Let Let Let – Warplanes

Ir. Hugo Lambach was an aeronautical engineer and former member of the Delft Student Aeroclub. The DSA was an aeroclub of students of the Technical University in Delft. Lambach designed for the DSA a small low-wing two-seat sports plane, with designation HL-1. It flew in 1936, powered by a small 90 hp Pobjoy air-cooled radial [...]

After the end of the Second World War the Dutch Marineluchtvaartdienst (MLD) had on its inventory the Consolidated Vultee PBY-5 Catalina amphibious flying boat. For a possible replacement for this ageing type, Claudius Dornier was contacted by MLD at his Madrid office. Here he had a small team available for design and consultancy work. The [...]

Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. at Southampton, England was always a company well known for its flying boat  and floatplane designs. This started already in 1914 wit a flying boat designed by Noel Pemberton Billing.  Supermarine became famous with its flying boat and floatplane racers that were built purposely for the Schneider Cup races. In the [...]

A legend is born… The Canberra can be classed as one of the greatest aircraft of all times, it was the first jet bomber to enter service with the Royal Air Force, the German Arado Ar 234 “Blitz” being the worlds first. Near the later stages of WW2 the UK Ministry of Aircraft Production was [...]

To defend its neutrality during the second world war, Sweden faced the problem that they could not easily order fighters from other countries. In the U.S.A. they had ordered a number of modern Consolidated Vultee Model 48 fighters. However, the United States placed an export ban on these planes. As a result Sweden had to [...]

After early US Navy experience in the Pacific in the early months of WWII, and after consultation with Allied air forces in the European theater, Grumman began to develop a successor to their Wildcat fighter, to be called the Hellcat. Major design changes from the Wildcat included a low-mounted wing, wider landing gear which retracted [...]

The MG 15 was a 7.92 mm (0.31 in) machine gun designed specifically as a hand manipulated defensive gun for combat aircraft during the early 1930s. By 1941 it was replaced by other types and found new uses with ground troops. Calibre: 7.92 +/- .04 mm Cartridge: 7.92×57 mm Mauser Round weight: 35.5 grams (cartridge [...]

W.E.W Petter was a brilliant aircraft designer, responsible for some very well-known British aircraft types. When working at Westland he designed the Lysander communication plane and the quite unorthodox Whirlwind twin-engine fighter. After the war he joined English Electric and gained again fame with his design for a twin-jet bomber: the Canberra. Yugoslavia used only [...]

The Coventry Ordnance Works (C.O.W.) designed and built in 1915 a small 37 mm cannon capable of firing a 1 pound, and then later 1.5 pound high-explosive shell. Vickers had acquired in the early twenties the rights for this gun and after a proposal to the Air Staff a specification was issued to develop a [...]