plausible for the defensive RCAF, and also probably impossible because low level high speed is quite stressful. It killed the Vickers Vaillant.
The CF-105 would have been a costly tool to escort a couple of maritime patrol planes, and keeping it would also have been a boondoggle,. Remember, the quite analogue XF-108 was also terminated. Fast interceptors did live a little bit longer in the USSR, but moslty because of the SR-71, and then because it's a good thing to have fast recon
Post WWII USA. Don't make your own stuff just share your own knowledge with us. Buy our stuff. No we're not making that stuff buy our other stuff. Repeat until no other aerospace industry exists.
Americans.
We Brits feel your pain with our adandoned TSR2
My grandfather was a member of the engineering team that designed and built the Martin P6M. I saw one of these take off and land in Middle River at the Martin plant. Beautiful aircraft.
Considering the overseas bases we've lost over the last years, the Navy may regret killing off the seaplanes.
Saw them fly on several occasions while at USNA.
Arrow, Super Crusader, Rainbow, the Flying Wing... Priceless aircraft gone forever man...
not entirely the Flying Wing concept is getting used for the KLM/TU delft Flying V
isn't the B2 a flying wing
Jack Northrop's X Planes is what I meant, "The Flying Wing" bomber of the late 40s. I know the concept is in use today but the prototype aircraft, priceless but gone
You really know your facts. Nice change from the terrible channels that misidentify aircraft routinely and just fill up their time with blathering and pointless stock footage.
You’ve got a new fan.
Many thanks and 'appreciate the comment!
I agree, this is thorough and informative.
Those flying boats were so wonderful. When I was a kid, many many years ago, a family friend had a Grumman Goose. Dear god I loved that plane. Told him on many numerous occasions that when he was ready to sell, let me know. He didn't. And it's since been scrapped. Broke my heart.
We throw away a lot of things, thinking no one in the future will care. Glad we have more museums today.
We are happy to have the Spruce Goose at our Air Museum in McMinnville Oregon
Yes, very impressive. I've visited it 4 years ago.
@@IntyMichael I got a chance to see when it was displayed in Long Beach , California back in 1970's.
I can’t wait to see it. Been a dream of mine....Mac
The Avro Arrow and BAC TSR2 are two of the coolest and beautiful planes that never went into production.
Not that we hold America responsible for their demise or anything...
@@katrinapaton5283 The cancellation of the TSR-2 was not America's fault. It was the fault of the Labour government of the early 1970s and the American option was just an excuse.
Biggest tragedy is the loss of the flying wing under very odd circumstances
Agreed!
That's why the Secretary of the Air Force shouldn't have involvement with one of the companies (Convair) the fact he threatened Jack Northrop in front of witnesses that if he didn't accept a merger with Convair he'd be "Damned sorry.." Oh and by the way, Secretary Symington later on became head of Convair.
Oh sure did! Mr. Northrop was so disgusted by the bureaucracy involved in the flying wing projects, and Convair desperately trying to screw him up that he left the aeronautics industry completely by the late 1950s. It wasn't until a few years before his death that he eventually sent his flying wing research data to NASA so as to not "lost in time", and in an ironic twist, leading to the stealth bomber program being awarded to Northrop instead of Lockheed, giving us what is now the legendary B-2 Spirit.
I'm a massive aviation fanboy alright, but flying wing designs have a special place in my heart, and judging from concepts I'm excited on what NASA have in mind for future commercial flying wing designs.
@@Nafeels agreed. the story of them bringing old Jack Northrop in to see the designs for the hyper classified B-2 spirit shortly before his death brought me to tears.
@@leftcoaster67 Wasn't that SecDef Louis Johnson(A Truman appointee) who had close ties with Convair? I've read that he was the one who ordered the destruction of all XB-335s and YB-49s. Shameful, eh?
I'd submit for additional consideration under the "Flying Wings" category the Northrop N-9M which was a one-third scale craft designed and flown as a development model for the XB- and YB- 35's. Four of them were built and flown; all but one of them "N-9MB" were scrapped. N-9MB was successfully restored by a museum; but was destroyed in a crash and subsequent fire which also claimed the life of the pilot just a few years ago in April of 2019 that was highly reported on by media from across the country.
Great comment, thanks!
Yes, I remember that accident, the aircraft was owned by the Planes Of Fame Flying Museum.
Why were they operating such a rare and irreplaceable aircraft? It should have been in a museum on display.
Great video...I always liked the DC 5. There should be and Endangered Species Act for aircraft.
The DC-5 did serve for a brief time in the Navy as the R3D-1.
I'm happy you'd mentioned the AVRO ARROW - O -CANADA
Mike, I remember reading Wings and Airpower when I was a teenager, early to late twenties. Loved those magazines and all the articles about these planes.
Also this was a great video.
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
While the original Boeing 314s disappeared, there is a full scale mock-up of one at the Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland. The museum is situated at the site of the original transatlantic flying-boat terminus.
There are actually two left in existence! They are both at the bottom of the ocean after having an engine failure, and being sunk after landing and getting all the passengers off.
I was hoping we would see a new post from you!...These aircraft are the stuff of legend,...and of forward thinking...it's a lot of fun to see all these planes...thank you again, Mike!
Mike you still have Wings & Airpower fans. They are a treasure. I re-read them weekly. I'm glad I found this series,
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
The sea dart is on a display pillar at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Florida where the Sun'N'Fun fly-in air expo is hosted
6:10 "its kind of a tubby design"
I think its absolutely adorable. I want a plushie version.
Great comment - the Jaguar was just the first step to the F-14 Tomcat. Thanks for watching!
One of the most over used phrases is, "ahead of its time." But in the case of the Northrup YB-49 flying wing bomber it certainly applied. Sophisticated, computer fly by wire technology did not exist at the time this aircraft was flown. The YB-49 suffered from yaw instability as well as deadly stall characteristics. The latter resulted in the death of test pilot Glen Edwards.
I appreciate the comment about the AVRO ARROW. My mother was the chief weights engineer on the program and I grew up respecting the forward thinking of the engineering team. Canada lost a generation of aerospace engineering and some of the top engineers went to NASA and helped America get to the moon.
Great comment, thanks!
A complete nose section & landing gear (not sure whether nose or main) survives in the Aviation museum in Ottawa. Also an Orenda engine survives somewhere. You mention Canada building the 104 Starfighter under licence as an eventual replacement, but it was the CF-101 Voodoo purchased directly from the USA that eventually took on the interceptor role in Canada. The Starfighters were used in the ground strike role as Canada's NATO contribution in Cold War Europe.
The Seamaster has big look of the British Handley Page Victor bomber which first flew 2½ years earlier than the Seamaster.
Some of the coolest planes ever.
Great video! Really fun and interesting as well as sad they are all gone. I always thought it was cool that George Pal used the YB-49 to deliver an atomic bomb in the 1950s movie version of the War of the Worlds. I also think it interesting that in two movies Nazi flying wings were prominent, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Captain America the First Avenger. The one from the the Captain America movie included parasite fighters as well. Again thank you for presenting a wonderful video!
When I was growing up and saw Raiders of the Lost Ark I went home and looked through my dad's airplane books to see if I could find it; it really did look like a real airplane.
On the USS Bennington, I worked around A-7s which were similar to the Crusader F-7s in that both had low -slung intakes. This made working near them very dicey! I feel really glad the Navy discontinued them; an A-7 nearly sucked me into its intake! That was January, 1968.
It's totally a shame that many of those do not exist today. Fred over at Airailimages channel had some photos that included a Consolidated 20-A Fleetster sitting in a California airfield right after WW2 last week that was rotting away even then. I have never seen another example in the modern day.
A lot of these were never expected to go into production. Most of them are sure pretty. The XB70 was beautiful in concept.design and performance
I will accept the design and performance aspects. The concept, no. The concept behind the B-70 was the building of a manned bomber to meant to drop nuclear weapons.
Thanks Mike. I am a big fan of the weird and wonderful in aviation. It is sad to think of all of these extinct machines.
I saw parts of the Avro Arrow in the Bagotville air defense museum.
Hello Mike, we met at a Washington Airline Society meeting where you were the guest host many years ago, a great presentation! About the Golden Era of Flying boats, all is not lost! The last aircraft Sikorsky made were 3 Flying boats, the VS-44a's, of which 1 survives today, totally restored, in the New England Air Museum. Arguably the best of them, with longer range and faster than the Boeing or the Martin boats, but I'm biased as my Dad worked on them as his first job in a lifetime Aviation career. They were his favorites, and I did get him there many times to see "his" favorite, NC-41881, Excambian, both during restoration and completely finished, a beautiful aircraft! Many thanks Mike also for your painting "Dance of the Valkyrie"!
Wonderful comment, and thanks for watching!
Fun fact: Douglas DC5. A couple of those were used by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in the dutch West Indies. This makes KLM the only airline which operated all marks of DC aircraft. From the DC2 (DC1 being only a protoype), via the DC3, DC4, DC5, DC6, DC7, DC8, DC9 to ultimately the DC10
Would be nice if you could include some german designs. There were so many.
Good point, thanks!
Thank you for crossing the pond. As a small child, my mother pointed up to the Princess flying above us. I didn't understand the significance until much later. I also recall seeing the Rotadyne at Farnborough.
Awesome that you saw the Rotodyne! I loved seeing Duxford and Hendon during my visits to the U.K.
The Stilleto wings look similar to the Starfighter's! As a kid, I was lucky enough to see 4 Scorpions flying in close formation over north Mississippi at about 500 feet in the late 1950s. Great video! Brought back a lot of memories! Thanks!
Very true, and the X-15 also. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing; and to all Airmen everywhere: Thanks for your service.
The Stiletto is far and away the most pleasing aesthetically, it is gorgeous but didn't perform as designed. Note the wings, though, they went into the design of the F-104 Starfighter/ Widowmaker.
Stilleto sort of flew. That is what its headstone gets.
Thanks for making the book on the Rainbow. Not often you get to leave a message directly with the author, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
To be honest 1950 to 1970s were the days where engineers could build anything without any worry to the program cost.
Good video. Three Saro Princess flying boats were built. One flew. All were scrapped.
Oh and the nose section of Avro Canada CF-105 number 25206 survives, on display at the Canada Aviation Museum. Not, yes, no complete airframe.....
There are two of the S-43 "Baby Clippers" surviving--one from Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7.
Great Video but now I am sad and must go home to cry....I miss the Yankee Clipper that was gone long before I was born.
Great video! When I was a kid my grandparents used to take me to the Isle of Wight on the ferry from Southampton, we used to see two of the cocooned Saunders-Roe Princess flying boats lying up in storage at Calshot, would have been in the early 60's.
Wonderful that you got to see them!
I just discovered your videos, Mike: It's great to find material like this done by someone who knows what he's talking about. As a Brit now living Canada, I was happy to see that yours was not an exclusively US-centric review, and that you tip your hat to some extraordinary contributions to aviation from other countries. Thank you for that. I'm guessing that you only scratched the surface. I'd watch an hour-long video from you any day. You probably had a lot of other material for this one that you had to leave on the cutting room floor, and that probably included the British TSR-2. Thanks again, Mike: You just got a new Subscriber!
I just discovered Mike's videos, too. That said, I have been a fan of his aviation art for many years.
Thank you Andre - appreciate the great comment! Actually, both TSR 2 airframes survived - one is at RAF Museum Cosford, the other at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. Their Olympus engines are at the Gatwick Aviation Museum.
The sadness in your voice can be heard when you say scrapped
The F-111B was not a Grumman plane -- The F-111 was a Convair bird. The 2 companies DID team up on the navalized B version, but that was largely due to Grumman's experience with carrier aircraft, NOT because of the swing wing.
Thanks for mentioning the Sea Dart. My father was an engineer on that plane, and I'm the surviving member of the restoration crew for the example on display in San Diego (and the only member of the crew who did not work on it originally, as i was in high school during the restoration).
@Edgar Miller Nope...my father was an engineer at Convair, and I think the 111 may have been one of his projects.
Just discovered your site. Fantastic content! I expect the number of subscribers will be rising dramatically and quickly. You earned a new one here!
Thanks, and glad to have you aboard!
Flying boats and seaplanes are a great concept that I think is overlooked in today's world. Not sure why. No runways and airports has to be one advantage
Agreed!
That's the point.....maritime safety in inshore waters/harbours = insurance risk, certainly for commercial purposes??, plus the financial model on landing rights on open water.....???
really rough surface in windy conditions ?
Some countries still operate them. Russia and Japan are 2 I can think of
Wasn't aware of this channel, came up as a recommendation, but thoroughly enjoyed this video!
Thanks for bringing it to us Mike!
Appreciate the nice comment, thanks!
I like the "Popular Mechanics" font!
To my way of thinking, it's not terribly surprising that there would be a great many examples of aircraft that never went beyond the prototype stage and which subsequently became "extinct." The odds of going extinct are pretty good if only a few examples are ever constructed, you start losing them in crashes during test flights, and, in the end, either the design proves less than successful or the prospective end user decides for whatever reason that it just doesn't fit their needs. Still, a number of the types outlined in this video were certainly worthy of being preserved for one reason or another. It's a shame that they're gone. That being said, I find much more interesting the stories of aircraft that actually went into production, saw service, and later vanished entirely. I think those stories are worth pursuing in more detail.
The XB-51 what designed as an attack airplane to replace the A/B-26 Invader series, and the XB-51 was beaten by the Canberra, which Martin produced under license
Thanks again Mike for everything you do. There have been some great examples of aircraft over the ages. Some of these I have never even seen or heard of before. Again we have some of the best designs in the world and even though they may not come to fruition we have some of the best designing minds in the world.
I had the Revell model of the X-3 Stiletto many years ago when I was in my early teens. What a beautiful aircraft.
I always like the P6M Seamaster... even without the bombing mission, this seaplane could have been widely used in submarine warfare and coastal surveillance ... what a waste :(
Agreed 100%!
Even today with sufficient upgrade it could've still been successful in it's primary role, because it's highly unlikely the United States would ever create something that wasn't modular.
The Japanese navy still uses flying boats today, they are still relevant maritime tools for a variety of missions.
As soon as i clicked on this video a surge of sadness came over me. Much love from England.
Just discovered your channel. Very happy to see you on RUclips.
I remember you from your visits to B&R Gallery when I worked there in the 1990s.
Thanks Richard, and B&R was a great gallery too!
I've read that a B-32 Dominator was set aside for the eventual Air Force Museum, but do to some bureaucratic bungling, it was accidentally scrapped!
I can believe that, thanks.
The B-19 as well.
I also am a lover of the flying boat. there's a great example at the New England Air Museum of the Sikorsky VS-44 and of course everyone should go see the H-4 at Evergreen!
There is a Sea Dart at Lakeland airport in Florida. It's currently on the aviation academy side. Used to drool over it every time we went to Sun and Fun fly-in as a kid. Never realized how rare they are.
4:40 More were build... 4 of them survived. Brefly after Wikipedia :
XF2Y-1 Sea Dart no. 137634 - Smithsonian Institution warehouses, Washington. Awaiting restoration, not exposed.
no 135763 - San Diego Air & Space Museum , exposed at the entry
YF2Y-1 no 135764 - Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum, Horsham Township, Pensylwania
finally YF2Y-1 no.135765 is the one at w Florida Air Museum, Lakeland.
looks like Navy was really determined to go with this project despite all inconveniences. jet speeds and waves don't match well.
Outstanding presentation, priceless content, guaranteed subscription
I love going to the Air Force Museum. It's a beautiful place and I've been there a half dozen times over 30 years.
Excellent!! So much information in such a short period of time.
There are a lot of valuable metals tied up in those airframes and then there is the issue of the technology being valuable to someone else. The DOD had all of the retired F-14 airframes shredded to prevent someone from buying parts that could wind up in Iranian hands to keep their ever shrinking squadrons of flyable F-14's going.
A large number of railroad locomotives suffered a similar fate. Not one NYC J-3 Hudson or Pennsylvania RR T-1 was preserved. They were sold as scrap because their owners could make a buck off of the steel by selling then off.
The Martin Baker MB5 is the one that leaves me gutted - potentially the best single seat prop driven fighter of WW2, but came too late to see production. Ended up being used as a range target.
Love your work Mike, thanks for all the effort. Simply told for us admirers. peace from Melbourne, Australia.
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
Thank you for an interesting but in a sense a sad review. It is a shame that there was not the foresight to save at least one of the planes where several were built. In many cases a dozen, two, dozen, a hundred; yet all gone. Watching this I remembered the line of the song Big Yellow Taxi - "That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone". And as a Canadian a big thank you for mentioning the Avro CF-105 Arrow. Many of us wish they had saved one. At least there are still the photos to show a lot of forgotten aircraft that helped pave the way in aviation.
Thanks Garfield - you nailed it!
Ever heard of the Vulcan Starfire? Popular mechanics article in the 80's had me drooling over it. It never went anywhere except to obscurity.
I guess that in a lot of cases these aircraft were not worth saving at the time due to financial viability. If you didn't scrap it you had to store it and if you store it, what do you do with it? Not a lot of retro fitting since technology was changing by the month back in those days. By the way, up here in Canada the Arrow fiasco is still considered a political criminal act! Another informative video, Mike!
Thanks Adam, and yes, great point! Storage of airplanes no longer in military inventory wasn't very practical back then - especially with the flood of new designs and proposals.
I suspect maintenance costs helped kill the flying boat. Operators not only had to maintain a sound aircraft, but a sea going vessel, as well. Imagine the battle against salt corrosion!
Not exactly. The growth of airfields built in WW2 Killed the Boats in Airline use. As far as Military use, Russia And Japan still use them.
After WW2 suddenly there were airfields on every other island and everywhere on the mainland. The whole point of a flying boat is to turn any open section of water with a dock into an airfield, once proper airfields were availiable.
Another excellent video Mike. What impresses is the amount of, at least for me, never before seen photos.
Keep up this marvelous series of videos.
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
Kermit Weeks has one or more of the Sikorsky's in his collection
Very fine commentary and surprising, too, that so many of these aircraft never saw physical survival to this day. My dad worked for Pan American World Airways and worked on the flying boat engines for many of these large sea-landing aircraft in the Pacific and South America.
Good content well-presented. No buffoonery like in so many documentaries these days.
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
I really wished that all the flying wings weren't scraped, it was ahead of it's time----it was "flying art" Your smart, yes I built a Fairey Rotodyne. Time to go, it's the end of a long day...... Again another great watch.
Another great video and the photos are very nice and very informative. To bad that some of the planes weren’t saved.
An hour long video? I wouldn't mind that...
I agree !
How about hours long? Many of these birds are well deserving of their own hour long video, including one I can think of that isn't even included in this video (The Martin P4M Mercator, which actually saw combat).
I was thinking the same thing ...
Good photos and presentation! Thanks
The rotodyne was a tragedy, incredible fuel economy and extremely advanced and secret silencer technology for the tip jets
Ive still got an unmade plastic model kit of this, an Airfix kit if I remember correctly
Fantastic content my friend!!!! GREAT JOB!!!!!!!
Your visual references continue to amaze me!
Another excellent and informative presentation! Thank you!
I seen some of these aircraft on display at Edwards AFB, California . I use to go there TDY in the 1980's and 90's working on telephone cables. Seen a lot of test aircraft flying around and sonic booms galore . A lot of history there. Great video by the way.
Many thanks, and glad you got to see the great history at Edwards!
Another great video. Let's hope all of the disused, classified aircraft types that flew out of Groom Lake have been saved somehow, somewhere...
Well you’ve got the Boeing Bird of Prey and my particular favourite, the Northrop Tacit Blue, both preserved.
This is a fun video. "Oh, well, OF COURSE they dumped that one... Oh not the Valkyrie! yah you got me there. "
Thank you, Mike. This reminds me that I should pick up the book written by the pilot of the Pan Am Clipper that flew around the globe in December 1941on a flight from the west coast to Hawaii and other destinations, but after the attacks on Hawaii and the Philippines were told to return to the US by any means possible. The scarcity of proper aviation gasoline for the engines was only one problem they dealt with. Another was the lack of aviation charts for the remainder of their incredible journey. Amazing. Thanks for the F-8 Super Crusader, too. While Dad was assigned to Hickam AFB, we lived near Kaneohe Bay MCAS, and as kids enjoyed watching the F-8E Crusaders. I'm glad we returned to the mainland as they transitioned to the F-4J...
Great comment, and belated thanks!
These are absolutely brilliant videos - keep up the good work!
Many thanks!
Thanks Mike! Good, but sad vid. Like you, I've got a soft spot for flying boats. Cut the yard of a guy that flew PBY's with the black cats. His stories never got old, then he flew water bombers. Good memories, thanks!
P16 Switzerland? Build in FFA, ( Flug und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein).
Thank you. I am a former commercial pilot and enjoy aviation history.
YOU did Wings and Airpower? WOW! I've still got some boxed up in my garage.
Thanks Michael, and yes, I started writing for Joe Mizrahi in the mid-1980s, and purchased the magazine from him in 2001, just as print media was starting its downward spiral.
@@celebratingaviationwithmik9782 And the those great pilots passing and the stories started dissapearing.
@@celebratingaviationwithmik9782 I miss your artwork.
@@celebratingaviationwithmik9782 Wings and Airpower was the magazine of record for me. Unfortunately I lost mine in a house fire.
@@jeffreyskoritowski4114 Thanks, and sorry to hear that.
There are many such stores, such as the AR-234 dumped at Pax River.
There was just not much thought about preserving old airplanes from those terrible World Wars at the time...
That was one entertaining - yet sad - video, Mike. I am sure you wish the Rainbow had survived...
Thanks Koji, and yes, a tragic ending to that program. 'Hope you're doing well, and best wishes to you and the family for a Happy Holiday Season!
Wow, those interceptors are massive. Always thought they are light fighters made for speed.
Good observation, and their size was dictated by the technology of time, and all the vacuum tube equipment and radar they carried. It was a very different era!
Actually, what these interceptors were designed for was flying a very long way, very fast, to attack bombers. The USSR's Tu-28 "Fiddler" was even larger than the Arrow and served operationally for quite a while, patrolling the northern Soviet border. They all would have been toast against air-superiority fighters like the successors to the great WWII fighters. But the latter-day air-superiority (or "point-defense") fighters didn't have the range necessary for an interceptor operated by a huge country. The day of the multi-role aircraft like the F-4 was still in the future.
Wouldnt it be cool to take some of the plans to some of these aircraft (the less advanced the easier obviously) and rebuild them to the original specs
As someone who’s into extinct locomotives, this is interesting and I have been wanted to learn more about retired aircraft!
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
You may want to double check the opening date of the museum in Dayton. Maybe it wasn't officially open yet, but they had aircraft on display when I was there in '67. My uncle worked at the air force base at the time. I'm from Canada.
Thanks for the comment, and the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio dates back to the early 1950s when most airplanes were kept in a large storage yard. The beginnings of the current facility were built in the 1960s with continued expansion over the years, and up to the four main buildings it has now. Thanks for watching!
@@mikemachat That sounds about right. That was long ago, but I don't recall any buildings then. All the aircraft were outside if I remember correctly. My uncle was there on a Canad/US Air Force exchange program of some kind. Lots of big old war birds. We got to go inside a few of them. Cool stuff. My dad was also a pilot, so there was lots of reasons to go there.
Hey Mike, my dad was employed by the Burns Aircraft company in the early 70s they built 2 flying prototypes in Starkville MS the aircraft were mid wing 6 place twins. a couple manufacturers were interested since they did not offer twin engine aircraft.My dad flew with their test pilot to Alexandria Minnesota(Bellanca) and KervilleTX(Mooney) to sell the airplane.dad went along as the mechanic.
Neat story, thanks!
Woo 125 likes and zero dislikes! Don’t punch out the content too fast, you might run out!
Great video; presentation, pace, content, everything was perfect. 👍 You need a patreon ASAP!
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
Mike, great job on this! I'm a big fan of the Glenn L. Martin Co; is there a chance you could do a video on the Martin SeaMaster P6M? Would really enjoy your perspective on this rare and unusual Navy flying boat.
Great suggestion, thanks!
The jet boats were a surprise, I've seen the Soviet videos, but didn't realize US had built any.
The Soviet ekranoplans are/were just novelties, since they aren't able to get above ground effect level. We (the US) built actual aircraft.
The Martin seamaster broke the sound barrier in a small dive I believe.
@@chuckschillingvideos The Soviets built many jet seaplanes, not just the ekranoplans.
@@chuckschillingvideos I meant the actual aircraft the Soviets built and used...